Graphical query

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 09:27

I currently have one GTX770 and although performance is good at 1080, I want MORE!

I have the upgrade itch and it needs to be scratched.

I'm looking at preordering a new 34" 21:9 LG monitor but it has nearly 5million pixels needing to be pushed.

So; would 2x 290's be enough to run this beast of a monitor at high setting on current titles?

Eg: Dark souls 2, Sleeping dogs is what I'm playing at the mo

Nickolp1974 · 9 May 2014 at 09:31

Yes it would be enough but your CPU maybe a bottleneck with 2x290's unless the game in question utilises mantle, maybe better off using a good clocking single card solution.

Ie. 780ti classified or 290x matrix plat.
Or of course pick up a used 3770k then go down the xfire/sli route

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 09:36

Was thinking about unlocking the 290's to 290x anyway

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 09:36

Would my cpu still bottleneck if I overclocked it to ~4.5ghz?

Nickolp1974 · 9 May 2014 at 09:45

After testing which was done by others on here, I'd say yes, maybe still worth doing and a bit down the line grab a 3770k to utilise the full power of the cards

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 09:46

Don't want to spend money where it won't be fully utilised

Would one highly clocked 290 unlocked to 290X give me decent frames at that resolution? (3440x1440)

Nickolp1974 · 9 May 2014 at 09:59

In all honesty at that res I'd want an 8 thread chip and 2 cards to get a good gaming experience.

JamesM · 9 May 2014 at 10:03

Luke_Bowman said:
Would my cpu still bottleneck if I overclocked it to ~4.5ghz?

Even at 4.5GHz you'll still notice a bottleneck.

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 10:10

Nickolp1974 said:
In all honesty at that res I'd want an 8 thread chip and 2 cards to get a good gaming experience.

Are you planning on donating money to this experience?

triss · 9 May 2014 at 10:28

Not all 290's unlock to 290x's btw , not even sure if any do now i thought it was just some of the first batchs?

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 10:31

triss said:
Not all 290's unlock to 290x's btw , not even sure if any do now i thought it was just some of the first batchs?

Really? I thought it was a universal thing? Damn.

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 10:48

Looks like you have to have specific Hawaii info.

Well that's not ideal but I can still overclock the 290(s)

Nickolp1974 · 9 May 2014 at 10:59

Luke_Bowman said:
Are you planning on donating money to this experience?

You should be able to grab a 3770k for about £160 and you would get £100 for your current chip, so it's not too bad an expense and surely if your looking at that monitor and 2 cards you can afford the £60 to upgrade??

Also what psu do you have, a good branded 850w will do

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 11:09

Currently running a Antec 650w platinum but looking at a 1000w gold/platinum.

Wish I had access to the MM for 2nd hand parts

ghost.florian · 9 May 2014 at 11:25

4K benchmarks with Crossfire 290:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,21.html

So yes, you should be able to run games at 3440 x 1440 (which is less than 4K). However, these benchmarks were run with an overclocked Core i7 3960.

Total system power consumption was 603W, with the GPU fully stressed. So you could save some money by going for an 850W PSU instead of a 1000W PSU

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 11:28

This is looking more and more like a full system upgrade.

Might stick with my current setup until the new Intel come out and upgrade then.

Hopefully pick up two secondhand 290's by then

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 11:38

Do you guys think a 760W would handle 2 290's and a 3770k with all the usual other bits (soundcard, hd's etc)

Nickolp1974 · 9 May 2014 at 12:13

Luke_Bowman said:
Do you guys think a 760W would handle 2 290's and a 3770k with all the usual other bits (soundcard, hd's etc)

Probably be fine but would I want to??? NO! I'd like a bit more in reserve so it's not running near its max output, defo 850w min and this would allow a little OC headroom.

ghost.florian · 9 May 2014 at 12:25

2x290 consume 493 Watts at STOCK, tested with an 80Plus Platinum PSU. You can add a few W to that number if you are using 80Plus Gold. Then factor in you processor, which can consume 180W without too much of an overclock So that's almost 700W for the GPUs and CPU. If you overclock the GPUs, they will consume even more power.

I would say a 760W Gold/Platinum PSU would run at 90+% when gaming with such a beast.

Also, bear in mind you need adequate cooling for such a setup.

Why don't you get another 770 ? 2 overclocked 770s are easily 30%-40% faster than a single 290 in most scenarios. You should be able to play games with 30+ FPS on that LG monitor.

Luke_Bowman · 9 May 2014 at 12:29

I did buy another 770 but my mobo isn't SLI compatible and I thought it was more hassle than its worth for a new mobo at the moment so it's being sold