Help me make graphics card decisions!

[PhysicsMan94]

I should note that I've never tried SLI before and I've heard that it can have issues (as can crossfire), so I was wondering (if I do opt for 2 680s or 670s) how reliable and easy to deal with it is?

 

[Kaapstad]

I should note that I've never tried SLI before and I've heard that it can have issues (as can crossfire), so I was wondering (if I do opt for 2 680s or 670s) how reliable and easy to deal with it is?

One of the reasons I like the GTX 690 is yes it is a sli setup, but it also has a hardware fix to reduce the problems that can occur with a two GPU setup.

I am not going to say if AMD or nvidia produce the best 2 card setup for SLI/xfire but the GTX 690 works better than both for 2 GPUs. The downside is it is a little bit more expensive.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

One of the reasons I like the GTX 690 is yes it is a sli setup, but it also has a hardware fix to reduce the problems that can occur with a two GPU setup.

I am not going to say if AMD or nvidia produce the best 2 card setup for SLI/xfire but the GTX 690 works better than both for 2 GPUs. The downside is it is a little bit more expensive.

But from the review sites and people on these forums, I've heard that whilst the GTX-690 does officially have 4GB of VRAM - only 2GB of VRAM are usable. I'm not sure if this is true, but if it is then it could become a problem being limited to that amount given the high spec requirements of the latest games.

That was (part of) my reasoning for choosing the Titan in the first place given its immense amount of VRAM - plus it's performance being only a single card, preventing multi gpu problems (well, unless I got another Titan which is unlikely given their price!)

 

[Kaapstad]

For 1440p the GTX 690 is fine, if you are going to use 3 monitors then the Titans are better because of the extra memory/bigger bus.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

But would it be advantageous to purchase a Titan over a 690 for future proofing against further games which may be heavy on the VRAM usage? Or not?

Thanks for the advice by the way!

 

[Rusty0611]

It's possible games could arrive in the future which load up the VRAM but aren't particularly demanding on the GPU and as such you become VRAM limited.

In today's game you only really hit the VRAM limit when you're getting low FPS anyway so in reality you'd never use the settings which cause you to hit the VRAM limit because of the low FPS issue.

2560x1440 is a tough one. I'd be tempted to say that with two GPUs and 2GB at that resolution only there is a fair chance you'll have enough muscle to push high enough frame rates but hit the VRAM wall in the future. I would look at a couple of 7950s/7970s as it takes the VRAM question out the debate for that resolution.

Alternatively look at a couple of 4GB 670s.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

There are a lot of suggestions on here these days for the high end AMD GPUs, I still don't know about that - nvidia cards are more stable from my experience and generally offer better performance. Also, as I said in my OP, I play PlanetSide 2 quite a lot so nvidia is useful for the PhysX effects.

That being said, I could be persuaded by a couple of 7970s if someone can show me their performance or provide evidence from their own experience.

So many choices! Ugh, I wish nvidia would hurry up and release their GTX-700 series so that I can get one of them in June. But I know that's not going to happen - it'll be end of this year when 700 series are released I guess.

I should also say that I entered that competition to win the ARES 2 HD7990 so if I win that (yes, I know, highly unlikely) then all this will be irrelevant!