Help me make graphics card decisions!

[PhysicsMan94]

Ok, so I'll be building my new system this summer (specs will be given below) and I think I have most of the components nailed but I still have a dilemma over which graphics card(s) to get. To cut to the chase, here is my current basket:

MY BASKET
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN Superclock 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (06G-P4-2791-KR) £999.95
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail with Dead Space 3 PC Game £467.99
1 x OcUK Tech Lab - V12 Watercooled Case - Corsair 800D £439.98
- 1 x Mayhems X1 UV Red Premixed Watercooling Fluid 1L £7.99
- 1 x Intel Bracket Fitted £0.00
1 x Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £364.99
1 x Seasonic 1000w '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply £194.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £179.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (TXD316G2133HC9NQC-L) £119.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £119.99
1 x Creative Sound Blaster Z High Performance Gaming Sound Card - Retail (70SB150000001) £79.99
1 x LG BH16NS40 16x SATA Internal BDRW - Retail £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £73.99
1 x Cherry G80-3000 Mechanical Keyboard £64.99
1 x Edifier R1600T Studio Plus 2.0 Monitors £49.99
1 x Asus PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter £25.99
Total : £3,291.02 (includes shipping : £16.85).




As you can see, I have included the EVGA SC GTX-Titan here - however, given the rather large (and apparently increasing) price I am beginning to wonder if I should look for alternatives.

With regards to my budget, I can't go over £3500 but obviously if I can decrease the price even further from what it is now without hitting performance, reliability nor quality of components then that's be great.

My current thoughts are - should I go for the Titan listed, or a GTX-690, or 2 GTX-680s or an alternative? I'd rather stick to nvidia as I find their products more reliable plus I play a lot of PlanetSide2 which utilises nvidia's PhysX.

Oh, and I will be using a 2560x1440 monitor (Dell UltraSharp U2713HM).

Cheers!

P.S - I will be swapping that V12 800D case for a V12 900D when it's released so that may add roughly £100 to the total.

 

[Th3M8dH8tt3r]

I'm currently facing the same dilemma. I'm still using 2 x 9800GX2 cards which really don't cut it anymore and everything else is current gen.

I thought about the Titan but the only reason I'd buy one is if I didn't have the space in my case for 2 GTX680 or a GTX690 or I could afford 2 or 3 Titans.

After weeks of thinking about it and checking performance reviews, I think I'm going to go with 2 x 4gb GTX680s. The GTX690 is essentially 2 GTX680 GPUs on one PCB. But, when SLI is introduced to the equation, it is preferable over one GTX690.

So, I think I'm going to go for 2 4GB GTX680 in SLI watercooled and overclock them. That's my opinion on the best setup for under £1,000.00.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

Also, while we're at it, should I buy the RAM listed above or this?

 

[PhysicsMan94]

So, I think I'm going to go for 2 4GB GTX680 in SLI watercooled and overclock them. That's my opinion on the best setup for under £1,000.00.

From what I've seen of GPU prices, you'll struggle to get 2 4GB watercooled 680s for under 1000 squid.

 

[arc@css]

I'd get one 7950, overclock it and add another if you need the extra processing power for AA. Otherwise, unless you're looking for a specific target number of fps all the time, one 7950 might be adequate for a most games.



Re : Th3M8 - what res will you running? Unless you're running multi monitor / very, very high resolutions, 4gb of vram will be a waste.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

I'd get one 7950, overclock it and add another if you need the extra processing power for AA. Otherwise, unless you're looking for a specific target number of fps all the time, one 7950 might be adequate for a most games.

1 7950 on a 2560x1440 monitor? I've heard things can get ugly, note that I'll be looking to play games (and the latest games mind you, such as Crysis 3 and FC3) at max (or, well, ultra) settings.

 

[andybird123]

what speed you can run your RAM at will depend on your CPU, the kit you have is lower CAS so I would stick with that to be honest, unless you can be bothered to set up all the speeds and timings manually to get the most out of them

graphics wise, I would go with 670 SLI over a single Titan, much cheaper for the same level of performance and easier to sell and upgrade later when the 7** series come out

if you were thinking of SLI Titan and mulitscreen then maybe yes, but for 1 card / 1 monitor you will be better off with 670 SLI for now

even if you were set on getting Titan, don't go with the SuperClocked, it's the same titan inside, just with a small factory OC, shop around for decent pricing

 

[Th3M8dH8tt3r]

RAM wise I'd go for 2 8GB stick of Corsair Dominator 1600mhz unless you're overclocking the CPU in which case go for a little more speed. The CPU is limited to utilising 1600mhz RAM so if you're not overclocking go with that. If you are, go with higher speed RAM as overclocking your FSB will increase RAM speed and if the RAM can't handle higher speed then the max CPU speed, you'll have to underclock your RAM.

As for the 2 GTX680 SLI watercooled.

I have found a retailer selling Asus 4gb GTX680 for £429.00 inc VAT.
Grab 2 XSPC blocks for £180.00. Accessories like pipe etc for another £50.

Ok so the total is just over, at £1,090.00.

I'm running up to 4 screens at a time. Primary screens are two Asus 24inch at 1080p, 1920x1080. A Samsung at 1080p 1920x1080 and a 40 inch Sony TV at 1080p 1920x1080.

I'm thinking more towards the future as well. I've had 5 years out of my 9800GX2 and hope to be able to get similar out of 2 GTX680 in SLI.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

Hmmm... Decisions.

With regards to the RAM, I'll probably stick with the TeamGroup I've got now - I wouldn't get 2 8GB sticks anyway as quad channel RAM works better with X79 motherboards.

 

[Th3M8dH8tt3r]

Hmmm... Decisions.

With regards to the RAM, I'll probably stick with the TeamGroup I've got now - I wouldn't get 2 8GB sticks anyway as quad channel RAM works better with X79 motherboards.

Of course, I wrote between 2 minds. Either 4 x 8gb or 4 x 4gb.

It's all down to if you're going to overclock your new CPU. If not get 1600mhz, if you are, go one speed higher. 2400mhz is unnecessary as it'll never hit that speed.

 

[andybird123]

The CPU is limited to utilising 1600mhz RAM so if you're not overclocking go with that.

this isn't true, X79/3930k support XMP1, so the RAM will run at whatever settings the RAM is set on the profile, you might just need to bump up some voltages to get it to stick

 

[melmac]

This summer is a long time away yet Like if you aren't buying until June things could have changed a little by then, especially with the release of Haswell. We also might know more about what Nvidia and AMD have planned.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

This summer is a long time away yet Like if you aren't buying until June things could have changed a little by then, especially with the release of Haswell. We also might know more about what Nvidia and AMD have planned.

True, I will probably be buying in (early) June - but I don't want to keep waiting for the next thing otherwise I'll never get anything bought!

Also, I doubt that Haswell will offer any performance increases over the i7-3930K, but Ivy-E on the other hand... well, that's a different story... if it's ever released that is.

 

[andybird123]

the rumour that they weren't coming was based upon what 1 guy said at a trade show, so I tend to think that Ivy-E will definitely be coming... the latest rumours though point to it only bein 6 core again, so improvements over existing Sandy-E will be limited (comparable to the differences between Sandy and Ivy)

 

[Kaapstad]

Of course, I wrote between 2 minds. Either 4 x 8gb or 4 x 4gb.

It's all down to if you're going to overclock your new CPU. If not get 1600mhz, if you are, go one speed higher. 2400mhz is unnecessary as it'll never hit that speed.

My 3930k can run the memory @2600mhz but for 24/7 use it runs it @2400mhz. All 3930k CPUs are different but most of them can reach around 2400mhz on the memory.

Have you thought about a GTX 690, if you are going to watercool it. When it comes to using waterblocks the GTX 690 only needs one plus fittings which makes it good value compared to two single cards.

The other option for 1440p as mentioned above using 2 x GTX 670s is also better than a single Titan.

 

[Th3M8dH8tt3r]

My 3930k can run the memory @2600mhz but for 24/7 use it runs it @2400mhz. All 3930k CPUs are different but most of them can reach around 2400mhz on the memory.

Have you thought about a GTX 690, if you are going to watercool it. When it comes to using waterblocks the GTX 690 only needs one plus fittings which makes it good value compared to two single cards.

The other option for 1440p as mentioned above using 2 x GTX 670s is also better than a single Titan.

I was thinking about AMD boards and not about XMP so bad info from me there.

I've looked at the GTX690 as a single card which is essentially 2 x GTX680 GPU and again, I need to do a little more research on SLI 680 or single 690. I've narrowed it down to those two options for the best performance for £1,000 at the moment.

The Titan really is overrated in my opinion. I think it's there to supply the micro-ATX crowd with a top level card as it is smaller then a GTX690 and the same size as a GTX680 but with 6gb of RAM.

 

[andybird123]

The Titan really is overrated in my opinion. I think it's there to supply the micro-ATX crowd with a top level card as it is smaller then a GTX690 and the same size as a GTX680 but with 6gb of RAM.

it's also a good card(s) if you have three 7680x1440 monitors

 

[Kaapstad]

it's also a good card(s) if you have three 7680x1440 monitors

They are also very good in the cold weather, mine are still on air and when running flat out there is a blast of hot air coming out of the back of the PC I can still feel hitting my hand over 4 feet away.

 

[melmac]

True, I will probably be buying in (early) June - but I don't want to keep waiting for the next thing otherwise I'll never get anything bought!

Also, I doubt that Haswell will offer any performance increases over the i7-3930K, but Ivy-E on the other hand... well, that's a different story... if it's ever released that is.

I know you dont want to be waiting for the next big thing, but with mad flucations in prices etc, you are planning a build a little early for something that you are not going to be buying until June anyway. So much can change in two months.

 

[PhysicsMan94]

Not much has significantly changed from February to now, except maybe the price of RAM and the Titan release but we knew that the latter was going to happen anyway, (2 months) so I don't think I'm planning too early.

Anyway, I'll consider 2 670's given some people's suggestions. Keep the advice coming people!