Recommendations for 3x2560x1440

[slayernine]

Okay guys I've gone an ordered two more 27" 2560x1440 monitors for a grand total of three. Planning on setting up all three in potrait mode eyefinity.

Now I need to build a new machine to run this beastly monitor config. I would like most games to stay above 30FPS. I'm playing lots of Civ V, CS:GO and BF4. Here are my questions for you fellas:

1. What video card should I buy and how many of them? That new R9-290X looks shiny but I already have a 7970 GE.

2. What processor is ideal for this config? I Just read that fresh article by Ian Cutress on the front page, it talks about muli-gpu but doesn't cover resolutions like I'm planning for. i7 4770k? i7 4771?

Other details... I have a Cooler Master Haf case with a decent thermaltake dual 120mm fan radiator (works with 1150 or 2011). Thinking about maybe watercooling the whole rig once it is how I like it.

 

[Stuka87]

No single card will runt hat setup with any modern games. Its going to take probably 3 cards to get good frame rates. Two cards seems to do pretty decently with three 1080 displays.

For CPU, an i7 should do nicely. You will want to OC it, so make sure its a K model.

 

[SolMiester]

I think you will need to sell the 7970, as you will need at least 2 of them to drive 3 x 25\14, and Xfire Eyefinity is still fubar....
Im thinking new R9, hopefully 1 will be enough, though youll likely need 2. as for CPU?...fastest you can get I imagine....

 

[slayernine]

It sounds like I may need to wait for some actual benchmarks on the R9-290X to be released to understand how many of them are required for this type of eyefinity configuration.

 

[slayernine]

On a somewhat related topic. I bought three of these monitors, same type of panel but one has only a single type of input and supposedly better input lag. Will higher input lag on the monitors on the left and right cause the middle one to effectively have the same level of input lag?

 

[Stuka87]

On a somewhat related topic. I bought three of these monitors, same type of panel but one has only a single type of input and supposedly better input lag. Will higher input lag on the monitors on the left and right cause the middle one to effectively have the same level of input lag?

Are they all display port? The 290/290X has better eyefinity that is not picky about the input type like the 7000 series cards.

 

[epidemis]

He can get play those game on his 7970 GE, with 30 fps with some modification of his settings

 

[Skott]

Right now I'd say either two Titans or two R9 290 but we don't know what nvidia has up their sleeve to counter the R9 290. We don't even know the actual bench marks are of the R9 290 in real world. I wouldn't buy today or this week. What's left of it. If I were in your shoes I'd hold off til Monday at least and see what shakes out from all this R9 290 speculation.

 

[slayernine]

I'm not in a huge rush, so yes maybe I shall bide my time and see how this plays out. See how bad it is running on my 7970 when the monitors arrive.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[el etro]

Better not think to try antialiasing here. You will have 11Mpixels(7680*1440) here, 30% more than in 4K total resolution. MSAA 4x will bring an additional 40% hit in performance here...

Two 290X for to be able to play BF4(three to max out all settings with 60FPS). One 290X will make something close 60 fps in one monitor in BF4.

For the other two games only two 7970GE will be ok.

Processor go for a i7 4770k. No overclock needed. Motherboard you will not need more than a simple x8/x8 MB. Don't spend tons of money in MBs in G1.Snipers or something like this.

Ram Use 16GB(2X8).

 

[Techhog]

The most cost-effective option would be to buy two more 7970s imo.

 

[3DVagabond]

I think you'll run into problems with 3gig of RAM. It might be fine for the short haul . It might be worth investing in one more 7970, considering current pricing, but with the plan of upgrading in the not too distant future. If you want to have something that will likely hold you into the future though you might want to wait until AMD's new cards drop and then reevaluate. I think you are going to want at least 4gig of RAM. That might be 290X (likely need 2 of them) or possibly 2 or 3 4gig nVidia cards (760/770/680). 2x titans might be a good choice too except the pricing is a joke. 780's only come in 3gig versions, which makes them little better than 7970's, IMO.

 

[Z15CAM]

A Radeon 7990 should handle 3 x's 2560x1440 PLS displays at 60 Mhz.

 

[Zargon]

I think you will need to sell the 7970, as you will need at least 2 of them to drive 3 x 25\14, and Xfire Eyefinity is still fubar....Im thinking new R9, hopefully 1 will be enough, though youll likely need 2. as for CPU?...fastest you can get I imagine....

its what now? I was doing this for over a year, and had very few minor issues, usually with games not wanting to play nice with the res


I would just get 1-2 more 7970 GHZ since pricing is great on them right now


he wont need any sort of AA really, I run 27" 1440p and when I turn it on its hardly noticable 99% of the time


he will need a few active adapter, which are about 90 a pop though

 

[slayernine]

its what now? I was doing this for over a year, and had very few minor issues, usually with games not wanting to play nice with the res


I would just get 1-2 more 7970 GHZ since pricing is great on them right now


he wont need any sort of AA really, I run 27" 1440p and when I turn it on its hardly noticable 99% of the time


he will need a few active adapter, which are about 90 a pop though

The monitors I ordered have display port so I don't think I need an active adapter. Through I do have one from when I did eyefinity with dual 5870's on 3x1920x1200. I already run my games on a single 2560x1440 screen(yamakazi) and I agree that you don't need AA, everything I play now looks great without it.

clarification:

left monitor
crossover
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI, DP, HDMI

center monitor
yamakazi
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI

right monitor
crossover
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI, DP, HDMI

 

[el etro]

Save money buying an less capable Motherboard, buy no more than a 4770k(or can be a 4670k if you're out of money) and pick at least two 290(Non-X) to X-fire them. You can choose Gryphon Z87 as motherboard.

 

[slayernine]

Save money buying an less capable Motherboard, buy no more than a 4770k(or can be a 4670k if you're out of money) and pick at least two 290(Non-X) to X-fire them. You can choose Gryphon Z87 as motherboard.

I was looking at that or one of the ROG boards. I'm really liking ASUS for the current generation. They've really put a lot of work into their motherboards.

 

[Zargon]

The monitors I ordered have display port so I don't think I need an active adapter. Through I do have one from when I did eyefinity with dual 5870's on 3x1920x1200. I already run my games on a single 2560x1440 screen(yamakazi) and I agree that you don't need AA, everything I play now looks great without it.

clarification:

left monitor
crossover
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI, DP, HDMI

center monitor
yamakazi
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI

right monitor
crossover
glossy
IPS
2560x1440
DL DVI, DP, HDMI

Nice!!!

 

[adnank77]

I'm Running this exact resolution .. 2 cards of 7970 are doing a fine job .. but not ideal as some games (like batman) are kinda choppy .. some other games are running fine .. I guess things will be better with the next driver which will support frame pacing on eyefinity.

My suggestion will be to just add another 7970 (preferably when new 290x is out so that you get the revised prices for 7970) ..

Keep in mind that most monitor and 7970 cards don't support your resolution on HDMI .. I'm using two DP ports and the DVI ..

 

[lehtv]

I wouldn't go Crossfire because it would be hard to maintain stable 60fps on that resolution. Crossfire still has some microstutter issues at <60fps, although the recent frametime patch was a good improvement.

How about MSI GTX 770 4GB Gaming SLI $966 AR shipped or MSI GTX 780 3GB Gaming SLI $1360?

If you're planning to watercool the whole rig then the optimal solution would be Tri-SLI, although you do need a 1200W PSU and a Tri-SLI board for that. Tri-SLI is not worth it with air cooling because of the horrible noise levels of having cards next to each other with no room to breathe.

 

[guskline]

I just built my first custom water cooling rig and I offer some suggestions.
If you are even dreaming about custom cooling buy the largest case you can afford. I spent @$150 on a CM HAF 932 Adv and I should have spent another $100 minimum on a much larger case. Custom water cooling needs room for the radiators. The option is to mount them externally. If you want to go the custom cooling route it will cost MUCH more. Be prepared.

I had a 3 monitor (1920 x 1080) system in rig 1 below and my 2 GTX 670 FTWs ran it nicely. The overall resolution was 5760 x 1080) You will be running 3 2560 x 1440 monitors at a combined resolution of 7680 x 1440 so you will need some serious horsepower to keep frame rates up for game play.

How much money are you willing to spend?

 

[slayernine]

I'm Running this exact resolution .. 2 cards of 7970 are doing a fine job .. but not ideal as some games (like batman) are kinda choppy .. some other games are running fine .. I guess things will be better with the next driver which will support frame pacing on eyefinity.

My suggestion will be to just add another 7970 (preferably when new 290x is out so that you get the revised prices for 7970) ..

Keep in mind that most monitor and 7970 cards don't support your resolution on HDMI .. I'm using two DP ports and the DVI ..

Good to hear, this might be a good option for me as the 7970's are pretty cheap used. The real question remains how the 290x pans out but It would be quite expensive to buy two of those at $750 per.

What size of power supply are you running your two 7970's? Right now I have a corsair 750w.

 

[lehtv]

That's enough

 

[Haserath]

Crossfire has a problem delivering resolutions over 4MP.

http://techreport.com/blog/25399/here-why-the-crossfire-eyefinity-4k-story-matters

They'll be fixing it with Pcie crossfire on 290x and later.

 

[slayernine]

Crossfire has a problem delivering resolutions over 4MP.

http://techreport.com/blog/25399/here-why-the-crossfire-eyefinity-4k-story-matters

They'll be fixing it with Pcie crossfire on 290x and later.

Good thing I'm not planning to use dual HDMI outputs. Though they definitely need to work on frame pacing in general.

I'm still of the opinion that Eyefinity is superior technology compared to Nvidia surround. Has anything changed in regards to that? Has Nvidia stepped up there game with surround to the extent that it should be a consideration?