Would this beast cover my needs?

[computerbuildin]

Im planning on making an upgrade here, a nice one. Right now im running a EVGA GTX 560 SC with 2 Asus VH236H monitors. I want to get an EVGA GTX 670 FTW+ (256-bit 4GB) Heres the Newegg link- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130824
Running games on a single monitor, my 560 is great, performance is good and it does ultra on most games with no lag. But, I need to make this change because im looking to add 1 more VH236H and do surround gaming on 3 monitors. I dont want to get myself into sli because I asked a while ago about SLi'ing my 560 with another and everyone said dont do SLi if you want to make this easy, its a mess. Plus 2GB isnt enough to run surround gaming, that would make sense. 4GB is well enough. Anyway by reading reviews, seeing what it looks like, and reading its details, I love it. My question here is though would it fit my needs:
-Run games like WoW, and some games around that graphics category (By that I mean compare the graphics of WoW to something like BF3, huge difference and BF3 is a massive power-hungry game, so keep games like BF3 out of mind) IN surround gaming on 3 23" monitors.
-^ Can run games like that in the higher end. I understand if it cant be on ultra, because its a single card handling the workload, but it should be able to play most games on higher quality with no lag. (I can disable things like AA)
Yeah, thats really it for needs, all I care that it does is run games nicely in surround gaming, NON 3D. I will not be using 3D.
For any questions about other parts of the system, they are all in the sig, but ill say the PSU here anyway. I have a Corsair AX850 Gold. I know thats enough for it.

 

[SolMiester]

SLI does not double your vRam, it is use exclusively 2Gb for each GPU as they duplicate the data....
Depending on the games you play I doubt a 670 will be powerful enough for surround...maybe some older DX9 or 10 games

 

[computerbuildin]

Other people were saying a card like that would be perfectly fine running a game like WoW in surround...? Dont know which opinion I should go by here. Edit: I just looked through soo many reviews and I've seen some before, but just about all of them say that card is still fine running in surround. The crazy thing is, the guys were talking about playing BF3, skyrim etc. on a single 670 ftw. Turns out it could run, triple monitors, on BF3, on HIGH, with AA off. which is extremely surprising. And if id be mostly playing WoW here, looks like id have some pretty nice luck with it. You might be wondering, ok, it can run high but who says the FPS is good? The guys playing BF3 said with those settings, it was really anywhere from 45-50 fps. which is pretty good.

 

[deanx0r]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125413

cheaper, faster, cooler, quieter

 

[computerbuildin]

I was always a HUGE nvidia fanboy, never really liked amd cards, but I could maybe settle for one. Will it run surround though..? Honestly I was pretty much set on this GTX 670. Anything that will make me change the decision would have to be a bit cheaper, and faster. also will have to look pretty nice in my case, like the 670 does Sure like everyone says, its whats on the inside, not the outside. But like I said, ill settle for something thats cheaper and faster. The only reason ive stayed away from amd so far is that I heard the drivers are usually a mess and im not familiar with them one bit. I've never owned one, but when I built my brother a computer, we got him an amd card, and who could've guessed. The drivers ended up being a complete mess.

 

[SolMiester]

Is that really cheaper than the 670?, crikey!, NV really does need to reassess the pricing structure...The Windforce are a nice card, I got the GTX580 for a mate, was very impressed....
AMD 7xxx series really are great hardware, but I could never bring myself to buy one, I cant cant stand their drivers....I have little enough time to play without wasting it trying to find the right set to install.....

Will be interesting to see what happening after Titan is released, should be a few 2nd hand cards on the market...

 

[computerbuildin]

Exactly what this guy said, I really could never bring myself to buy one Even after seeing how an amd card has crashed my brothers computer a couple of times with the drivers. I agree that NV has to change their prices a bit too, but honestly I think nvidia cards last longer, have EXTREMELY better drivers and are much more customizable (fans, overclocking etc.) and most of them look nicer.

 

[Elfear]

Exactly what this guy said, I really could never bring myself to buy one Even after seeing how an amd card has crashed my brothers computer a couple of times with the drivers. I agree that NV has to change their prices a bit too, but honestly I think nvidia cards last longer, have EXTREMELY better drivers and are much more customizable (fans, overclocking etc.) and most of them look nicer.

Boy, you haven't been paying attention lately have you?

 

[Sleepingforest]

Erm... you can manually overclock pretty much any card from either side of the spectrum, and you don't really see the hardware inside your case. The AMD drivers are not that bad; after all, they managed to catapult the 7970 over the 670 after a revision or two. I think your bias is blinding you to the extra power you could be having for less money.

To counter your example, my Nvidia 670 card often causes artifacting and color shifts in games (mainly Skyrim) and I run it at stock. When I had to update drivers, it screwed everything up and I had to do a fresh install of Windows. Meanwhile, my friend's AMD card runs flawlessly.

 

[computerbuildin]

Boy, you haven't been paying attention lately have you?

Not really

 

[computerbuildin]

Hm, well everyone has different experiences. So if the GTX 670 is really that bad compared to others that I can get that are cheaper and faster, anyone got ideas?

 

[max347]

Here is a great resource-
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/598?vs=508

It is what I go to anytime I get rusty on how a newer card compares to another one

 

[computerbuildin]

By the way, just so you know, I think id be better off going with this one now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125439 Its only 1 GB less which shouldn't matter, but its clocks are higher, better cooling and its 386 bit. plus its cheaper AND has free games. I looked at it a while ago and I was skeptic because I was still surfing through newegg trying to find something, but I think it would work.

 

[Tweak155]

Best bang for buck right now is 7950. You'll save $100+ and get those same 2 games.

 

[SolMiester]

Well, for me, its not just about best bang for buck...Everyone says fugly girls are keen in bed!, but...

 

[Elfear]

Well, for me, its not just about best bang for buck...

You and me both. I try and spend as much money as I can for a given amount of performance. That's how real ballers roll. :whiste:

 

[absolutezero]

Not really

Got you some fresh benchmarks: http://kotaku.com/5964022/the-best-graphics-cards-nvidia-vs-amd-current+gen-comparison

If this doesn't convince you to get a R7970 I don't know what will.

Some claim you can flash a r7970 to a ghz edition 7970 which is the current perf crown.

 

[computerbuildin]

Wow, ok you convinced me, ill figure out what 7970 ghz im going to buy later on. Im looking at buying the gigabyte one I linked but ill look at others. Anyway, the ports are gonna be a little weird for my setup. which ports would I use? My monitors have DVI, and HDMI ports (VGA too but who cares about that ) Should I just use DVI and 2x mini display ports to DVI? Im just wondering if using certain ports affects what the picture looks like cause I want the monitors to be equal.

 

[RussianSensation]

1. If you plan on powering 3 1080p monitors with a single GPU chip card for modern games be prepared to turn down your settings, especially in games such as BF3. (NV's upcoming Titan excepted).

2. It is a requirement for AMD Eyefinity that to drive 3 screens you need at least 1 MiniDisplayport / Displayport adapter. For 1080p an active Single Link miniDP-to-DVI such as Accel on Amazon is $25-30 is sufficient. The remaining 2 monitors can be connected with HDMi and Dvi.
http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-0...ay+port+to+dvi

*The only exception to this rule are Sapphire FLEX series.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202007

The FLEX already comes with a Free miniDP to DVI adapter in the box:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7950_Flex/images/contents.jpg

3. Based on point #1 I would likely go with a Gtx 670 in hopes of adding a 2nd one later. Alternatively you could consider purchasing dual HD 7950 cards. The upside is that you would get 6 free games (http://www.techpowerup.com/img/13-02-04/9a.jpg) with them, and with overclocking each 7950 can match or surpass a stock 680 or 7970ghz.
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/Sapphire/HD_7950_Flex/31.html

The downside is that SLI is preferable to CF. The downside of going with 670s is their much higher cost.

As far as single GPUs go for multi-monitor gaming HD7970GHz is 20% faster than the 680 4GB.

"That said, we have to wonder why anyone would bother with the GeForce GTX 680 4GB for extreme resolutions when the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition was constantly faster at both 5040x1050 and 7680x1600. In fact at 7680x1600 the 7970 GHz Edition was on average 20% faster than the GeForce GTX 680 4GB in the half dozen games that we tested with."
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_680_4gb,6.html

Although the HD7970 Ghz has no problem dusting the GTX670 4gb or a 680 in a 3 monitor setup, once you apply AA and AF filters the performance advantage is largely academic due to a GPU bottleneck.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/picture/?src=/images/graphics/evga-geforce-gtx-670-4gb/zfulltable.png

As such, please refer to point #3.

 

[computerbuildin]

once you apply AA and AF filters the performance advantage is largely academic due to a GPU bottleneck.

What do you mean by this? How exactly am I being bottlenecked?

 

[RussianSensation]

What do you mean by this? How exactly am I being bottlenecked?

No single GPU besides the $900 Titan can power 3 monitors your size in modern games with antialiasing. It takes 1 7970 or 670 just to get 60+ fps on just a single 1080p screen in BF3. So either get 2 cards or you will have to turn down settings unless you are fine gaming at 25-30 fps with antialiasing.

 

[parvadomus]

No single GPU besides the $900 Titan can power 3 monitors your size in modern games with antialiasing. It takes 1 7970 or 670 just to get 60+ fps on just a single 1080p screen in BF3. So either get 2 cards or you will have to turn down settings unless you are fine gaming at 25-30 fps with antialiasing.

You really think titan will max out a current AAA game at 3xscreens with AA? Titan will get bandwidth limited very fast. It has the same bandwidth as 7970Ghz.
The only way to do it is to crossfire 7970s or SLI 680, (preferably 7970s).
Example

 

[computerbuildin]

Guys guys, im fine with turning AA off, plus im not playing graphics-on-crack games like BF3. Maybe some close to as good as it, but any "modern" games like you said, I will turn AA off it its really bad. I have a question now though. Since games are extremely demanding on 3 monitors, some people are saying I might just end up sli'ing or CF'ing. Some are saying though if I do that im better off with the 670 ftw+. Is this true?

 

[CurrentlyPissed]

Check your PMs please.



So you don't have access to FS/T and a member has told you the rules that you cannot sell outside of FS?T

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=34633349&highlight=#post34633349

You acknowledge this, and you are still trying to sell outside of FS/T by sending PMs to members to buy you stuff?

esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[computerbuildin]

Wait wait, what IS THIS. Linus only has 1 "6870" in, and it does triple 46" TV's flawlessly. The graphics on the camera look great, and he is getting amazing fps, so im figuring if he can do that then ill have even better luck with the gigabyte card. And yes yes I know he definitely lowered the settings but it still looks great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mJeefx5_Qc