Upgrading for surround gaming

[maxxkillaz]

I've had this urge to play wow stretched across 3 screens for the last two weeks and I'm entertaining the idea of going that route.

I'm currently running a single galaxy gtx 480 soc in an msi p67-gd80 b3 motherboard.
I play on a 24" 1920x1200 monitor currently and will be grabbing two more so my resolution would be 5760x1200.

I'm questioning whether I should get a second gtx 480 (something that can I can OC relatively close to the galaxy card) and if it would even fit?

Thanks!

 

[LigTasm]

GTX 480 can be had for very cheap now, some of them under $250 on amazon. Your board is a good choice for SLI with plenty of space between the slots.

What PSU and case do you have? GTX 480 are hot and use a lot of power so that is something to consider.

Switching to a Radeon 6950 will get you 3 screens for about the same price as adding a 480 but not nearly the same processing power.

 

[maxxkillaz]

Thermaltake Black Widow 850W
HAF 932 AMD Edition (Removed all tracings of AMD however, I liked the red and painted the interior black)

 

[LigTasm]

Case should handle the heat just fine, I'm not sure how many watts a pair of GTX 480 use but that 850 might be cutting it close. I'm sure someone else in here knows the answer to that though.

 

[hierovision]

850W is plenty for SLI 480's. This article from last year shows 624 watts in Furmark, and we all know that's not representative of real-world loads.

http://www.geeks3d.com/20100414/power-consumption-of-two-gtx-480-in-sli-with-furmark-and-3dmark03/

 

[xbonez]

I've run 2 470s + 8800GT on an 850W PSU (Corsair 850TX), but the PSU was loaded and under full load (folding), I could hear some capacitors occasionally whining.

 

[skruideli]

I would not use that power supply if I were you, as far as I am aware, all the thermaltake TR2 (or Black Widow) series supplies are terrible products and will not deliver their rated wattage at realistic temperatures, they also have trouble staying in ATX spec.

Here is a review of the 750 W:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermaltake-TR2-RX-750-W-Power-Supply-Review/902/1

 

[teletran8]

Case should handle the heat just fine, I'm not sure how many watts a pair of GTX 480 use but that 850 might be cutting it close. I'm sure someone else in here knows the answer to that though.

They peak out at 250 watts each.

 

[maxxkillaz]

Thanks for the input on the power supply, it was definitely under scrutiny whether it would handle the added card.

I had a 1000w silverstone psu that I had purchased from another member here go out on me. Needed my gaming fix and that was the best that Best Buy had on stock. (live in Bellingham, WA, nearest Fry's is about a hundred miles away) Needless to say, he never did end up helping with the RMA.