3x 2560x1440 monitors - best card(s) to push them with?

Jahx

Weaksauce
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As the title says.

I am getting back into gaming after a long haitus, and need to upgrade from my aging 5850, which drives my screens just fine for productivity.

What card/combination of cards would be the best? I am looking to keep this under 1k USD. I do have SLI/CF on my board dual 16x lanes.
 
Triple 1440p monitor gaming? I think for $1000 your only bet will be picking up two gtx 780s (used preferably) or two AMD 290(x) cards. If you can get a good deal on 290(x)s it may be better for the high resolution.
 
Gaming at 2560 x 1440 times 3? You need every bit of power you can get. For $1000 bucks SLI gtx 780's. Right now with coin mining prices on 290 and 290x cards are too high. New cards from nVidia are coming so MAYBE there will be some price drops on the gtx 780 ti cards, but there is no pressure on nVidia to have to lower prices right now. No matter what you get, thats a lot of pixels and you will have to turn settings down in newer games.

If you decide to only game on one monitor and use 3 for everything else, the gtx 780's will be outstanding.
 
Obviously you'll want either the two best cards. 290x or the 780Ti. Take your choice. Now if you have some time you may want to wait a bit because I think Q2 2014 has something new coming out. At least I hear there will be anyway. Might want to look into that.
 
Your budget won't provide a decent gaminh experience for three 1440p monitors. You're better off going with a single 120hz 1440p monitor (overlord tempest, upcoming asus swift, etc) and 2 or 3 780s/780 tis. You won't hit 60hz with triple 1440p monitors unless you have some serious gpu horsepower. With only two 780s you'll have to lower settings significantly.
 
Thanks folks - I haven't played any real games in a while (2-3 years), so I will probably be starting with some older titles first. It looks like the 290x and the GTX780Ti are the cards to beat, and they are at the same price point. My thoughts are I will get one card initially while I rock the older titles, and then when I get to the new hat, i'll get the second for SLI/CF. My question is this - being as, if I understand correctly, both SLI/CF are limited to the max VRAM of a single card, would I be better off with the 290x having 4gb of VRAM on it? I have Skyrim on my list of games to play, a few months down the list granted, and I understand from my Oblivion days that with the visual mods it can really eat up some VRAM.
 
For that many pixels I like the 290's with their 64 ROPs. Seems the best bank for the buck. Probably want two.
 
Yes, with a lot of texture mods Skyrim will overload the vram of a 780 ti, but it will do the same to a 290x as well. Remember you're going to be gaming on a larger res than 4k, and Skyrim can easily break 3gb vram at 1080p with mods. Since both cards are going to be a bottleneck, get the 780 ti. It's flat out faster, cooler, and quieter. A non ref ti like the Classy or Kingpin is your best bet. The 780 is still better bang for your buck though. You can get 3 780s for the price of two tis so as long as you have a strong enough psu it's better to go with the 780s imo.

I still think you'd be better off with 120hz 1440p though. You won't run into a vram bottleneck with a single screen, and 120hz is a joy for gaming.
 
May I suggest R9-290 non reference.You get 4GB will be great in Skyrim with all the mods installed ,
Not a significant speed difference from 290X.

I do prefer AMD crossfire at the monent, I switched out from Nvidia SLI to AMD Crossfire,all I can say there both equally good,but I wish Hybird Physx with new Batman Origins was not locked down by Nvidia.
 
Thanks folks - I haven't played any real games in a while (2-3 years), so I will probably be starting with some older titles first. It looks like the 290x and the GTX780Ti are the cards to beat, and they are at the same price point. My thoughts are I will get one card initially while I rock the older titles, and then when I get to the new hat, i'll get the second for SLI/CF. My question is this - being as, if I understand correctly, both SLI/CF are limited to the max VRAM of a single card, would I be better off with the 290x having 4gb of VRAM on it? I have Skyrim on my list of games to play, a few months down the list granted, and I understand from my Oblivion days that with the visual mods it can really eat up some VRAM.

Just get vanilla 780s (non ti) and SLI them. The 780 when overclocked to an appropriate level (not even a high OC, either) passes the 780ti, anyway.....

All of the AMD R9 cards are WAY overpriced right now due to cryptocoin mania if you're in the US or Canada. NV has the best bang for the buck with either the 770 4GB sli, 780 3GB sli - of the two I like the 780 better, as it has more OC headroom.
 
Just get vanilla 780s (non ti) and SLI them. The 780 when overclocked to an appropriate level (not even a high OC, either) passes the 780ti, anyway.....

All of the AMD R9 cards are WAY overpriced right now due to cryptocoin mania if you're in the US or Canada. NV has the best bang for the buck with either the 770 4GB sli, 780 3GB sli - of the two I like the 780 better, as it has more OC headroom.

You can't really compare an oced 780 to a stock 780 ti, but I do agree that the 780 is a better value. Two or three non ref 780s is epic bang for the buck performance
 
I have never been one of those guys to even mention vram when recommending cards, but this is one time when it's warranted. Titans, 290's, or 290x. Obviously you are going to be over your budget! You are talking nearly 12 million pixels, a tall order for a pair of gpu' s.
 
I have never been one of those guys to even mention vram when recommending cards, but this is one time when it's warranted. Titans, 290's, or 290x. Obviously you are going to be over your budget! You are talking nearly 12 million pixels, a tall order for a pair of gpu' s.

The 780 ti will be faster than the 290x at these resolutions and will be fine in most games without aa, but the fact remains any single card solution won't be enough for this resolution at decent settings.
 
My vote goes to NVIDIA 780 x2 if you want to keep your budget relatively low. I don't know how you are going to do this with under $1k though...sub-1k sounds more reasonable.
 
As the title says.

I am getting back into gaming after a long haitus, and need to upgrade from my aging 5850, which drives my screens just fine for productivity.

What card/combination of cards would be the best? I am looking to keep this under 1k USD. I do have SLI/CF on my board dual 16x lanes.

When upgrading GPUs just buy one that's two to three times faster as your current one, based on this chart:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+6850

Also I second what the other members are saying, you'll be better off with a 144hz 1080p monitor.
 
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The arguments between 2x 780s and 2x 290s will go on and on. Both will be solid solutions for what you are looking for around the same price point. Pick your poison and have a blast gaming on your new system!
 
Also I second what the other members are saying, you'll be better off with a 144hz 1080p monitor.

I have two gaming systems, the first with a 32" LG LCD and the second with 3x 27" 1080P LCDs. If the game is a console port and supports eyefinity, then I play on the triple screen with a gamepad and modest settings. Everything else I play on the single 1080P system will the settings as high as they will go.

Some of the best gaming experiences I have recently had are on the eyefinity system (Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, Tomb Raider, ME2, etc), so if you want 3 screens, go for it!
 
3gb cards will only allow for 1gb per monitor, would anyone recommend a 1gb card for a single 1440p display? I stand by my recommendation, and would even go a step.further and say that 3 titans with custom bios and a good oc is the only solution I would personally use.
 
This is one of those things where I would take all this advice with a grain of salt and wait till some people that actually run the setup chime in.
 
I have that setup right now and I am using 2xTitans. It can't handle everything at Ultra though. If you want everything you need a triple card setup, either 3 780s or 3 290xs. You can get away with 2 just won't get all the eye candy.
 
I would settle for more than 3gb of Vram if I was going to drop that much money on video cards.
 
My recent build last month I went triple 1440p. I can run pretty much everything on Ultra fairly playable. Some games are more fluid than others of course. I'd recommend getting the best you can afford.

I went crossfire 290x (Sapphire reference). They're not as loud as some people give them off to be. Sure, after a while of gaming the sound is very noticeable. I usually game with my headset on and you can't hear anything of course.

If you can find a good deal on 290/290x, I'd definitely go that route. A lot of the reviews, even on [H] point that at higher resolutions the 290 series is better. I've been a lifelong nvidia fan and these are my first red cards, haven't had any issues tbh.
 
Unless OP is planning on water cooling, I'd avoid the 290 and 290x (especially reference) like the plague. They're hot, loud, and don't overclock for ****. While the extra 1gb vram over the 780 ti and 780 is nice, Nvidia still has the faster, cooler, and quieter cards, even at 4k+. Add overclocking to the mix and Nvidia wins hands down. And if OP lives in the States, he'll have to deal with the ridiculous AMD tax that retailers have been piling on the red cards.
 
Unless OP is planning on water cooling, I'd avoid the 290 and 290x (especially reference) like the plague. They're hot, loud, and don't overclock for ****. While the extra 1gb vram over the 780 ti and 780 is nice, Nvidia still has the faster, cooler, and quieter cards, even at 4k+. Add overclocking to the mix and Nvidia wins hands down. And if OP lives in the States, he'll have to deal with the ridiculous AMD tax that retailers have been piling on the red cards.

I guess someone needs to read today's review... Also many of the reviews have pointed to the 290x being every bit as capable as the 780 Ti. Only heat and noise have really been a factor.
 
As someone who has 3 dell 27" monitors and 2 unlocked 290s on water, BF4 is playable at ultra. I recently added a third card because I got a smoking deal on it. If you can get your hands on 290s at or below MSRP those are the way to go.
 
I have 2x 780ti's With 3x 2560x1600 monitors. Every game I've loaded up is more than 'playable' at near-max settings. The only thing I have to drop down is AA and Supersampling, and games look amazing (I doubt you even notice these settings at this resolution). I'm extremely happy with them.

I got rid of my 290xs because portrait eyefinity + crossfire is beyond broken, at least in the latest drivers.
 
How big is your power supply? I haven't heard anyone bring it up yet, but these video cards suck down a lot of juice, and if you only have a 500w or 600w power supply, you may need to budget for a larger power supply (800 - 1000w). The nVidia cards draw less power than the AMD cards, so that's something else to take into account.
 
I have 1000 watt seasonic p/s.

My current theory is that I will pick up a single 290x, and once I get through the older games, I will crossfire it with another 290x.
 
I have 1000 watt seasonic p/s.

My current theory is that I will pick up a single 290x, and once I get through the older games, I will crossfire it with another 290x.

Yes, that is a wiser choice. The gap from the 780TI will start to widen once you start cranking up the resolutions, especially on BF4.

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For that many pixels I like the 290's with their 64 ROPs. Seems the best bank for the buck. Probably want two.

^This. A pair of 290 (non X). You won't be playing max settings, but you can get a good gaming experience.

Are any of your monitor's DP capable?
 
Yeah you want the 290's for this; the R9 cards do a lot better at high resolutions that the nvidia equivalents. I'd recommend 2x290's + a healthy overclock and calling it a day. The 290X's don't seem to be worth the extra money from most of the benchmarks out there.
 
Plus there is still the off chance you can unlock your 290 :) I have 3 normal 290s unlocked to 290x.
 
For me I'd go with 2xR9 290's, I run 7680x1600 on 2x7970's and it's not quite enough, never has been.
 
I guess someone needs to read today's review... Also many of the reviews have pointed to the 290x being every bit as capable as the 780 Ti. Only heat and noise have really been a factor.

Lol no. The 780 ti edges out the 290x at stock clocks across tge board. Some games run slightly better kn the 290x, but overall the ti is faster. Once you add in overclocking, the ti is the clear winner. A non ref ti at 1300+ decimates every current overclocked 290x.
 
Lol no. The 780 ti edges out the 290x at stock clocks across tge board. Some games run slightly better kn the 290x, but overall the ti is faster. Once you add in overclocking, the ti is the clear winner. A non ref ti at 1300+ decimates every current overclocked 290x.
So you still didn't read the review. Stop talking out of your ass and spreading misinformation.
 
Lol no. The 780 ti edges out the 290x at stock clocks across tge board. Some games run slightly better kn the 290x, but overall the ti is faster. Once you add in overclocking, the ti is the clear winner. A non ref ti at 1300+ decimates every current overclocked 290x.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. I like Nvidia as much as the next guy, but performance is performance. And the reviews show that AMDs 290x outperforms the GTX 780 Ti at large resolutions. Which if I am not mistaken, is exactly what we are talking about here.
 
Thanks for the replies folks. As you might have gathered by the fact that I am still running a 5850, I tend to have a llllloooonnnngggg upgrade cycle. Back in 2009, I want to say I payed 300ish for it, and at the time I was running 2x 2560x1600 30" monitors, and I only gamed on one. I will pull the trigger this week a R9 290 w/non-reference cooling, as I feel that is the best in terms of longevity.
 
Thanks for the replies folks. As you might have gathered by the fact that I am still running a 5850, I tend to have a llllloooonnnngggg upgrade cycle. Back in 2009, I want to say I payed 300ish for it, and at the time I was running 2x 2560x1600 30" monitors, and I only gamed on one. I will pull the trigger this week a R9 290 w/non-reference cooling, as I feel that is the best in terms of longevity.

No problem feel free to ping those of us already running these crazy ridiculous setups. If you get the one R9 290 and can flash it to the 290x that is great. If you can't then buying a second may not quite have the juice you may be looking for to run full at 7680x1440 setup. I have been on the fence myself about trading in my Titans for some 290xs myself.
 
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