120 FPS GPU Upgrade

[ArchType]

Hey guys recently bought a 120hz screen, but my poor 560ti can't stretch to 120fps on games such as FPS, I am looking for a card to play at 1920x1080 @120fps
I've considered the new http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3gb-x...l-dvi-i-hdmi-m. How likely am I to hit 120 fps on say BF3 Ultra?

My rig
I5 2500k@ 4.0GHZ
8Gb Corsair DDR3
Msi Twin Frozr 3 1GB 560ti
ASUS P8P67 Pro

The only problem I can see is that I have no PCIE3 slots, is this a problem?
Thanks Arch

[noteworthynerd]

How likely am I to hit 120 fps on say BF3 Ultra?

Not very. Last I read, to reach 120 FPS in BF3 at 1920x1080, you'll need to crossfire, not even a 6990 can attain that level of performance in 64-player maps.

And PCIe 2.0 is fine, no video card on the market can cap 2.0 speeds, so 3.0 is basically a gimmick at this point (not to mention, you need an Ivy Bridge CPU to utilize 3.0).

Edit: The Anandtech 6990 tests show an average 63 FPS at 1900x1200 on "true"-Ultra, can't expect much more than that at 1080p. The Tom's Hardware "What do I need for Ultra" (nVidia here / AMD here) shows that the 590 manages 79 FPS at 1920x1080 while the 6970 manages 44.

[ArchType]

Not very. Last I read, to reach 120 FPS in BF3 at 1920x1080, you'll need to crossfire, not even a 6990 can attain that level of performance in 64-player maps.

And PCIe 2.0 is fine, no video card on the market can cap 2.0 speeds, so 3.0 is basically a gimmick at this point (not to mention, you need an Ivy Bridge CPU to utilize 3.0).

Edit: The Anandtech 6990 tests show an average 63 FPS at 1900x1200 on Ultra, can't expect much more than that at 1080p.

I am relieved to hear the PCIE3 doesn't mean anything, it just worried me when that it says the only interface is PCIE 3, too be honest I would fine with high/ultra no aa, as long as I could hit 120.

[noteworthynerd]

The 7950 might be able to handle that, but I'm still doubtful, BF3 is incredibly taxing on your system as a whole, especially your video card... It may be worth waiting to see what nVidia comes out with in the coming weeks/months, it is very possible that one of the new upper-range Kepler video cards (GTX 670 for example) will be able to handle 120FPS on Ultra (no AA) at 1920x1080.

[Nab]

I have a GTX 590 overclocked by around 15% and I still can't push more than 80FPS outdoors in BF3 @ Ultra. A highly overclocked 7970 could maybe do it, 2 definitely will.

[ArchType]

Yeah, I am not planning on buying it till around June/july, so I am interested in what Nvidia will bring out.

[noteworthynerd]

Yeah, 120FPS in BF3 on a single card is virtually impossible right now, should have went with an 60Hz IPS panel like the 24" Dell Ultrasharp instead. I know I can't tell the difference between one and a 120Hz monitor.

[Lirina]

My buddy has 2 580's. They can run it at max. But I don't see just one card doing it. Even a 590...BF 32/32 is very demanding on ultra.

[Chronius]

A 120hz screen doesn't need 120fps, it just allows you to turn off vsync and you won't see screen tearing untill you go above 120fps.

[Xuvial]

Welcome to the 120hz club everything feels insanely smooth doesn't it?
It's most important to note that the visual difference between "full Ultra" and slightly lower settings is borderline impossible to tell apart, especially when your main focus is on killing people and not getting killed. I've beeing running Crysis 2 MP and BF3 MP at customized settings (mostly High with 2xAA) and that allows me to average 100-120fps at 1080p with a single GTX580 (10% OC).
But yeah, if you seriously want Ultra at 120fps no single card can do that. I'm thinking 7950 Crossfire or 580 SLI but even then you most likely won't average 120fps, probably around the 80-90 mark with dips down to 60-70 when shit gets really intense.

A 120hz screen doesn't need 120fps, it just allows you to turn off vsync and you won't see screen tearing untill you go above 120fps.

It's still best to enable vSync + triple buffering for an extra boost in fps.

[GG you got me]

You'll need at least crossfired heavily OC'd 7970's to approach the performance that you want and it won't be with 4x MSAA. Unfortunately even if the 560ti's had the core clock and stream processors to potentially push the fps, they don't have the VRAM to do it in BF3 in any configuration (1x, 2x sli etc).

Also Xuvial I don't know who told you that enabling vsync and triple buffering increases your fps but not only is that completely inaccurate, it's also very likely to introduce noticeable mouse lag. Unless you're playing single player and going for immaculate picture fidelity, you absolutely never enable vsync and triple buffering in an FPS game. Ever.

[glo]

I think the real question here is whether or not $1200+ USD is worth it to you to v-sync at 120 instead of 60.

As other posters have mentioned, even if you do, it's not going to -stay- at 120 all the time, and you'll notice sync changes back and forth. Pretty sure that would prove more distracting than it's worth, negating the whole idea anyway.

[dicertification]

This is why I would invest in IPS before 120hz. IPS is an always better picture, even sitting at the desktop. Just my oppinion

[Deleted]

Running 3 GTX580's and an overclocked 2600K and it's very rare i see 120FPS for extended amounts of time. Sure, some times i can get 130FPS, but only when there's not much going on. In combat on a 64-player server where everyone and their mother is using USAS frag or RPG in close proximity, it's going down to 70FPS. There's not a system out there that'll push 120FPS consistently at ultra at 1080p, not just yet anyway. Maybe when we start seeing the GTX690's and HD7990's in SLI/CrossfireX and Ivy Bridge chips (or the 3990X if that ever makes it to retail), we might see it.

It's not that it's not possible with the engine. It's just an unrealistic request at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPVbHVlWfI

[noteworthynerd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPVbHVlWfI

I'm not sure what this video is supposed to prove, he often drops below 120FPS, and sometimes even below 100, which is what Synthaxx said would happen.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure what this video is supposed to prove, he often drops below 120FPS, and sometimes even below 100, which is what Synthaxx said would happen.

He said that it's impossible to reach that fps with today's hardware.My point is that you can get constant 120 fps in bf3 with 7970,and if u think x2 7970 deeps too often bellow 120fps grab 2 more of these.

[noteworthynerd]

No, he said that it was impossible to maintain a constant 120FPS. He also said that it was an unrealistic request on hardware today. I'd hardly consider Quad-7970s realistic.

[Jakexe]

You'll be needing SLI/crossfire high end cards to pull that off as other's as stated. Might even need high end factory clocked cards for it. I bounce between 80-120 fps on my build.

[sixx]

Tbh, wait for the new cards that are coming out, you'll get something better than that at around the same price.

[Shinzai]

What would be the point of running a game at 120fps, based on tv make, given that 90% of 120hz tvs just run the same image at 60hz twice and interlace it, to create a smoother over all image?