1. #1

    Surround Gaming requirements

    My dream rig would be one that could support HD 3D Surround Gaming with a set up of three 1080p displays.

    I found the GPU requirements on the nVidia site, but what I'm looking to find out is what setups can barely perform and which ones can easily perform.

    I'm looking at nVidia cards, and I know the GTX 590 is the most expensive on the market, so I assume it's one of the better GPUs.

    So what GPU and how many do I need to operate a three-display Surroung Gaming setup pretty smoothly?

  2. #2
    Scarab Lord Djinni's Avatar
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    2x 560ti's should be above average, 2x 570's should be fairly decent, 2x 580's would be smooth.

    2x 590's is a massive expensive and you won't really see the benefit, however you CAN run 3 screens from a single 590 card (since it's a multi GPU card)

    ---------- Post added 2011-07-26 at 11:41 PM ----------

    Something I do need to do some more research on about this is the use of VRAM while using multiple cards, apparently in SLI the VRAM get's mirrored to both cards, so 2x 560ti 1gb cards would still only effectively have 1gb of VRAM not 2gb.

  3. #3
    Assuming that price equals quality doesn't always strike true. Like Razer-products, for instance.

    The GTX590 is, however, a very good card. It is however, a dual GPU-card, so it's like two graphics cards baked into one.
    That isn't all gold and party, though, as they've had to scale down the clockfrequencies to be able to meet the rated power-consumption for PCI-E.

    The GTX590 can alone handle three screens, the only non-nonreference (double negation is redundant here? Yes and no) card from nVidia that is capable of doing so.
    It also handles it pretty well. Do be aware that I cannot guarantee that you'll be able to keep yourself at >60 fps then, without lowering settings. Big resolutions are the most known universal powerhogs there are. (while shadows are in specific titles as well)

    ---------- Post added 2011-07-27 at 12:43 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Djinni View Post
    Something I do need to do some more research on about this is the use of VRAM while using multiple cards, apparently in SLI the VRAM get's mirrored to both cards, so 2x 560ti 1gb cards would still only effectively have 1gb of VRAM not 2gb.
    Indeed. Which is why you need to have the same amount of memory in SLI. But not Crossfire, iirc.

    2x 560 Tis would be cheaper than a single 590, but I'd say it also would perform worse, because of the lesser VRAM and that the 590 is more inline with two 570s.
     

  4. #4
    Scarab Lord Djinni's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tetrisgoat View Post
    stuff
    I think the 295 can too... (the previous multi gpu card from nvidia)

    ---------- Post added 2011-07-26 at 11:45 PM ----------

    GeForce GTX 295

    (boards with 2 DVI and 1 HDMI connectors)
    Multi-GPU

    Note: This is only supported in
    Surround (2D) or using 3D Vision
    Surround with projectors only,
    it is not supported with 3D Vision
    Surround with 3D LCDs

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Djinni View Post
    I think the 290 can too... (the previous multi gpu card from nvidia)
    I'm not sure there even was a 290. The 295 was the multi-GPU card though.
    I'm unsure whether it could run 3x displays (although I'm hesitant to believe it would), but I know for a fact that they can't support 3x 3D, which the OP is wanting, but I lazily omitted from my initial reply.

    EDIT - having three ports do not guarantee all three ports work. I can almost say that the 295 doesn't support three screens, because one DVI always shares port with an HDMI, unless you're using a special non-reference solution. My GTX460 has 2xDVI and 1xHDMI, and I don't see why the 295 would be different.

    http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...tx_295_us.html suggests that it can only support two screens.
    Last edited by BicycleMafioso; 2011-07-26 at 10:49 PM.
     

  6. #6
    High Overlord Repeant's Avatar
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    Nvidia's GTX 590 is currently the best single card GPU on the market (unless Radeon has released a new card) and is essentially 2 video cards stacked in one. It has 3 DVI ports and all new generation cards support multiple displays, so you should have no issues running 2 or 3 displays. However you can also go for a multiple-card approach and get a pair of decent video cards to run your multiple monitors and probably end up paying less.

    However when it comes right down to it the 590 should have no issue running all 3 monitors at the same time, the card is currently unrivaled meaning that if you have to replace your computer down the line it's almost guaranteed that your card will still deliver above average performance.

  7. #7
    Thanks for the great information you've provided me, this was exactly what I was looking for.

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