2160p gaming on a strict $2500 budget

[nikoli707]

for near maxed out gaming at 65" samsung un65f9000, would a system like this realistically offer high quality gaming at 2160p? i know crossfire has it issues but as far as scaling im not sure if it would be a viable option. also im concerned about heat with those 290s, but adding 4-6 cheap near free quiet kingwin fans to the case from tigerdirect wouldn't hurt the price too much. are there any issues one would run into with a setup like this?

also i know there will likely be micro stutter but ive seen it a few years ago with cfx 6950s and it really didn't bother me too much... but hasn't it been improved a lot in the past few years?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($71.25 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.95 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card (4-Way CrossFire) ($299.36 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card (4-Way CrossFire) ($299.36 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card (4-Way CrossFire) ($299.36 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card (4-Way CrossFire) ($299.36 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Titanium Grey) ATX Full Tower Case ($100.00 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower XT 1375W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2503.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-18 23:57 EDT-0400)

mostly concerned with games like battlefield 4, crysis 3, titanfall, watchdogs, gta v, and other up coming games for the next couple years and running them near max(not anti aliasing of course).

 

[babernet_1]

You are really kidding yourself if you think you can go quad with the video cards on an AMD processor?

First of all, quad boards pretty much don't work with any game. You would be real lucky if even three were better than two. Much better off getting two really good cards.

Second, AMD processors only have the equivalent of a PCIE 3.0 X8 data path between the graphics boards and themselves. The Intels have a PCIE 3.0 X16 path so the bandwidth is doubled. I'd go with a 4770K and two Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X boards. That's enough to get some good frame rates. As I said, going triple and quad wouldn't help. You cannot even use two 295X2 boards (quad GPU chips). Just doesn't work.

Let me know if you want a build.

 

[Christopher Hamilton]

You are really kidding yourself if you think you can go quad with the video cards on an AMD processor?

First of all, quad boards pretty much don't work with any game. You would be real lucky if even three were better than two. Much better off getting two really good cards.

Second, AMD processors only have the equivalent of a PCIE 3.0 X8 data path between the graphics boards and themselves. The Intels have a PCIE 3.0 X16 path so the bandwidth is doubled. I'd go with a 4770K and two Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X boards. That's enough to get some good frame rates. As I said, going triple and quad wouldn't help. You cannot even use two 295X2 boards (quad GPU chips). Just doesn't work.

Let me know if you want a build.

Actually they did some interesting tests on Tri-Fire over at HardOCP

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/05/13/amd_radeon_r9_295x2_xfx_290x_dd_trifire_review#.U3mHjPldWs8

Might be worth a read.

 

[babernet_1]

You are really kidding yourself if you think you can go quad with the video cards on an AMD processor?

First of all, quad boards pretty much don't work with any game. You would be real lucky if even three were better than two. Much better off getting two really good cards.

Second, AMD processors only have the equivalent of a PCIE 3.0 X8 data path between the graphics boards and themselves. The Intels have a PCIE 3.0 X16 path so the bandwidth is doubled. I'd go with a 4770K and two Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X boards. That's enough to get some good frame rates. As I said, going triple and quad wouldn't help. You cannot even use two 295X2 boards (quad GPU chips). Just doesn't work.

Let me know if you want a build.

Actually they did some interesting tests on Tri-Fire over at HardOCP

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/05/13/amd_radeon_r9_295x2_xfx_290x_dd_trifire_review#.U3mHjPldWs8

Might be worth a read.

Did you notice the hardly existing increase in frame rates despite thousands of extra dollars in costs? Did you notice the extreme variations in frame rates? It's called stuttering. No, two top quality R9 290X's are your best bet, preferably Sapphire Vapor-X ones.

 

[nikoli707]

This isn't thousands of extra dollars, its $1200 shipped. thats in reality the question im asking. would going with two 780ti's in sli for... roughly $1250, offer better gaming, performance, frame rate, micro stutter, all overall at 4k than four 290s in cfx. dont really care about synthetics. but as long as the micro stutter isn't as bad as it was back in the 5xx/6xxx days, which again was tolerable, which from what i hear its much better these days... though i dont know about past 2 gpus.

 

[babernet_1]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($166.49 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.43 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($606.13 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($606.13 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill THOR V2-W ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master V1000 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2532.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-19 10:45 EDT-0400)

This should give you good performance. Note that your 4K display is like four 1920X1080 displays, so the 780ti with 3GB would ony have 0.75GB per display while the R9 290X would have a full GB per display.

 

[babernet_1]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($166.49 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.43 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($606.13 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($606.13 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill THOR V2-W ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master V1000 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2532.09
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-19 10:45 EDT-0400)

Note the 780ti has only 0.75GB per display while the R9 290X has a full GB per display. This is because your 4K display is like four 1920X1080 displays.