580 GTX SLI

[king_maliken]

Well I'm not usually the one asking questions on here, but me and a friend have arguing for the past week on this matter.
The question is, do you really need the 3GB model of the 580 GTX to not run out of vram while running SLI?
To specify, this is mainly regarding 3D gaming, he wants to build a computer for 3D gaming specifically hence running resolutions of 1080p on a single monitor, but he eventually wants to move to tri monitor 3D gaming (3D surround) but does not have the cash at the moment. To do so he'll have to have an SLI rig (and on top of it all he does like to go big or go home hence he only wants 580s and nothing else) but will he need 3GB or 1.5GB for maxed out visuals (that includes max possible AA settings).

Thanks

 

[x Heavy]

I run two 3 gig GTX 580's in SLI. During BF3 Beta the Afterburner Utility reported that both cards consumed up to 4.5 of the 6 total Vram available.

Recent games did not pull anywhere nearly as much. I think it was MW2 that only pulled 480 or so mb on each card during gaming.

I do run HDMI on a 1080p capable monitor.

As a side note, you are looking at 16 gigs of matched Gskill goodness in my picture and the game has used up to 45% at times. Thank goodness I am overclocked at 2133 ram and have Ballistix Cooler working on it.

 

[inzone]

When you run at a resolution of 2560x1600 you will need the extra vram for that resolution. Vram is not the same as system memory it is only used in the display resolutions and if you are going to be running three monitors at 1080p you will need the extra vram.

 

[ilysaml]

I run two 3 gig GTX 580's in SLI. During BF3 Beta the Afterburner Utility reported that both cards consumed up to 4.5 of the 6 total Vram available.

That's simply untrue, SLI/CF doesn't double the amount of VRAM.

 

[ilysaml]

Well I'm not usually the one asking questions on here, but me and a friend have arguing for the past week on this matter.
The question is, do you really need the 3GB model of the 580 GTX to not run out of vram while running SLI?
To specify, this is mainly regarding 3D gaming, he wants to build a computer for 3D gaming specifically hence running resolutions of 1080p on a single monitor, but he eventually wants to move to tri monitor 3D gaming (3D surround) but does not have the cash at the moment. To do so he'll have to have an SLI rig (and on top of it all he does like to go big or go home hence he only wants 580s and nothing else) but will he need 3GB or 1.5GB for maxed out visuals (that includes max possible AA settings).

Thanks

The only benefit from the extra VRAM is when dealing with high resolution (above 1080P) in order not to have a frame buffer issue. Even 1.5 GB of VRAM is so good for 2560x resolution.
But if he is going to do 3D surround setup, this will require 2 Cards in SLI and the EXTRA VRAM here would help, because he will be dealing with 5760 x 1080 resolution.

 

[king_maliken]

Why would you run 2 GTX 580s 3gb versions on only a 1080p panel? Really? You spend that much on 2 cards you should be running at least 30' 2560 x 1600 panel like me. anything less is such a waste with those 2 cards in SLI. I'll never understand those that do this with $1200+ worth of cards you could swing a $1200 IPS 30' panel...or even 2 or 3...

Again the point is not to run only one monitor at 1080p... The eventual goal is to run 3 monitors at 1080p. And btw the size of the screen does not matter, only the resolution and refresh rate. At 5760 x 1080 I believe that he will buffer at least 2.some GB for a game like BF3. For the people who didn't know, vram does not simply add up when in SLI/CF it will in fact revert to the smallest denominator (so if your running a 1.5gb and a 3gb setup, you don't have 4.5gb vram available but only 1.5gb running (when in SLI)).

I would like some actual data on how much vram use on specific applications or games for NVIDIA's cards, since I cannot directly compare with my ATI cards. However, I can say that if you're running a 6950 CF it better be the 2gb versions or you will be stunted heavily by maxing out your vram (even when running a 1080p single monitor setup). Also from what I can tell from most of the reviews I read thus far the amount of vRAM required does not alter if 3D or not, because it's not adding much more demand since you are not adding any samples (but I can honestly say I have not read thoroughly on 3D yet, in the process though)

Thanks, and please don't post bogus posts

 

[king_maliken]

The only benefit from the extra VRAM is when dealing with high resolution (above 1080P) in order not to have a frame buffer issue. Even 1.5 GB of VRAM is so good for 2560x resolution.
But if he is going to do 3D surround setup, this will require 2 Cards in SLI and the EXTRA VRAM here would help, because he will be dealing with 5760 x 1080 resolution.

Not the only thing, it depends on how many samples you're running as well, AA can make you buffer a hell of a lot more samples and so will make more demand on vRAM.

 

[ilysaml]

Not the only thing, it depends on how many samples you're running as well, AA can make you buffer a hell of a lot more samples and so will make more demand on vRAM.

Not sure of what you're talking about, but the only benefit from the extra VRAM is in high resolution, and VRAM hungry games such as the new GTA and Crysis 2

 

[Gothams Finest]

That's simply untrue, SLI/CF doesn't double the amount of VRAM.

Agreed. SLI/CF does not double the amount of VRAM.