Altermatives to installing two 6990's?

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johnstac

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Feb 23, 2007
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For $1400 there has to be a better alternative! I want to set up a high end eyefinity rig using 3 monitors at 27" or 30". (Haven't decided yet which monitors). I would just like to know if there is a better alternative for the money. What would be second best?
 
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You could go with the 3G version of the GTX580 and SLI.
A GTX580 is far more powerful than a 6970 and the 3G version add's another 1G of VRAM compared to the 6970 which will give you increased performance at such high resolutions as Nvidia Surround and Eyefinity.

MSI GTX580 Lightening 3G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589

You would need a very powerful CPU for a 6990 crossfire so you don't bottleneck.You way overpay for performance in that way.
 
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Too may problems with CF. I'm about to give up on it. I want to just tell you to get 3x 6970's, but I can't honestly say that you will be happy with it.

I also can't comment on the 3GB GTX 580 SLI suggestion, since i never owned any. But I did have a GTX 570 SLI set up, and it was much less problematic then the CF set up I have now. FPS rates were a little lower but the games seemed a lot smoother.

I decided to go the AMD route because I thought that 4GB of RAM would yield better performance across 3 monitors then 2.5GB offered by 2x GTX 570's. I was wrong.
 
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you will also overpay for performance with 2 580's,A 6990 wins about 7 outta 12 benchmarks.Crossfire works great,never an issue,3870's,4870's,5850's and now 5870's.
I find that most issues are user issues.
I was running 3 1920X1200 monitors in eyefinity with the 5870's,BFBC2 full settings and it ran flawlessly.with a 1090T only at 3.8G.
 
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Some, not most. Modern computer parts go through zero QC, unless you are paying for the very top tier parts, like this one here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121470. People get defective parts all the time and sometimes don't even realize it. There shouldn't be any user issues because everything is plug and play now.

When I first got my new GPU's, I forgot to plug in the 6pin power cables into one of my HD 6950's, it started emitting a terrible noise when powered on to get my attention. It's pretty much idiot proof.

My brother bought a HIS HD 5670 last fall. When connecting 2 monitors to the card, the screens would flicker randomly or when loading a video on youtube or hulu. Tech support tried to tell him that it's his computer and he needs to re install. Fortunately, he was smart enough to ignore the guy, RMA through newegg before the return period expired, and the problem disappeared. Didn't even need to reinstall the drivers.

So, I'm following suit. Just got an RMA# for one of my MSI HD 6950's which I believe is causing the issues. This thing gets louder then my blow dryer when running non demanding games while the other stays quiet.
 
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A GTX580 SLI beats a 6970 crossfire by a lot in every benchmark.I don't see how a 6990 would be faster than a GTX580 SLI.Yes it's more expensive to go with a GTX580 SLI over a 6990 but your paying for better performance and really good aftermarket cooling.I believe one of the biggest problems with the 6990 is how extremely loud it is and how poor it is at cooling.
 
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what i meant by user issues soloman was not the hardwar,but the setting up of it.Drivers,how they are installed etc..


Sry purple,but a 580 does not beat the 6990 in all benchmarks,it wasnt about a 6990 against a sli 580,but 1 580.as quoted by you "A GTX580 is far more powerful than a 6970 "(which i believe you meant 6990)
Either way ,a 580 sli or a 6990 crossfire will probably be bottlenecked in some way by any cpu.
 
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i don't understand you.... anyway 6990>580>570 //////////
580>6970 and equal to a 5970
 
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No I meant a single a 6970.A single GTX580 is more pwoerful than a single 6970.Since a 6990 is basicly x2 6970's on one card then it would be the same comparing a 6970 crossfire to a GTX580 SLI.A GTX580 SLI is more powerful than a single 6990.

A GTX580 SLI or a 6990 won't get bottlenecked as much as you'd think(of course anyone spending this much money on a GPU will have a powerful CPU to go with it).It's when you add the 3rd or 4th(6990 crossfire) card that it will start to get heavy for the CPU.That's where you need a fast CPU like a 2500k or 2600k.
 
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@ OP what is your full system specs ?
without a 3-way SLI/CF you won't enjoy gaming with 3 monitors.
before anybody judge, all look at this, Metro 2033/ 43 min FPS with 4way 580
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=331025
4-way 580, I7 990X @ 5 GHz...

EDIT : i agree with earnie, HD 6990 CF would be bottlenecked by a CPU unless it's as powerful as the 970X/980X/990X
and 4-way 580/590 SLI needs at least a 12 Core AMD opteron or a Dual Xeon to handle it
 
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GTX 580 SLI it is more expensive then a 6990, but only by about $130 or so.

the cheapest HD 6990 can be had for $710: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102927
with every 6990, you get free blow dryer sound effects that flips on every time the cards is pushed. nvidia used to be notorious for this. my old GTX 470's were the reason I went out and spent $180 on gaming headphones, i couldn't take the noise. when HD 6000 and GTX 500 came out, they seemed to have switched roles.

a pair of GTX 580 come out to $840 after rebates: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162073
if you want reference 580's, you can take this http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6942947&CatId=3669 or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500184

plus 2 free copies of batman, that can be resold for about $20 each.

In all honesty, I see absolutely zero reason to buy a 6990.
 
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I went for HD 6970 in CF in place of gtx 570's i had a little while back just for the increased amount of VRAM. FPS rates went up but the games look like crap. Crysis 2 was much more smooth with the nvidia cards.
 
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thats pretty much all of the games that i play. BF2, BF3, Crysis. I was thinking about getting Metro 2033, but people say it isn't worth it.

I do play black ops, zombie mode, but only on the PS3. the reason for that is because all my friends play it on the PS3.
 
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I got a PS3 copy of that game for free, no sense buying it again. i started playing it, but don't like it. the trailers were very impressive though.
 
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Maybe it would help to share what I'm using now. Perhaps I can use something I already have:

Gigabyte P67A http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128479

Seasonic 850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

MSI N570GTX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127582

Intel i7 2600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070



Hopefully that helps. Not sure if I have room for another identical card without removing something else. I think I have a sound card in there right now. Not sure. I would have to look at it again. Either way, I'm thinking that I will need room for two cards in order to drive 3 monitors efficiently.

Edit: Also want to add that my rig is super silent and I built it with that in mind. Fractal Design Define XL, Thermalright Archon heatsink, Intel SSD HD. It is absoultely silent and I would like to keep it that way.
 
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strange, it's the most i loved..... anyway i'm telling you that both AMD and nVidia GPUs depend on the game...
 
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oh, i know that. but that's all game developer and hardware manufacturer politics. i'm not interested in who bribes who. i just want my games to work. don't care who's logo is on it.
 
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CPU seems to be fine to handle HD 6990s in CF, this is a review shows HD 6990s in CF, simply beats 580s SLI
http://www.guru3d.com/article/his-radeon-hd-6990-crossfire-review/18

 
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a single HD 6990 can drive up to 6 monitors called Eyefinity, nivida can drive up to 3 monitors with SLI called 3D surround
Intel has nothing to do with both technologies
 
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and would be 2 GTX 570s in SLI capable of providing a great gaming experience at 5760× resolution with 1.5 GB of VRAM?
 
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