Beasts or Beast? Graphics card help!

[jbarrows]

Hey guys, i have saved up enough money to go all out on the graphics card or cards im planning on running on hoefully my dream rig..but i was hoping you guys could shed some imput on this. My rig is going to be for mostly gaming and i was either going to pick up 2 7970s or 1 gtx 690...yes i plan on going all out like i said. Any advice on which way i should go?

 

[matter37]

What resolution and games will you be playing?, you dont need a super powerful graphics card if you, well, dont need one. Which usually means you would be playing across multiple monitors at high resolutions

 

[dudewitbow]

depends on which games you will be playing and your tolerance to possible problems, number of screens and resolution can also play a factor as well. Normally i would pick the single card, but the 7970 in cf and 690 have distinct advantages in different games most likely


the 7970 can possibly run into crossfire problems, but i think would hold a better resell value if you think its too much and wanted to sell one and technically may outperform the 690 due to the fact the 690 is 2 slightly nerfed 680s in sli.

 

[raytseng]

if you have the option between sli or a single card for the same price; try to go for single card.

There is more complexity with sli, and always people complaining about this that or the other not working right. The driver updates that fix the problems for SLI setups lag behind the same fixes for single card.

 

[matter37]

Also I would recommend the 690 if your going to spend that much money, amds cards tend to have stuttering issues with crossfire, and benchmarks show that the 690 is better than the 7970 x2, and its quieter, and uses less power.

 

[matter37]

Of course there is certain games as said above that favor AMD or nVidia's cards, like metro 2033 highly favors the 7970 x2 over the 690, but even at max settings and high resolutions, both would be VERY playable at that game, 60 fps no problem even with high resolutions

 

[dudewitbow]

Of course there is certain games as said above that favor AMD or nVidia's cards, like metro 2033 highly favors the 7970 x2 over the 690, but even at max settings and high resolutions, both would be VERY playable at that game, 60 fps no problem even with high resolutions

essentially this guy knows whats happening, both will score past 60fps easily in just about all games(besides really badly coded games) and both setups are designed for 3 monitors at the minimum.

 

[matter37]

Also, another thing as for cost, the GTX 690 is currently going to cost you a wopping $1000, the 2 HD7970's should cost approx. $900, but if you have the money to spend I would say spend the extra and get the 690 if you insist on getting a super high end card

 

[matter37]

if you have the option between sli or a single card for the same price; try to go for single card.

There is more complexity with sli, and always people complaining about this that or the other not working right. The driver updates that fix the problems for SLI setups lag behind the same fixes for single card.

He would be using crossfire, not sli, even though they do the same thing, you must remember that they are different technologies and each have different problems, crossfire seemingly usually having worse ones it seems (the stuttering), and usually driver problems from nvidia get updated quickly if there is a problem, nvidia is very good with their drivers, amd, not so much

 

[jbarrows]

Well i plan on playing the games that i get at the highest resolutions so i can experience pc gaming at it fullest but yeah to me it sounds like the 690 would be worth it. And what if i decided to go with 1 7970? would it compete with the 690? And as far as montor setup im going to try to go with 1 and then hopefully get to 2 or 3 in a few weeks after getting everything.

 

[dudewitbow]

Well i plan on playing the games that i get at the highest resolutions so i can experience pc gaming at it fullest but yeah to me it sounds like the 690 would be worth it. And what if i decided to go with 1 7970? would it compete with the 690? And as far as montor setup im going to try to go with 1 and then hopefully get to 2 or 3 in a few weeks after getting everything.

A single 7970 is in a different league compared to the 690 of course, even the 7970 ghz(a modified 7970 OC) is different because its a single gpu card. the release of the 7970x2(the dual gpu 7970) has not been dated and is unknown if it will ever be released to the public or not. this review would be your go to card to look at benchmarks between the top end cards.



(though if you really wanted to push something over the limit, 2 7970 ghz 6 gb vram in crossfire would be overkill, because there will be no game that will ever hit that 6 gb vram mark)



THOUGH imo, if you had that kind of money, i would have invested the rest into something that makes the computer cleaner or be more effecient, be it install larger ssds, have awesome fan controllers, or make the case look aesthetic as a whole, or even invest in several high end monitors for a clean run. if its a single monitor, both setups are too op for it.

 

[renz496]

And what if i decided to go with 1 7970? would it compete with the 690?

that's more like pitting a single 7970 against 2 GTX680.

 

[amuffin]

What are the rest of your system specs?
DO you have a power supply that will support it?

 

[zander1983]

Well i plan on playing the games that i get at the highest resolutions so i can experience pc gaming at it fullest but yeah to me it sounds like the 690 would be worth it. And what if i decided to go with 1 7970? would it compete with the 690? And as far as montor setup im going to try to go with 1 and then hopefully get to 2 or 3 in a few weeks after getting everything.

The 7970 competes with a single 670/680, the 690 (2x nerfed 680s in sli) much more powerful.

If you ARE NOT going to get 3 or more screens running games at 5760x1080 then don't bother with the 690, wasting money that can go towards other hardware. Get a 7970/680, you will not notice the difference at 1920x1080

But if you have $1k+ so splash out and want the bragging rights at LANs then get the GTX690

 

[bigcyco1]

I am so jealous lol get the 690 if your able to afford it why not i would just get this myself if i could afford it EVGA 04G-P4-2673-KR GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130785#top

 

[jbarrows]

ok so heres the rig that ill have in the next couple days:
i5 3970K
corsair 8gb ram
ASUS P8Z77-V LX motherboard
corsair 750w ps
1tb hard drive with 180gb ssd
samsung syncmaster S23B550 23in monitor(hopefully getting 1 or 2 more )

soo the gtx 690 is basically the ferrari of cards...and if i decide to go multiple monitors i would have to step back on the card...would it be worth getting maybe a 680 or 670 superclocked if i went that route?

 

[bigcyco1]

ok so heres the rig that ill have in the next couple days:
i5 3970K
corsair 8gb ram
ASUS P8Z77-V LX motherboard
corsair 750w ps
1tb hard drive with 180gb ssd
samsung syncmaster S23B550 23in monitor(hopefully getting 1 or 2 more )

soo the gtx 690 is basically the ferrari of cards...and if i decide to go multiple monitors i would have to step back on the card...would it be worth getting maybe a 680 or 670 superclocked if i went that route?

of course but in a multiple monitor set up you want the one i linked it has 4GB also do you mean i7-3970k?

 

[amuffin]

3770K!

You'll need at least an 850W for a good optimal setup!

 

[jbarrows]

ok i am checking out the 4gb as we speak...and yeah my mistake 3770K :/ and ok i was going to go with thermaltake but everyone said there brand is garbage so i decided to go with corsair on the ps. But more gb on your cards is the way to go if your going to use multiple monitors?

 

[bigcyco1]

I would also get a better motherboard mobo:ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819#top

mobo:ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820#top

mobo:GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545#top

mobo:ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Motherboards%20-%20Intel-_-ASRock-_-13157295&AID=10440897&PID=3938566&SID=#top

 

[jbarrows]

ok which one out of those would you recommend?

 

[bigcyco1]

ok i am checking out the 4gb as we speak...and yeah my mistake 3770K :/ and ok i was going to go with thermaltake but everyone said there brand is garbage so i decided to go with corsair on the ps. But more gb on your cards is the way to go if your going to use multiple monitors?

Yes most thermaltake are junk however the Toughpower series are good you can get this PC Power & Cooling PPCMK2S750 Silencer Mk II Power Supply - 750W, 80 Plus Silver, 135mm Fan, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active PFC $94.99 $74.99 after rebate http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=927377&CatId=2533

 

[dudewitbow]

if you went through this 160-200 mobo tests, the asrock would have the recommendation

 

[bigcyco1]

ok which one out of those would you recommend?

ASUS P8Z77-V PRO my cousin has it and i think it's a kick ass top notch motherboard really easy to overclock on and the bios is just to awesome. The Asrock 6 would be my second recommendation

 

[Deemo13]

You could balance that build a little bit better.

And yea Thermaltake only makes a few good power supplies right now. Most of their stuff is not as good as like Seasonic or Corsair.

If you scaled back to a 3570K, you would not see almost any performance drop and you could save money for more monitors.