Expanding my new build into 3 monitors w/ dual GPU | r9-280x vs gtx 770 (4gb)?

[AH88]

Hey,

Just looking for a bit of advice on my new build I'm doing within the next 2-3 months. I will initially be playing on a 19" 1360x768 monitor. However within the next 6-8 months afterwards I'd like to expand to 3 * 1080p monitors, so I need to pick the base system now that will support expanding to that system in the future.

I've got my budget set for the immediate parts, ultimately this comes down to systems based around these two GPUs..

** R9 280X 3GB **
** GTX 770 4GB **

I'm more drawn towards the R9 280X as it is cheaper and I will not be playing any games that are going to utilise 3GB for the next 12-18 months anyway, expect possibly Skyrim+mods.

A GTX 770 based system would push me over my budget and it would have to be absolutely perfect/better than an R9-280x build for me to justify going over. I've also read that spending so much money on a high RAM GTX 770 isn't as worthwhile compared to a better performing GTX card. However I feel I need more than 2GB RAM on a GPU for current/next gen games.

But I've read some right horror stories on Crossfire+Eyefinity cards.. I won't be buying my first GPU until Feb/March, The second GPU I will buy probably late summer, early Autumn 2014. I'm wondering - perhaps AMD will sort these issues out by then? How likely is that?

Current Requirements -
720p gaming @ 60FPS - Batman Origins, Tomb Raider, Skyrim, Assasins Creed IV etc.
Future Requirements -
3x1080p (Eyefinitiy or 3DSurround) @ 30-60FPS - same games + next gen (Watchdogs,Star Citizen, etc)

So, some questions..

1. Which is immediately the better system for me to match my current requirements?
2. Is spending extra £ just for a 4GB ver. of a GTX 770 a waste of money?
3. Is it possible to achieve my future requirements using one of my choices of single cards?
4. If to meet my requirements I have to go SLI/CF route.. which is likely to perform better (est Q3 2014+ with all the driver updates etc)?
5. Again, If SLI/CF is required - do I need to be concerned if the exact model of card I buy now is no longer available in 8 months time, will I be able to SLI/CF to slightly different cards?
6. Are these CF/Eyefinity "bugs" legit or just over exagerated from nVidia fanboys? (This is the only thing scaring me away from an AMD GPU!)

7. My proposed CPU is an FX8530 - will this handle all of my requirements regardless of which GPU setup I choose? I much prefer high multi core count because of other apps I'm running, and I can't go with an i7 due to budget costs.
8. I'm open to suggestions on GPU choices, but my absolute (absolute!) maximum is £300. I'd much more desire that cost to be a lot lower, £200-£250.

 

[JimmoR3M]

1. http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-which-is-fastest It's a toss up between the two and they trade blows varying from game to game. Pick the one that performs best on your favourite/most played game.
2. I'd say so, you wouldn't see too much improvement for your £.
3. Hell yes it will with both.
4. Again, it's a toss up and they'll trade blows as their drivers get better.
5. As long as it's another 770 or 280 with the same amount of RAM it doesn't matter. You can have an MSI Twin Frozr and say like a Palit card SLI/CR'ed.
6. I'd say they are exaggerated now. The drivers got a lot better very quickly.
7. Hell yeah it will. Nice chip for the £.
8. Stick with a R9 280X or GTX770, good cards for the £. Not much point in going any higher than that (diminishing returns, save for the CR/SLI.)

 

[z0rr0w]

1. 760(low end) to 770(high end) or 270x(low end) to 280x(high end)
2. Only if you are not going to upgrade GPU for while, as you said memory usage will increase slowly
3. no, maybe at 30 fps and lowest settings, but the 3 moniters wouldnt make up for the decreased joy of bad fps
4. you will need SLI/CF for next gen at 3x1080p, Nvidia is better at dual GPU ( better scaling, less problems with stuttering)
5. http://boards.4chan.org/b/res/525100565 watch this, dotn recommend different memory though
6. It is unfortunatly pretty legit
7. id buy the 4670k, very good CPU for gaming, a bit mroe expensive but not a lot
8. Im going to outrule AMD in multi GPU setups, so you have 760, 770 and 780 to choose from
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-760-vs-780-sli,review-32851.html some speccs on SLI and scaling

 

[z0rr0w]

1. http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-which-is-fastest It's a toss up between the two and they trade blows varying from game to game. Pick the one that performs best on your favourite/most played game.
2. I'd say so, you wouldn't see too much improvement for your £.
3. Hell yes it will with both.
4. Again, it's a toss up and they'll trade blows as their drivers get better.
5. As long as it's another 770 or 280 with the same amount of RAM it doesn't matter. You can have an MSI Twin Frozr and say like a Palit card SLI/CR'ed.
6. I'd say they are exaggerated now. The drivers got a lot better very quickly.
7. Hell yeah it will. Nice chip for the £.
8. Stick with a R9 280X or GTX770, good cards for the £. Not much point in going any higher than that (diminishing returns, save for the CR/SLI.)

I'll have to say the GPU's wont do point #3, not a chance when 780 barely can do AC4 @1080p ultra at 60+ fps

 

[AH88]

1. http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-which-is-fastest It's a toss up between the two and they trade blows varying from game to game. Pick the one that performs best on your favourite/most played game.
2. I'd say so, you wouldn't see too much improvement for your £.
3. Hell yes it will with both.
4. Again, it's a toss up and they'll trade blows as their drivers get better.
5. As long as it's another 770 or 280 with the same amount of RAM it doesn't matter. You can have an MSI Twin Frozr and say like a Palit card SLI/CR'ed.
6. I'd say they are exaggerated now. The drivers got a lot better very quickly.
7. Hell yeah it will. Nice chip for the £.
8. Stick with a R9 280X or GTX770, good cards for the £. Not much point in going any higher than that (diminishing returns, save for the CR/SLI.)

I'll have to say the GPU's wont do point #3, not a chance when 780 barely can do AC4 @1080p ultra at 60+ fps

So SLI/CF it is then.. I'm hoping AMD can sort their CF/Eyefinity set up out before I buy the initial card as I'd like to avoid spending £300 on a GTX 770 4GB GPU (x2 cards that's £120+ cheaper).. but I think my req. are probably a bit too much on such a low budget, eh!

I'm not *too* fussed over ultra settings really. As long as the game is immersive that's all I care for!

 

[geofelt]

First of all, there seems to be little benefit of 4gb over 2gb.
Read this:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/

Next, triple monitor gaming will be very graphics intensive.
You are looking at dual cards or a very strong single card.

1. either a gtx770 or r90280x will be more than you need for your current requirements.
2. As above... no. 2gb is fine.
3. No, not really. A single card like a GTX780ti would probably do it.
4. SLI has generally scaled well compared to crossfire. Most likely that will not get resolved well soon.
5. dual cards will require the exact same gpu, but the brands can be different. The speed will be the the slower of the two cards. Prices do not drop for such cards in the new marketplace. You have nowhere else to go. On the used marketplace, you should be able to do ok.
6. For a long time FPS was the gold standard for evaluating graphics cards. They were optimized for that. But, it was discovered that there were occasions of stuttering and lags, particularly with dual gpu's so a different measurement approach was explored.
Here is one of the early researches into that: http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-hd-7950-vs-geforce-gtx-660-ti-revisited
AMD has done well fixing such issues in their dual gpu cards, for cf not so much.

As to eyefinity bugs, I can't say.
7. If you have any budget issue, you should not be considering triple monitor gaming.
The extra $100 or so spent on a 4770K should not be a concern.
And... a 20% overclock is easy on haswell.
For gaming, read this report:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-processor-frame-rate-performance,3427-9.html
For production apps, look at these anandtech bench comparisons:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=836

 

[z0rr0w]

1. http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-which-is-fastest It's a toss up between the two and they trade blows varying from game to game. Pick the one that performs best on your favourite/most played game.
2. I'd say so, you wouldn't see too much improvement for your £.
3. Hell yes it will with both.
4. Again, it's a toss up and they'll trade blows as their drivers get better.
5. As long as it's another 770 or 280 with the same amount of RAM it doesn't matter. You can have an MSI Twin Frozr and say like a Palit card SLI/CR'ed.
6. I'd say they are exaggerated now. The drivers got a lot better very quickly.
7. Hell yeah it will. Nice chip for the £.
8. Stick with a R9 280X or GTX770, good cards for the £. Not much point in going any higher than that (diminishing returns, save for the CR/SLI.)

I'll have to say the GPU's wont do point #3, not a chance when 780 barely can do AC4 @1080p ultra at 60+ fps

So SLI/CF it is then.. I'm hoping AMD can sort their CF/Eyefinity set up out before I buy the initial card as I'd like to avoid spending £300 on a GTX 770 4GB GPU (x2 cards that's £120+ cheaper).. but I think my req. are probably a bit too much on such a low budget, eh!

I'm not *too* fussed over ultra settings really. As long as the game is immersive that's all I care for!

If you mainly care about immersiveness and not detail, dont go below 60 fps 😉 but you can always turn the settings a little down

 

[AH88]

Thanks for the answers! I'm going to go for a GTX 770 4GB, with the plan to buy another one a few months later for SLI, that way I'm making the most of the 4GB and future proofing for newer titles. After 2014 is done with I don't plan on upgrading for at least another 3/4 years..

My only concern is will I still be able to find GTX 770s at a reasonable price towards the end of 2014 if the 8xx series is out soon?