Need help configuring the EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 - Do I need one or two of these?

[johnstac]

I plan on running one Asus PG278Q as the primary display for gaming, graphics, etc. I also want to run two additional monitors and 1080 would be fine. So two questions. First, can I simultaneously run the PG278Q in gaming mode while still powering the two additional monitors or should I buy an additional GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 to power the additional monitors and then I can use the second monitor to SLI for extreme gaming when desired? Clear as mud?

The only other question, is what two other monitors to buy. I have plenty of 1080 dvi monitors but since the GTX 980 comes with only one dvi and one hdmi, I will not be able to run all dvi monitors. Looks like I will be able to use one of my Dell U2412M and then I will have to also buy another 1080 that either uses display port or HDMI. Suggestions? Questions? I will be here to answer any.

 

[ZeusGamer]

Let me make this sraight, are you asking if you could run 3 monitors on a GTX 980? If so, then yes, you can run 3 monitors on that GPU.

What are the three monitors you are looking to utilize? I'm pretty sure that there are display port to DVI adapters out there if you're concerned about it.

 

[ZeusGamer]

You're going to need one of these: [link]

 

[johnstac]

Okay, very good. Thank you Zeus Gamer for your response. At least I know I have the option to connect 3 monitors to this card. Now the big question, is whether I will want to or not. Here is why I ask. As I mentioned, I am going to be running an Asus PG278Q ROG Swift 2560 x 1440 monitor as the primary gaming display. At the same time, I do want to have two other monitors running for misc stuff. Email, browser, spreadsheet and other stuff like that. I don't know if using just one GTX 980 will handle all three of those at once. This is why I was considering using two. At first glance, it may seem like a waste to buy two of those at $570 ea if one is going to be used for just two 1080 monitors but it will also be occasionally used for sli gaming. Is this sound reasoning or should I be considering something else?

 

[ZeusGamer]

The apps that you mentioned above are CPU bound. Even though Those apps doesn't take that much VRAM so it would not really impact your gaming by much. I'm only using that you are going to be gaming just because of the items you mentioned you were getting. Anyway, as longa as you have quad core CPU? You should be fine. i5 4690K or i7 4790K. You won't have any problems with it.

The only thing I could see you running into trouble though are your montors. I'm not sure whether you can have one 144 hz monitor and the rest are 60 hz. So you might want to check on that before investing in this plan of yours.

If money is not a problem, then GTX 980 is fine and SLing it in the future wouldn't be a problem. But if you must really have SLI right now, I suggest you look into GTX 970. It's like $200 less than the GTX 980 and there isn't a big difference comparing the two. SLIng the GTX 970 would further it's performance rather than getting one GTX 980.