Need recommendation for gfx upgrade

[rfranken]

I want to know what my best options for a graphics card(s) upgrade is.
Purely for gaming. Battlefield 3 to be precise
25 inch monitor running 1920 by 1080

option 1
I could run two 2 slot thick cards (sli or crossfire) but they would be directly on top of each other. literally 1 mm of space give or take between them. does anyone know of any really good graphics cards that can run in sli or crossfire with little to no space in between them? would something with a blower style fan work...or is there a liquid cooled solution that might do the trick?

option 2
with my mobo I could run 2 cards(with room in between) but the 2nd one would be in a 4x slot.
So I'm thinking that isn't a very good option.
would that be enough for a physix only card (only interest would be if my current 275 gtx could serve this purpose and only if battlefield 3 would benefit from it)

option 3
1 graphic card. but it seems the cost would be 700 bucks to achieve even a close fps to what one can achieve with $500 of 6950's or 560 ti's in sli or crossire

 

[indianjoke]

so you are using a mATX mobo on a mATX casing am i right?

 

[ThomasJazz]

I play BF3 and you could get the nvidia GTX 580 for less than $500 and get a good fps. The 570 1.2 GB would also get good fps. Friend of mine says he gets about 120 fps in bf3 with the 570.

 

[ilysaml]

I want to know what my best options for a graphics card(s) upgrade is.
Purely for gaming. Battlefield 3 to be precise
25 inch monitor running 1920 by 1080

option 1
I could run two 2 slot thick cards (sli or crossfire) but they would be directly on top of each other. literally 1 mm of space give or take between them. does anyone know of any really good graphics cards that can run in sli or crossfire with little to no space in between them? would something with a blower style fan work...or is there a liquid cooled solution that might do the trick?

option 2
with my mobo I could run 2 cards(with room in between) but the 2nd one would be in a 4x slot.
So I'm thinking that isn't a very good option.
would that be enough for a physix only card (only interest would be if my current 275 gtx could serve this purpose and only if battlefield 3 would benefit from it)

option 3
1 graphic card. but it seems the cost would be 700 bucks to achieve even a close fps to what one can achieve with $500 of 6950's or 560 ti's in sli or crossire

a $700 GPU will do the job of 2 in CF/SLI, Also a $350 GPU (HD 6970/GTX 570) would max out BF3 without any problem.

 

[rfranken]

so you are using a mATX mobo on a mATX casing am i right?

mobo
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4694158&CatId=4070

case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

 

[rfranken]

myself and a couple friends were in the bf3 beta.
1 friend had sli'd 560 ti's and when he runs the game on Ultra....the frames can drop as low as 20 fps during times with fire and dust. that isn't good enough. (16xx by whatever 22 inch screen)

other friend has crossfire'd 6950's and seems to not drop below 40 during bf3.(1920 by 1020 27 inch screen)

i'd really like the frames to not drop below 60 if possible....ultra settings would be nice but i could settle for high settings.

so unless the full game runs a lot smoother than the Beta did i'd say the minimum i'd want to get is 2 6950s.

both of them got excellent fps when nothing much was going on...but when the fighting started and dirt and dust and fires were on the screen...they went from 100 frames plus to 20 and 40 respectively

 

[ilysaml]

all of what you're saying regarding a drop in FPS is related to CF/SLI issues (drivers, configurations,....)
i was playing the Beta and i never dropped lower than 31 FPS. i was hitting 60 FPS easily inside the Metro, was hitting a constant of 35 FPS in Caspain Border outside.
i was playing at Ultra with the stock speeds of my GPU and my CPU.
which i believe that a GTX 570 or HD 6970 will hit over 50 FPS easily on ultra.

 

[rfranken]

all of what you're saying regarding a drop in FPS is related to CF/SLI issues (drivers, configurations,....)
i was playing the Beta and i never dropped lower than 31 FPS. i was hitting 60 FPS easily inside the Metro, was hitting a constant of 35 FPS in Caspain Border outside.
i was playing at Ultra with the stock speeds of my GPU and my CPU.
which i believe that a GTX 570 or HD 6970 will hit over 50 FPS easily on ultra.

They were both running the newest of the new beta drivers.

i really hope what you say is right....i'll wait until the game comes out before i make a purchase...then i think i'll know for sure what i can do. (i'd love to just be able to buy a 580 and be maxed out on Ultra with great frames) i'm such a stickler for fps though. there is a huge lag in fast twitch aiming/shooting if your frames are really solid. look quick left and right causes a slow whipped curved noodle lag effect (if that made any sense) that i just can't stand. i'm very competitive at the BF games and need very fast response time and quick turning/shooting to be at my best.
I'm on of those gamers that normally turns graphics way down in a game so i can have great FPS and be number 1 every map. its a disease i know. but i hate losing and can't stand lag.

example....my current setup can run bad company 2 on high settings pretty well. fps stays above 30 give or take. but for me its completely unplayable as when i look left and right quickly...the screen lags behind in a kind of rubber band wet noodle effect.

i was most curious if anyone knew a good answer to my option1.

 

[ilysaml]

look here
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/328736-33-battlfield-users-thread#t2449919
we posted up some pics with FPS when playing the BF3 Beta
to answer your option 1 you need to tell what GPUs you will get and going for a water cooling loop is another tough story......

 

[rfranken]

i was asking what gpu's would work with new room between them.
blower fan...regular fan....water cooling?
something else i haven't heard of?

 

[ilysaml]

i was asking what gpu's would work with new room between them.
blower fan...regular fan....water cooling?
something else i haven't heard of?

what i do understand by "room" is that you want to install two GPUs in slot 1 and slot 3 and you're worried about the space between cards ? right ?
if that what you mean i can say that a single GPU such as HD 6970 will cover slot 3 by it's width.
but you can still use slot 1 and slot 6 to install the GPUs without having a problem or thinking of a water cooling.

 

[rfranken]

your correct in your understanding.

slot 3 won't actually be covered up. one could still fit any size graphics card there.
but there will be that 1 mm gap that i was referring to. hence the question of what sli or cf cards could work with a 1 mm gap between them?


Yeah that slot 6 would be an option...but i'd have to redo too much to make it work.
The PSU is completely in the way so I'd need a new case.
There's some connection down there that would be covered up. Not sure if it includes any i couldn't live with. I think last time i measured it wouldn't fit for the power/reset/hdd light ....all those pluggins.

 

[rfranken]

i think its just a HORRIBLE mobo design. the pci express slots couldn't be put in a worse place or a worse configuration if you tried.
just a darn travesty.

 

[ilysaml]

your correct in your understanding.
Yeah that slot 6 would be an option...but i'd have to redo too much to make it work.
The PSU is completely in the way so I'd need a new case.
There's some connection down there that would be covered up. Not sure if it includes any i couldn't live with. I think last time i measured it wouldn't fit for the power/reset/hdd light ....all those pluggins.

it all depend on the GPU, and don't worry you'll get access to those switches, the GPU will cover their visibility but you'll be able to put your fingers on it.

 

[ilysaml]

i think its just a HORRIBLE mobo design. the pci express slots couldn't be put in a worse place or a worse configuration if you tried.
just a darn travesty.

My Mobo is the same layout but i guess it's a little wider. my X16 slots are the (slot 1 and 3 yours) and X8 is slot 6 in yours