Graphics Do I Need A Second Graphics Card?

Simple Question
Will I need a second graphics card in order to play the forthcoming Battlefield 4 and Watch Dogs?

Up until about 2 months ago I had a pair of EVGA GTX670 for the Win 4GB cards in SLI. One of them has however failed, and so has been sent back, and I have been given a partial refund. Now I am wondering if I need two of the 670s to play the above games on my Dell 2713HM at 2560x1440, or would one be able to manage?

Thanks

 

On low ? .

Not an expert but i wouldn't of thought one 670 could cope at that res with ultra settings. Wait for somebody else to confirm that though.

 

Depends on settings you wish to play it. Watch dogs is an unknown at this point. Beta BF4 people with 2 780s where getting issues on ultra as the game was pretty shoddy code. 2 670s should do ultra with tunning. Will not get every setting maxed on 64player bf4 though.

1 670 is more than enough for medium to high.

 

at 1440p, if you like eye candy, you're probably looking at a bit of SLI action (especially if you're used to it).

You might find one of those cards on the MP if you're a lucky lad?

 

I play at the same res, I would think you would ideally want SLI

Not enough post for that

 

Ah yeah - hadn't spotted that. Cheers Tel!

 

I play at 2560*1600 with a single (admittedly overclocked) GTX 670 2GB. BF3 I run on high with FXAA, and get around the 50fps mark. Impossible to say for BF4 because the code was so shoddy in the Beta. That said, given that 1440p is about 10% less pixels you should see about 55fps at the same settings, assuming performance scales linearly with number of pixels.

 

Thanks for the quick replies.

As Teelzebub has pointed out I am unable to access the market place, due to a lack of posts. I was looking at getting a replacement card from Amazon, as they seem to be the only place with the card still in stock. Unfortunately it isn’t much cheaper now, compared to when I first bought the cards, hence the reason why I was asking if two were necessary.

It has been a long time since I really played games on the PC; the last time I did, I don’t think that there was many different settings that you could change. So I am lacking knowledge in the area. I have just been letting the NVIDIA GeForce Experience configure the settings for me.

Just as a side thought, if I bought a second identical monitor would that then require a third card.

 

Yes!

I dropped to a single GTX 670 when the second had to go through an RMA and my gameplay experience in BF3 really suffered for it. This was at the same resolution of 2560 by 1440 on a U2711. Although I have 2GB cards that work admirably at this resolution.

 

If my experience with BF3 @ 2560x1600 is anything to go by.. most definitely, yes.

 

I'd definitely get a second card for upcoming games, especially due to the fact that you're gaming above 1080p.

In regards to buying a second monitor, if you're only gaming on one screen there's no need for a third card. If you're planning on surround (a bit odd with two monitors) then you'll need all the GPU power you can muster. You'd have to check up on Nvidia surround support at the moment - I think surround only works with one or two GPUs.

 

Thanks for the replies.
Ok so I will scrap the idea of getting another monitor, I don’t really want to spend an additional £800 on monitors just yet. I never really thought about how the bezel from having 2 monitors would be right in the middle. It also appears that the software cannot cope with two monitors without some additional 3rd party software, but the instructions on Nvidia’s web site do explain how to set up Nvidia surround with 3 way sli.

If everyone thinks 3 670s is a waste of money, then I will just get the 1 670 now and try and save my money for upgrading to the 800 or possibly 900 series (or whatever they are called) when they arrive.

 

I'd just get one additional 670 and if you find you want a little more when BF4 is released, buy a third.

I'd speculate that three 670s would perform about 1.5 to 2 times faster than a single GTX 880 (and that is based on personal opinion), so bear that in mind.

 

why did you accept a partial refund?

cards are not that old

 

Usually when giving you cash they will give you the current market value of your card.

 

They could not provide a replacement for the faulty card, and since I had used it for what is deemed a reasonable amount of time, They only offered a partial refund. I checked online and with the citizens advice bureau, and unfortunately that is what the law entitles them to do.