I'm currently using a dell 2711 at 2560 x 1440 as my gaming monitor with my soon to be retired 3 year old dual core system. I will be replacing it with a Sandy Bridge I7 2600k base unit in the next few weeks. Now I mainly use my P.C. (FPS and strategy) and I am looking to have a setup that can handle Bf3 at my normal desktop resolutions. I'm aware that this is going to be mainly guess work as its not out for a few months but I would appreciate some input on this. My initial thoughts where to go sli/xfire with 570's or 6950's but I'm concerned about heat and noise levels.(will be putting them in a silverstone Ft02 or Rv03).
I don't know from memory, but I would like to place this here: Depends on when you will get your computer. If it's not anytime soon, but soon, aka 6month or so.. perhaps it might be better to wait for Nvidia new GPU, expected later (possibly end, if no delays), of this year.
GTX 580 with U2711 here, maxing out all games including BFBC2. so hopefully it can handle BF3..... i wouldn't go with 570 since i doubt 1.2GB will be enough for this resolution, BFBC2 uses around 1GB with this resolution and there are many more games out there use even more VRAM.
Dual 6950s will have no trouble at all - especially if you buy the 2GB version. From what I've read, the games built on a modified version of the Frostbite 2 engine, so the system specs won't be massively more than Bad Company 2 - which admittedly, does require a significant amount of grunt to get it looking its best. That means, any current GPU, or two in crossfire should be fine, shader wise at least (thats 1536 x2 for the 6970 and 512 x2 for the GTX 580) However: At the res you want to play it, vRAM is key. At 1920x1080 a GTX 570 mostly beats a 6970 - but at your res, the 6970 wins by some margin - because of the extra vRam. Some people have said, mainly in the wake of the release of the 560ti that 1GB of vRAM is all you currently need. The same people are probably playing at 1080p or lower. GTA IV gives you a vRAM usage indicator, and at high res already goes above 1GB. BFBC2 is harder to measure for the average user, but if you look up reviews of the 6970 and scroll to the resolution of your panel, you'll see it triumph. Battlefield 3 - as a major release, should be very well supported, so I wouldn't worry too much about ATI/AMD/Nvidia releasing a Crossfire/SLI profile for it, it should be out very soon after, if not at, the games release. I'd say, to be on the safe side, either a dual 2GB 6950's - which might even be able to be flashed to 6970's for free, or dual GTX 580s would be the minimum - if you want to run it in max. I believe there is a 2GB version of the 560ti floating about, which would be good in crossfire, and run cooler than the 6950/6970, mainly because of the Radeon cards boxy design, as noted by Anandtech. In terms of noise, I used to have a 6950 and it was almost silent at idle and very quiet at load, and afaik its a similar situation with the Nvidia cards too.
useful comments guys, thanks. I will be getting the new build within a few week, it was already delayed due to waiting for the intel chipset problem to resolve and the rvo3 to be released. looking like i'll go for the 6950's (will probably flash them after their warranties expires due to past bad luck in that area!). I'd love to go with 2x 580's but its just to expensive to justify (the girl friend would kill me).
For that resolution I would be looking at a HD6950 2GB (great offers on the Twin Frozr III model are available) with the option to add a second one in the future if the framerate isn't good enough. Vram usage is a funny old hector. Instances in Crysis Warhead (Enthusiast settings with shadows on Gamer & 2xAA/16xAF) have brought my GTX460 1GB to its knees in terms of memory requirements even at 1680x1050.
6970 is the minimum you should aim for imo, if i had the monies i'd go for gtx 580 or crossfire 6970's / or a 6990 .
I have two set ups both work well Air cooled 2 x 5870 Asus Matrix cards in xfire (I am guessing the 5870 normal version would work fine in xfire also) and a Sli 580 set up which has no trouble at all
Thanks for the input guys, its helped a lot. I'll probably go the xfired 6950 route (will flash them if they require it at a later date). I'd love to have 580's in sli but its just much to expensive. (I thought that i nad posted a reply a day ago bu it has not shown up on the thread. i might of pressed the wrong button well it was 3am in the morning)
