Hey there.... I need some advice: Most of my system is getting a bit older, even though it aged better than any other PC I've ever had, I believe its time for an upgrade. My current system: Asus P6T Deluxe i7-920 C0 @ 3.9GHz 5970 @ 800/1100MHz Asus Xonar STX PCI-E Some Random USB3 Interface card PCI-E I love playing with eyefinity (I use 3x 1920x1200), but I get too low FPS on BF3 Beta, even with everything set to low (about 40FPS outside), so its time for an upgrade... but what and how much? First question is probably if an upgrade to a GTX590 is really enough... it would probably be for some fluid gaming, but probably only on medium quality? How much of an advantage would I get getting 2x 3GB GTX580SLI? Or how well is the TrippleSLI scaling now adays? (Budged isn't really tight, though I dont want to waste 600 bucks for 5fps...). Also I'ld need to get rid of one PCI-E card, since the top-most slot is blocked by the Northbridgecooler. Second thing is cooling: I'm currently using an internal Watercooling loop with a slim 360 rad... I dont think that the gtx590 would generate more heat than the 5970, but two GTX580 3gb? If I need more cooling, I'ld need a new case (currently useing LianLi V1110, no chance of fitting in another radiator), so thats another budget hit. Then.... If I'm already changing around case and GPUs etc, would a Motherboard upgrade hurt? The Sabertooth X58 has a 5 min-fps advantage to the Asus P6TD according to the onsite benchmarks on crysis... and the P6TD is about a year younger than my P6T Deluxe - can I expect a real performance increase? So the question is.. do I get a GTX590 (and probably gaming on medium) or should I invest in a more serious system overhaul, and what kind of improvement could I expect switching some of my "aged" hardware?
If you want to keep your eyefinity then you would need to stick with AMD, which rules the 590 out . If you were to add any sli setup to your current rig id be pretty certain that you will need more cooling too. Personally, I wouldnt think about changing the board really. The performance gain would be minimal and you would be better off saving the dosh or putting it towards a new case and cooling. Your cpu, board and memory should be plenty good enough for bf3.
with nvidia surround you need 2 cards I think, dunno if that includes duel gpu. I'd wait for amd 7000 series if I was you, and you could run a radiator externaly
visions surround works with a solo gtx 590. I guess I can clock the 590 somewhere close to the 580 with watercooling, but the main difference is 2x3gb vram (for SLI 580 3GB) vs 2x1.5gb (for solo GTX 590) I can't find any benchmarks that hint what kind of a performancegain I would get from the extra ram. As far as i know, (see THIS comparison for surround/eyefinity comparison of SLI GTX460 1gb vs 2gb) those high resolutions are highly dependent on lots of vram, and BF3 really uses a lot, which is the main reason I'm thinking of doing more than switching the card. The AMD 7000'ers - well, I've had soooo much trouble with the 5970 (constant GSOD's while watching flash/HD Videos till someone (thankfully) posted alternative BIOS somehwere here on the forum after a few month of rage, CTD's on BFBC2, longer loadtimes in comparison to nvidia, and already CTDs on BF3 (which seems to only happen to Crossfireusers)), control-center not remembering which screen is primary when I switch from Eyefinity-group to 3 Seperate desktops and mixing the order.... anyway, I was hoping to get back to nvidia, and the 7000'ers aren't exptected this year anyway, so thats still quite a wait. An extra external rad would be an option though (though the optics kinda suck, but performance > visuals for me).... but I'ld still be missing a PCI-E slot, though I guess if it comes down to it, I could sacrifice the USB3 card
personally at that res i would say 3x580 3gb. i know sli 580 1.5gb is getting a max of 120fps in battlefield at 1920x1080 so in theory the 590 which doesnt run as quick will struggle at that res maybe low settings? if you want to run the game maxed i think this is the way forward. PM Truegamer as he would be able to tell you what tri sli is like. dont know if he has run battlefield 3 yet
