GPU Requirements Triple Screen

[GEO147]

Hi all,

I have a 3770k cpu and 16gb DDR3 memory. At present I gave an Asus 970 and I am looking at monitors. I am trying to keep costs down for a new sim rig build and was looking at 27" Freesync Iiyama 75hz 1080p Black hawk monitors as they seemed goo value for money.

Would I be better changing the 970 to an AMD card to get Freesync benefits. And if yes what card or crossfire config would get me in the freesync range for trip 75hz monitors at ultra graphics?

I was considering crossfire 580s?

Any help be appreciated.

 

[Bob Gnarley]

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[GEO147]

Thanks very much Bob for the info. I was looking at the ports on cards specifically and it seems a lot have 2xdp and 2xhdmi. I really want 3xDP I think, right?

Is freesync only active on HDMI? If you have 2 x DP ports used should two of your monitors not be freesyncing?

Also, where you see a Vega 56 for sub £400?

 

[RasmusP]

Freesync and also gsync only work well via display port. Testing both lately at friends, yes, freesync and gsync are awesome!
For me it's not that much about being able to have fluctuating fps while more or less staying smooth but about all settled fps values being equally smooth! So you can't maintain 60 fps? Limit the fps at 57!
You can achieve 68 fps? Limit there!
And micro stutters like race starts or passing a full pit lane (in rf2 for example) won't cause the fps to drop to 30! (it's actually showing something like 57 fps then but it's 60 60 30 60 60. Fps counter showing the average!)

Also you lower the input lag a lot! For me non synced fps always stutter more or less, with freesync or gsync you can low input lag and sync in one. Awesome, purely awesome!
(sometimes a bit bugged though, a bit of tinkering will be needed).

Anyway, back to your gpu!

If you wanna see how much fps you would get, roundabout, enable nvidia dsr and use a resolution that has the same amount of pixels!

For example: 3x 1920x1080 = 6.220.800
Dsr options are even listed as "x times your resolution" so pick a close one and see for your fps
Or calculate what 16:9 resolution would equal the 6.2 million.
Calculating for you:
a/b=16/9 (1)
a*b=6.220.800 (2)
a=16/9*b
1 in 2: (16/9*b)*b=6.220.800
-> 16/9*b²=6.220.800
-> b²=6.220.800/(16/9)
->b= sqr(6.220.800/(16/9)) => 1870
a=16/9*1870 => 3326

So pick something close to 3326*1870 pixels

You might lose a little due to triples being rendered correctly as 3 separate perspectives but it should be similar!

 

[GEO147]

Cheers RasmusP. I will do that t see what happens with a 970. But my query is more around what gpu I should get as opposed to keep. The gysync monitors are all massive money. The freesync ones seem more fairly priced therefore looks like ill need to switch to amd, reluctantly.

 

[RasmusP]

Cheers RasmusP. I will do that t see what happens with a 970. But my query is more around what gpu I should get as opposed to keep. The gysync monitors are all massive money. The freesync ones seem more fairly priced therefore looks like ill need to switch to amd, reluctantly.

Yeah I'd recommend to switch too if you aren't used to the nvidia inspector, forcing anti aliasing via custom bits etc.
Gsync monitors are hilariously priced! 75hz us already a good amount clearer during motions than 60hz so that should be okay
I had an 165hz Asus gsync for a week, tested different Hz steps.
For the gpu: just test with your 970 and then look for benchmarks. It might be worth to hold out with the amd gpu until mid 2019. New gen is expected, hopefully a big jump then!

 

[Richard Dastardly]

I have freesync triples currently running crossfire 2x980s - unfortunately while they're pretty good performance most of the time at 7680x1440 I'm getting what I think are motherboard related power-downs in a couple of games using crossfire ( including AC, much to my annoyance ) so I'm not all that fond of crossfire. Having said that my mobo is 7 years old, and while great quality has been worked hard..
.
Worse though, it doesn't look like AMD are going to even try and release a competitive gaming GPU until 2020-2021! Vega is being targeted at compute farms & the first Navi cards aren't expected to be any faster.

 

[GEO147]

Is there any gpu that you would recommend for freesync 75xz with 3 x display ports?

 

[Bob Gnarley]

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[Emery]

GTX 970 for triple screens? BTDT for the experience and ended up getting a GTX 1080 as soon as they were available. You have to turn graphic settings down more than I liked with the 970. My advice is to save your money until you can afford a more powerful card as monitors will become better/cheaper just like the graphics cards.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Sorry, I didn't make it very clear. Freesync only works via display port. Also hdmi tops out at 60hz.

HDMI 2.0 will do 1440p/144hz, 2.1 does 4k/144hz. You need a proper cable though. Newer HDMI versions also support Freesync, I don't know which version though ( whichever one supports variable refresh ).

 

[GEO147]

Man this is so confusing. What the hell are all the other triple screen sim rigs setup with? Like what gpus are other people using for trip freesync?

 

[GEO147]

I have freesync triples currently running crossfire 2x980s - unfortunately while they're pretty good performance most of the time at 7680x1440 I'm getting what I think are motherboard related power-downs in a couple of games using crossfire ( including AC, much to my annoyance ) so I'm not all that fond of crossfire. Having said that my mobo is 7 years old, and while great quality has been worked hard..
.
Worse though, it doesn't look like AMD are going to even try and release a competitive gaming GPU until 2020-2021! Vega is being targeted at compute farms & the first Navi cards aren't expected to be any faster.

So your doing freesync with nvidia cards?

 

[Richard Dastardly]

So your doing freesync with nvidia cards?

2x580, (RX580 ) I meant - brain fart somewhere.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

Tom's hardware rates RX 580 to the same bin together with GTX 970 and 1060 in their performance benchmarks, so it doesn't indeed make much sense (performance wise) to move from a 970 to an AMD card.

 

[Bob Gnarley]

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[Emery]

Man this is so confusing. What the hell are all the other triple screen sim rigs setup with? Like what gpus are other people using for trip freesync?

At the low end these days, it's a single 970. Older rigs typically have a single 980 or a pair of 980s in SLI. Newer rigs will have a single 1080 or 1080ti. Those of us with a single 1080 (or lower) are eyeing a single 2080ti to drive 1440p 32" monitors and pondering how long until we can afford the upgrade. A single 1080ti is not worth upgrading at this point unless you're trying to drive 1440p monitors.
***
When it comes to freesync or gsync or no-sync, its usually whatever the budget allows. Many people have freesync monitors on their nVidia GPU; they just don't use the freesync feature and/or lock the refresh rate to something the monitors support.

My monitors, for instance, are no-sync with a Windows custom refresh rate of 75 Hz (because there's a video mode that uses 75 Hz even though these are 60 Hz 1080p panels, its just a matter of creating the refresh rate inside Windows). I then use nVidia's Fast Sync in the nVidia control panel to avoid sync delays & tearing. Note that if the fps falls below 75, then tearing can happen.

 

[GEO147]

Thanks Emery, I was just going to get 3x Iiyama Black Hawk monitors due to price and get a second 970. But then I started thinking of the freesync capability. Then was looking at Vega 54 or RX580 sli but now you have me thinking again.

Ive already spent a fortune on a P1 rig (arriving tomorrow). So your saying I could initially just run the monitors from 1 970, and still get some performance? My card is a Strix so I only have 1dp 1hdmi and 1dvi so could hook them all up that way and just see? Or get a second 970 for the time being?

Really is a nightmare but perhaps another 970 would keep me trucking for a month or two!

 

[Emery]

Before you go SLI, make sure you have an adequate power supply.

Some performance with a single 970? Yes. That is you can get 60 fps with settings turned down. It won't be pretty, probably have to put up with some chunky textures or minimal/no AA to get consistent fps.

 

[GEO147]

Cheers I have an 860 watt psu. Looking at the vega 56 now!!