New GPU setup. TriFire R9 290 / SLI Options

[HuLkY]

I'm going for a TriFire setup, R9 290, and would probably go for LCS since it gives amazing results but I got some options...

1 - 3 * CryVenom Cards, almost your typical R9 290 + EK block and EK backplate.
2 - 3 * Ref Cards, and add three of those and those
3 - 3 * best non Ref 290 out there - if it's better than Ref regarding stable OC and chocks, and their possible Blocks if there are any ones out there.

I was going to regard TriSLI of GTX780 Classifieds from EVGA but I dunno would they scale better than AMD or not, and the clock speeds I can hit, what do you think guys? OR should I pick Dual 780 Tis now with LCS??? I'm much confused here.....

2560*1440 Gaming System, Core i7, 32GBs of RAM, 1250 Watt PSU.

 

[erocker]

Doesn't make much sense to use more than two cards (diminishing returns and all). Personally I'd go with a single 780ti or 290x. Unless you are doing this for benchmarking reasons.

If you're going to stick to your three options, I'd pick from 1 or 2, whichever is less expensive since they're essentially the same thing once you have the blocks on the cards.

 

[HuLkY]

Doesn't make much sense to use more than two cards (diminishing returns and all). Personally I'd go with a single 780ti or 290x. Unless you are doing this for benchmarking reasons.

If you're going to stick to your three options, I'd pick from 1 or 2, whichever is less expensive since they're essentially the same thing once you have the blocks on the cards.

I'm having this setup in mind for a two year gaming PC that I wont' upgrade later on, I upgrade almost each two new generations and was hoping for a thing that can survive the incoming games, and for 2K - since 4K is eating up all cards now - I was hoping for a thing of more survival that's why i picked up three cards, but if so, and I will go cards , would you vote GTX780 Tis or for example R9 290X Lightning?? for dual setup, and both LCS??

 

[erocker]

Performance being pretty close to the two setups, I really have no preference. I would go with what you are familiar with. If you have used SLi in the past go with the 780ti's. Also the 780ti's use less power, so you have room to upgrade to a 3rd card if you need it in the future.

 

[15th Warlock]

I have to agree with erocker, I went through the 3 and even 4 way SLI phase one time, and now I've settled for dual cards across all my builds, once you go over two cards you start getting much less performance from your investment, particularly on a setup like yours that uses a single monitor, if you where to game at 5760x1080, 7680x1440 or even 4K, then you would probably benefit from the extra power, otherwise, you're just building a system for benchmarking.

As for which card is better, I also agree with erocker, 780Ti's will use much less power than 290Xs, the only thing is, the 290Xs will have 33% percent more VRAM than the 780Ti's, and if you ever decide to go multimonitor, you'll definitely need that extra framebuffer, so that's something to think about as well.

Good luck with your build.

 

[HuLkY]

I have to agree with erocker, I went through the 3 and even 4 way SLI phase one time, and now I've settled for dual cards across all my builds, once you go over two cards you start getting much less performance from your investment, particularly on a setup like yours that uses a single monitor, if you where to game at 5760x1080, 7680x1440 or even 4K, then you would probably benefit from the extra power, otherwise, you're just building a system for benchmarking.
As for which card is better, I also agree with erocker, 780Ti's will use much less power than 290Xs, the only thing is, the 290Xs will have 33% percent more VRAM than the 780Ti's, and if you ever decide to go multimonitor, you'll definitely need that extra framebuffer, so that's something to think about as well.
Good luck with your build.

Performance being pretty close to the two setups, I really have no preference. I would go with what you are familiar with. If you have used SLi in the past go with the 780ti's. Also the 780ti's use less power, so you have room to upgrade to a 3rd card if you need it in the future.

Thanks so much guys for the advice , check this dude here

his build is 2K and I guess a hexa core CPU for example - if quad it's better - and the three cards are making AMAZING scaling, that's why i considered them 1st place compared to Dual 780Tis, and these are like, current Gen games not next gen ones, what do you think?

this is only one monitor not dual or even triple.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

You dont need 3 cards for 1440p. 2 cards is even overkill IMO. Id go for a single 780Ti.

 

[buildzoid]

Uh guys 780s use much less power than R9 290X 780Tis on the other hand pull only 2 watts less.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_780_Ti/25.html

 

[radrok]

I'm gonna add my experience about multi graphics cards setups and I'll start by saying that if you want to go over 2 graphics cards you want to look at Nvidia because ATI has always completely dropped the ball for 3 way and 4 way setups.

ATI/AMD may have better numbers on 3way/4way but what matters is the experience that you get from your setup and for me it has been nothing but a stuttery mess with them.

Nvidia has lower FPS figures but the experience has always been smooth, I honestly feel I've been rewarded by going with the green team this generation, every single game I play feels good and does deliver an awesome experience.

Now onto the resolutions, I've played with 2560x1600 a lot and it requires atleast two high end graphics cards to enjoy full details at substantially good framerates, 2560x1440 is no less demanding.

I'd go with dual 780ti which is basically the same as my setup, I've had them since last year and they keep giving me steady high framerates in every game I play.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

My single GTX 780ti that boosts to around 1270 MHz (EVGA GTX 780ti SC ACX is the exact model I have) handles all the games I've played at maximum settings on my 2560*1600 monitor, whether paired with my 2600k or 3930k. I don't recall the exact FPS, but BF4, Crysis 3, and Titanfall all play very smooth. Two in SLI should handle any game that is released in the next two years at your current monitors resolution. Also, from my experience with both crossfire and SLI set-ups, SLI does seem to be easier to maintain. And to be honest, you do not need to water-cool the ACX model. Mine has never seen above 71'c, even at 1270 MHz.

 

[HuLkY]

Thanks so much guys, so mostly you vote for nVidia from an experience point of view for 2K gaming.... I think I'm considering this now, I was before running Tri SLI GTX570 Gainward Ref cards on a P55 System, Good Old EVGA P55 Classified NF200 Edition and it was well then I went to HD5870 Dual CF, HD7870 CF, HD7950 CF and never visited nVidia again since GTX500, I think I might do it again and even wait for a 2K GSync monitor from ASUS soon I hope...

Now onto the resolutions, I've played with 2560x1600 a lot and it requires atleast two high end graphics cards to enjoy full details at substantially good framerates, 2560x1440 is no less demanding.

I'd go with dual 780ti which is basically the same as my setup, I've had them since last year and they keep giving me steady high framerates in every game I play.

What cards do you have? should I go for the Ref ones only or go for any custom ones?

 

[radrok]

I have two reference gtx titans with waterblocks, but you shouldn't splurge that much when the 780tis are basically the same at a lower price. I got titans because they were the only option at the time

 

[klepp0906]

I'm going for a TriFire setup, R9 290, and would probably go for LCS since it gives amazing results but I got some options...

1 - 3 * CryVenom Cards, almost your typical R9 290 + EK block and EK backplate.
2 - 3 * Ref Cards, and add three of those and those
3 - 3 * best non Ref 290 out there - if it's better than Ref regarding stable OC and chocks, and their possible Blocks if there are any ones out there.

I was going to regard TriSLI of GTX780 Classifieds from EVGA but I dunno would they scale better than AMD or not, and the clock speeds I can hit, what do you think guys? OR should I pick Dual 780 Tis now with LCS??? I'm much confused here.....

2560*1440 Gaming System, Core i7, 32GBs of RAM, 1250 Watt PSU.

Honestly get what you want. Of those choices no matter which you pick the difference isn't going to warrant the effort your putting in to choosing.

With that said, coming from an nvidia fan - go with the reference r290s. Save yourself some money. Dismiss the nvidia idea, assuming your going multi display with more than 2 cards and nvidia has some serious issues with surround on Microsofts newest OS. Not to mention the ridiculous premium nvidia charges for it's cards.

 

[Jack1n]

If you have duel 7950's right now,i would say its all you need really for 1600p,might wanna save your money till next gen.

 

[HuLkY]

If you have duel 7950's right now,i would say its all you need really for 1600p,might wanna save your money till next gen.

seems to be so, the rumors about the new R9295X seems so exciting and these days once you get a GPU in a week it's outdated

 

[Toothless]

seems to be so, the rumors about the new R9295X seems so exciting and these days once you get a GPU in a week it's outdated

The 295x also draws a shitload of power.. If you REALLY want a couple of new cards. I'd say go with NVIDIA.

 

[HuLkY]

The 295x also draws a shitload of power.. If you REALLY want a couple of new cards. I'd say go with NVIDIA.

so far after many talks, many recommended nVidia for me, lets wait and see what the next wave of GPUs which is not that far from today would bring.

 

[Toothless]

so far after many talks, many recommended nVidia for me, lets wait and see what the next wave of GPUs which is not that far from today would bring.

Maxwell is right around the corner. Best choice on waiting for them.

 

[GhostRyder]

I have had many setups including Single, 2 way, 3 way, and 4 way setups in the past and honestly its like everyone says where you start to see diminishing returns. As far as 2 cards go, its a good choice either way because both companies do very well in CFX and SLI scaling. On the other part that comes to a 3 and 4 way setup I prefer AMD (As you can see by my current specs) because while both offer diminishing returns AMD offers the best 3 and 4 way scaling (Not by much mind you, but its noticeable). It really still ends up being game reliant over all of this but my experience lately with HD 6990's, 290X's, 580's, and others have just been that 2 cards do a great job on both platforms, but AMD has it for me on that third and 4th card. As for 3 cards, I have 3 290X's and they scale pretty well so long as your doing a high resolution. I run 5760x1080p right now and it keeps a 60FPS ultra average in almost every game I play give or a take a few (BF4 is one I love to play like this) and I'm actually soon about to swap out for a Asus 4k display.

In the end, 2 cards are the best if you want to maximize a system and keep bang for buck. But if you want a high end system beyond expectations, just grab a Tri-Fire setup and overclock them for you will get some great performance.

 

[HuLkY]

I have had many setups including Single, 2 way, 3 way, and 4 way setups in the past and honestly its like everyone says where you start to see diminishing returns. As far as 2 cards go, its a good choice either way because both companies do very well in CFX and SLI scaling. On the other part that comes to a 3 and 4 way setup I prefer AMD (As you can see by my current specs) because while both offer diminishing returns AMD offers the best 3 and 4 way scaling (Not by much mind you, but its noticeable). It really still ends up being game reliant over all of this but my experience lately with HD 6990's, 290X's, 580's, and others have just been that 2 cards do a great job on both platforms, but AMD has it for me on that third and 4th card. As for 3 cards, I have 3 290X's and they scale pretty well so long as your doing a high resolution. I run 5760x1080p right now and it keeps a 60FPS ultra average in almost every game I play give or a take a few (BF4 is one I love to play like this) and I'm actually soon about to swap out for a Asus 4k display.

In the end, 2 cards are the best if you want to maximize a system and keep bang for buck. But if you want a high end system beyond expectations, just grab a Tri-Fire setup and overclock them for you will get some great performance.

amazing mate! do u have a photo for the setup??? and why AMD not Intel?! Ci7 would unleash these beasts for sure.

 

[Champ]

You dont need 3 cards for 1440p. 2 cards is even overkill IMO. Id go for a single 780Ti.

I agree with this. My card with liquid cooling like a h1001 can hit 1500 @ the core. Guy on youtube doing it and I'd imagine it whips everything 1400

 

[GhostRyder]

Heres a pic of the computer I took today, im away from my PC but my monitor setup is just three of these on a stand.

As far as why I chose AMD was mostly to max what I already had on the Crosshair V-Z board and just see how far I could push AMD's top chip mostly because of my disappointment in the recent clocking abilities of Intel chips. I plan on swapping over to Haswell-E once its released and working from there, but until then I'm just rolling with this chip which does an excellent job as is.