Building a ~2,000 rig, need help with triple monitor and opinions!

[OneMoar]

I am with dave hardware wise a single AMD card is best bang for the buck crossfirex is a Opinion When it works ... sadly there drivers are a convoluted cluster fuck of fail

 

[GhostRyder]

I feel that they don't mention it, because it's just a given that it's part of what they offer, like 3DVision. Pretty much any new game supports either, and I find that daily usage when swapping between multi-monitor and single is a lot better on NVidia, and game performance scales a bit better. That's not to say it's perfect, but I do feel that it is in a big way better.

One of the biggest differences to me is how monitors connect to the GPUs, and how the driver works in desktop vs 3D.



Honestly, in some games, you need to drop settings with just two. Plus three is more visually impressive. I mean, only so many people say they were dumb enough to spend that much on VGAs....

Really, you need to spend way more money. Go single-monitor, and a single 780 or 290 is enough. the 780 TI or 290X is just icing on the cake, made with gold. If your wallet can afford it, get one.

That said, single VGA, I think AMD is better, and has better value. 290 and 780 trade blows, same with 780 ti and 290X. I simply don't have any faith in AMD's drivers for multi-GPU and multi-monitor. It is possible that 290/290X fixed the issues I had, but after complaining for years about microstutter and most people denying it even existed, to it now being a commonly accepted issue, I have simply given up on AMD. I'd recommend you stay as far away from AMD cards as is possible.

But then, I see some 280X for like $240 locally. Almost tempting, really. Buy 3 of those, sell one 780TI for that cost.

But they mention 3D vision on their drivers releases a lot more than Surround that I've noticed. I also tend to disagree on the multi-GPU aspect of AMD because like I said before with my 290X trio I have only run into one issue and that issue was called BF4. I do not consider one to be vastly superior, but I find AMD GPUs now a days offer better bang for buck and run high resolutions better which is what I strive for. As for buying 2 780ti's vs 2 290X's, its really a matter of opinion at that point whether whose right or not because based on resolutions, games, and the setup your using.

So I can get the MSI Gaming Edition r9 280x cards for 240 each. The MSI Gaming Ed. r9 290x would cost me 505 apiece.

Drivers wise, I have had maybe one problem with AMD drivers. I have seen in the past a long time ago when they were pretty wonky but there is nothing wrong with the drivers now as far as i'm concerned. So I would not let that hold you back as there is nothing wrong with the drivers in this day and age. As for a buying the R9 280X cards, well if you can get two you might be better off if your dead set on a surround setup. But if you can you could just deal with an R9 290 or 290X and then once you get more money add a second later to boost that performance. But the R9 280X is essentially an HD 7970 which are still very good cards even in this day and age.

 

[cadaveca]

Yeah, I gave up on AMD 100% in January, so maybe things are better now.

I still have one card each of every generation from 2900XT up to 7970. My son plays nearly everything on a 5850 and 1100T. With the GPUs from either camp at the extreme high-end being so close performance wise, it really does come down to wallet and personal usage, really. I play everything in Surround, and have no problems, really. With consoles currently kind of all the same performance-wise now for the next several years, buying a current card from either camp is a safe bet, as long as you chose the right card for the right resolution you want to run. Which driver you like should make your choice, really.

 

[sikhness]

But they mention 3D vision on their drivers releases a lot more than Surround that I've noticed. I also tend to disagree on the multi-GPU aspect of AMD because like I said before with my 290X trio I have only run into one issue and that issue was called BF4. I do not consider one to be vastly superior, but I find AMD GPUs now a days offer better bang for buck and run high resolutions better which is what I strive for. As for buying 2 780ti's vs 2 290X's, its really a matter of opinion at that point whether whose right or not because based on resolutions, games, and the setup your using.



Drivers wise, I have had maybe one problem with AMD drivers. I have seen in the past a long time ago when they were pretty wonky but there is nothing wrong with the drivers now as far as i'm concerned. So I would not let that hold you back as there is nothing wrong with the drivers in this day and age. As for a buying the R9 280X cards, well if you can get two you might be better off if your dead set on a surround setup. But if you can you could just deal with an R9 290 or 290X and then once you get more money add a second later to boost that performance. But the R9 280X is essentially an HD 7970 which are still very good cards even in this day and age.

Yeah I see what your saying. Ive actually talked it out with a friend at Memory Express. He built a PC very clsoe to the one i am planning on building (Same processor and MoBo) and he took the GTX 780 and popped it in. He is also running 3 monitors for gaming and when he tried it out, It worked fine as long as the setting weren't Ultra High. But when he used a second GTX 780, It worked like a beauty. So what I might do is just buy the MSI GTX 780 and maybe stick to gaming on a single monitor until I can grab a second one in the near future, and alot of the experts at ME agreed with this. So the AMD would also be an option, but at the end of the day, its 2 mid level cards, whereas my end goal is having a high end PC for both gaming and software development. Having 2 mid level cards might be helpful for gaming, but having 2 high end cards (1 that i buy now, and 1 that I buy later) should be perfect for both.

Yeah, I gave up on AMD 100% in January, so maybe things are better now.

I still have one card each of every generation from 2900XT up to 7970. My son plays nearly everything on a 5850 and 1100T. With the GPUs from either camp at the extreme high-end being so close performance wise, it really does come down to wallet and personal usage, really. I play everything in Surround, and have no problems, really. With consoles currently kind of all the same performance-wise now for the next several years, buying a current card from either camp is a safe bet, as long as you chose the right card for the right resolution you want to run. Which driver you like should make your choice, really.

Yeah it seems like its more of a personal preference and experience thing. I don't want to downgrade, as I would rather wait a month for more money and get a better component rather than spend 200-300 on a part im going to want to upgrade a month later. But honestly, this site has so been so much help, I cant thank you guys enough. I will defs come back here to ask any other questions I have, and will keep you guys posted on how this works out! I should be getting the PC assembled within the next month, and the monitors as the money comes in. Thanks again!