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GPU decisions.. Need Advice

Xoholic
Level 7
Good morning ROG,

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Figured this issue warranted some advice from people who know a lot more than me (hope this is the right forum)!

I'm building a rig and the last piece of the puzzle right now is the GPU's. As I'm planning on OC'ing them, I believe I will be liquid cooling. So, I'm stuck between the following:

3x GTX 780 Ti's,
-or-
2x TITAN Black

Using the rig for heavy gaming. Current plan is to game at 1440p on the new ROG Swift PG278Q (btw, any update on a release date for that? I'm dying over here). Just one of them to start with. Maybe down the line I'll move to a tri-monitor setup.

From every benchmark I've seen, the 780 Ti's should be MORE than sufficient to run any current games at 1440p on a single monitor, and probably for the near future as well. However, how do they size up to 3x monitor 1440p gaming? Am I going to have resolution problems due to lower VRAM on the cards compared to the titan blacks? Keep in mind I am not even considering 4k until technology comes along that allows for drastic price reductions, as well as GPUs that can keep up.

tl;dr: Am I better off with 3x 780 Ti's or 2x Titan Blacks, for 1440p single monitor and (potentially) 3x monitor 1440p gaming?

Thanks!
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8 REPLIES 8

X-ROG
Level 15
What motherboard are you running?

akaglty
Level 7
From what I understand, the PG278Q needs DP, so you would need 3 cards if you plan on using that monitor x3 in the future. For one display, I have x2 GTX 780 Ti and I can't imagine needing more power for for 1440p. It's already pretty much overkill.

Sorry, didn't think to post other specs.

Mobo will be an Asus Rampage IV Black Edition.
16 gb 1866 mhz memory
Processor will be an i7, most likely the 4930k but potentially the 4770k.

I realize that much of this is overkill, but I am gearing myself more towards future-proofing.

I'm not too familiar with the use of DP vs. HDMI/DVI. Could you elaborate on this a bit? Why does a different type of port warrant three cards? I assume this means 2x titan blacks would be out of the question if that is my monitor of choice, and I want three screens?

shushumiga
Level 7
- (just my opinion): leave the Titans alone, they're just name and mainly for computing, not for gaming

- i've bought and i'm running one ASUS ROG MATRIX GTX 780Ti Platinum and I get better results in gaming (+10%) over Titan Black ... 2nd one Matrix will be in SLI in abt two month (since I have small sallary) ... and i'm gaming on ASUS PB278Q @ 1440p since november last year ... first i had 2x ASUS GTX 770 DC2OC and now i've switched myself on Matrix 780Ti (much better with one, i can only imagine what will i get with 2 Matrix cards)

- and main point, Titans are reference cards which means they have stock cooler, now think how much heat there is comparing to DC2OC ASUS coolers, or EVGA ACX, or Gigabyte Windforce etc., especially in 2-way SLI or 3-way SLI ... only thing is, if you'll remove stock coolers and put custom water cooling, then you'll get something, but again, with 780Ti you have much more Shaders and much bigger clocks out of the factory

- i'm repeating this is just my opinion and my choice ... sum all choices out there, put them on weight and than decide ... good luck in any case

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
For a single 1440 monitor running ultra settings and high AA values you can effectively bring even a couple of top end cards down to 40-50 fps...running triple 1440 and particularly the swift will need, as akaglty noted, one card per monitor...although Nvidia are still working on this...at the moment not supported.

So depends a bit on future plans...one screen 1440 high refresh rate and top settings a couple of Titan Blacks....thre screens you will want three cards and all at 1440 you will have to drop AA or some settings but will give good results with Gsync....

Xoholic
Level 7
Just to clarify - what isn't supported at the moment? Three 1440p monitors?

Arne_Saknussemm
Level 40
Sorry...Gsync is not supported in surround at the moment. Nvidia are working on enabling it in the case of 3 monitors connected to one GPU each via DP.

Xoholic
Level 7
Ah, understood. Well, if the VRAM isn't an issue on the 780 Ti's, then maybe 3 of those is the way to go. Only a hair more expensive than 2 titan black's, and I'm seeing massive frame bumps from a third card sharing the load.

Three monitors would be a bit down the road so I'm not super concerned if they don't currently support g-sync in surround, but I'd rather just be able to get more screens and go, than have to add a 3rd GPU as well. And if I do'nt place the order for a little while, maybe I'll be able to take advantage of this Matrix card that everyone is talking about.