GPU for i7 sandybridge/ triple screen 1440p

[Azfalt Raser]

Built my system in 2011.
i7 2700k sandybridge
2 x AMD HD 6970 gpu's
16gb RAM
1000 watt seasonic modular PSU
3 x 24" 1080p monitors
now on win10

Trying to match the system so it doesn't bottleneck the gpu or run into gpu driver compatibility issues for a system as old as mine.

I would like to switch to triple 32" 1440p monitors. Can anyone suggest a couple GPU's for my Sandybridge system at the highest quality I can get? Nvidia and AMD. Whether it's 1 card (dual gpu) or 1 card (single gpu).

My collection consists of 2017 and older games/sims.

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Neilski]

Well, as you probably realise, your system will be very unbalanced if you stick with the 2700K - there's the low-bandwidth RAM, the PCIe 2.0 bus, and of course the processor itself (weak for both single- and multi-thread loads).

I'd guess that you would see only very marginal gains if you chose a higher-spec GPU than a second-hand GTX 2060 (single card).

If you're looking to buy 3x new 32" 1440p monitors, I'm guessing you would be spending upwards of £600 on them alone, before thinking about the GPU.
For a "mere" £200-250 quid, you could readily replace the heart of your system as well and achieve a massively better balance alongside a more capable GPU, regardless of which GPU you choose.
(NB: I tend to upgrade very infrequently myself, and when I do I go for something reasonably close to the top of the line so I'm really not the best person to price up this kind of upgrade - but here goes anyway, for a basic demo...)
For example, £125 gets you a Ryzen 5 5600G in the UK today, alongside an AM4 board (plenty for under £70) and then there are plenty of 16GB DDR4-3600 kits available for under £40.
Not sure what you're budgeting for a GPU but if you want to go with a brand new card, I would consider an RTX 3060 or 3060 Ti which cost around £270 or £320 resp (not sure if any of them have a x8 PCIe bus but choose one with the x16 bus and you won't be bitten by the PCIe 3.0 max on the cheapest AM4 motherboards; alternatively buy a motherboard with PCIe 4.0 support).
A (much) older GPU with a lower spec might well do all you need for 2017-era games but I'm not sure any of them are still on the shelf...

 

[Novopaine]

I have my old 3770K pc (just slightly faster than a 2700k) running as a home theater PC on my 4K TV. It has 16GB of 1866Mhz DDR3 memory and has my old AMD Radeon RX5700 XT in it. The only racing game I ever loaded on this PC was Assetto Corsa. I ran a quick test in 4K to see what I would get.

On the Monza track with only 10 opponents I got around 100fps, which is not too bad. But as soon as I bumped it up to 25 opponents the FPS plummeted to 60-70 fps. A more powerful GPU may help a little, but the CPU will always be a limiting factor.

To add some perspective, a single 4K display is 8,294,400 pixels. Triple 1440p screens add up to 11,059,200. So triples will be a bigger challenge to drive. If I were looking for a decent card to drive triple 1440p screens without breaking the bank, I would consider an RX 6700 XT / 6750 XT or an RTX 3070.

 

[Azfalt Raser]

Well, as you probably realise, your system will be very unbalanced if you stick with the 2700K - there's the low-bandwidth RAM, the PCIe 2.0 bus, and of course the processor itself (weak for both single- and multi-thread loads).

I'd guess that you would see only very marginal gains if you chose a higher-spec GPU than a second-hand GTX 2060 (single card).

I'm in the U.S.
So a single GTX 2060 won't have any driver/hardware conflicts with my old system specs?
How about an AMD card?

I have my old 3770K pc (just slightly faster than a 2700k) running as a home theater PC on my 4K TV. It has 16GB of 1866Mhz DDR3 memory and has my old AMD Radeon RX5700 XT in it. The only racing game I ever loaded on this PC was Assetto Corsa. I ran a quick test in 4K to see what I would get.

On the Monza track with only 10 opponents I got around 100fps, which is not too bad. But as soon as I bumped it up to 25 opponents the FPS plummeted to 60-70 fps. A more powerful GPU may help a little, but the CPU will always be a limiting factor.

To add some perspective, a single 4K display is 8,294,400 pixels. Triple 1440p screens add up to 11,059,200. So triples will be a bigger challenge to drive. If I were looking for a decent card to drive triple 1440p screens without breaking the bank, I would consider an RX 6700 XT / 6750 XT or an RTX 3070.

Thanks for the info.
I'm looking to compliment the Sandybridge with the GPU and vice versa so neither bottlenecks each other.

I'll start with your suggestions and work my way backwards on the GPU generation scale.
My old pc is partly a test mule so I don't want to spend more than I absolutely need to on an older GPU.

Thank you.

 

[Neilski]

So a single GTX 2060 won't have any driver/hardware conflicts with my old system specs?

Should be fine. If you google you'll find that lots of people out there have run a 2060 + 2700K combination (both were popular choices). The 2060 is a pretty old card after all (Unlikely to still be available new of course, hence my comments above about new options.)
I have no idea about which AMD cards would be comparable but I see no reason why they shouldn't also work just fine.

I'm looking to compliment the Sandybridge with the GPU and vice versa so neither bottlenecks each other.

Depending on the game, resolution, settings etc. (including e.g. the number of AI as @Novopaine mentions), something will always be bottlenecking the overall system to some extent (normally CPU, GPU or RAM). When the severity of the bottlenecking - of the GPU by the CPU - gets to be extreme, that's when you can be throwing money away because you would likely have achieved better system performance with a weaker GPU and a better CPU for the same overall cost. (If you have an upgrade path pencilled in that would take advantage of the great GPU in the near future it could still make sense of course.)
Another way to frame it: you would absolutely gain FPS with a 4090 paired with the 2700K instead of a 2060, but the gains would be terrible value for money...

 

[pattikins]

I'm in the U.S.
So a single GTX 2060 won't have any driver/hardware conflicts with my old system specs?
How about an AMD card?


Thanks for the info.
I'm looking to compliment the Sandybridge with the GPU and vice versa so neither bottlenecks each other.

I'll start with your suggestions and work my way backwards on the GPU generation scale.
My old pc is partly a test mule so I don't want to spend more than I absolutely need to on an older GPU.

Thank you.

As far as your pci-e 2 x16 bus is concerned it should be okay up to RTX 3080 (+).

With regard to your specs, you've not listed the current speed (refresh rate) of your 1080p monitors - (60-100hz?) or your ave. fps - just to get an idea of where your base line is in terms of graphics quality/quantity and your expectations @ 1440p x 3, i.e., do you plan on buying 75hz or 170hz monitors? With the latter, you will need at least a RTX 3070 + new cpu, as suggested above.

I imagine the 2gb vram on the AMD HD 6970 cards (440 watts ave. gaming) is a bottleneck with your triple 1080p and I'm guessing the combined performance of both cards sit somewhere between an Nvidia 1050 ti (77 watts) and a R9 290 card. It might therefore be reasonable to look for a card that will give you, as a minimum, twice the performance (with bezel correction, your looking @ 11.5 megapixels). For instance, RX 5700/RTX 2060.

Back in 2016 I had a tipple 1080p setup with an R9 390 (290X) gpu, plus an Intel i7 3770 cpu. On a good day, I could get 95 fps with AC's builtin benchmark, but online I was only getting between 40/50fps (cpu bottleneck).

 

[Azfalt Raser]

Should be fine. If you google you'll find that lots of people out there have run a 2060 + 2700K combination (both were popular choices). The 2060 is a pretty old card after all (Unlikely to still be available new of course, hence my comments above about new options.)
I have no idea about which AMD cards would be comparable but I see no reason why they shouldn't also work just fine.

Depending on the game, resolution, settings etc. (including e.g. the number of AI as @Novopaine mentions), something will always be bottlenecking the overall system to some extent (normally CPU, GPU or RAM). When the severity of the bottlenecking - of the GPU by the CPU - gets to be extreme, that's when you can be throwing money away because you would likely have achieved better system performance with a weaker GPU and a better CPU for the same overall cost. (If you have an upgrade path pencilled in that would take advantage of the great GPU in the near future it could still make sense of course.)
Another way to frame it: you would absolutely gain FPS with a 4090 paired with the 2700K instead of a 2060, but the gains would be terrible value for money...

From my past research, I absolutely agree with your assessment. Thanks.

For all the money I paid for the original 2700k build (thousands), I can't part with it for pennies on the dollar, so I'll upgrade the gpu and keep it to test a project I'll be working on.

My i7 6700 (no "k")/gtx1050/single 4k 55" was purchased for pennies.

But I plan to build a "current" setup eventually.

Thanks again.