which GPU is best for AC?

[Tim Meuris]

nvidea or ati?

 

[Raig Strehlow]

both

 

[Tim Meuris]

so it doesn't matter at all?

extra info: I want to play this fluidly aon triple screen setup

 

[Raig Strehlow]

290X or 780
custom cards of amd arent that quietly, but fast too. Both can handle enough

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Nvidea just put out new drivers with a custom profile for AC.....Crossfire on AMD doesn't work well at all...I will be getting rid of my AMD cards ASAP and going with Nvidea.

Edit: I actually get less fps with crossfire on....not sure what is up with that but very frustrating.

 

[Saul Boucher]

so it doesn't matter at all?

extra info: I want to play this fluidly aon triple screen setup

I'm using an nVidia GTX 780 Ti with 3 x 24" (1920 x 1200) Monitors in triple screen. Very smooth, maximum settings. I might dial down some of the AA settings for MP depending on how it handles the grid size, but right now I literally have everything maxed including both AA types.

My card before the 780 Ti was an AMD HD 6990 which I was using the same triple screen setup on, and that was very smooth as well. No issues. I'm sure a 290X would be equiv to the 780 Ti.

 

[Saul Boucher]

Some additional info. My previous card from AMD the HD 6990 died after 2.5 years, just outside of warranty go figure..

I don't recommend the new AMD cards after that experience. At least not with the reference coolers. They run way to hot, and heat reduces life expectancy which I can clearly attest to. There are some nice new AMD cards from Asus and MSI for instance that are using custom coolers, which are way better.. But good luck finding one in stock. There is some sort of crazy altcoin (bitcoin) boom going on, and they are buying the new AMD cards up like hotcakes.. Apparently the AMD cards are way better for mining.

I'd recommend an nVidia card.

 

[Dazmaniac]

Can I just ask, on the subject of GPU's?

Do PCI 3.0 cards run on 2.0 MoBo's? If so, does the performance lose a little from what it would be on 3.0 and if so, is it drastic?

TIA

 

[DennS]

I am running AMD cards for years and never had any problems... I really like Eyefinity, does exactly what I need for triple screens but I think I will finally go back to nvidia.

If you decide for a 290X or anything else from their new cards I would stay far away from stock AMD coolers, invest a bit more $ for a custom cooling solution... The stock coolers are far to loud and run super hot...

 

[Saul Boucher]

Can I just ask, on the subject of GPU's?

Do PCI 3.0 cards run on 2.0 MoBo's? If so, does the performance lose a little from what it would be on 3.0 and if so, is it drastic?

TIA

Yes, they will Daz. And no, you won't notice a performance loss.

I read a detailed article on this awhile back and that was the end result. No difference.

Here is a quote

"So do not fret if you are on a Sandy Bridge PCI Express 2.0 system, you aren't missing out on a bunch of performance compared to an Ivy Bridge PCI Express 3.0 system. Most of our readers will likely benefit from higher CPU overclocks on Sandy Bridge anyway if you are truly pushing the CPU clock and this alone will likely negate any "advantages" from PCIe 3.0 or Ivy Bridge IPC when it comes to real-world gaming scenarios. PCIe 3.0 is a great evolution, one day it may actually support a better gameplay experience compared to PCIe 2.0, but that day is not today."

Cheers.

 

[Saul Boucher]

I am running AMD cards for years and never had any problems... I really like Eyefinity, does exactly what I need for triple screens but I think I will finally go back to nvidia. Atleast for highend cards they do have some bonus when it comes to power consumption and heat although also with a 100Euro price premium...

Currently as a result of the altcoin boom, street price is getting driven up on the new AMD cards a lot from what I hear. Milage may vary by region of course, where I am at there isn't a single one to be seen in stock anywhere.

But you are correct. I paid about $100 more than for the equivalent AMD card, but I figured the lower thermals and quiter profile, and better quality cooling system and overall build quality justified it.

 

[Saul Boucher]

Oh, another benefit of the nVidia surround. I didn't need to use display port to setup my triple screen. You can use any combination of monitor outputs.

 

[Tim Meuris]

Thanks guys for your valuable input
In a few months I'm buying a new pc and I want it to handle AC like a dream

@saul: I'm thinking of buying 27inch triple screen setup
will it change the situation performancewise compared to 24inch sized screens?

 

[Saul Boucher]

Depends on the resolution, 27" monitors are available in both 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440 resolutions. Running triple screen with 2560 x 1440 might be pretty taxing on even a GTX 780 Ti. That would be a 7680 x 1440 resolution, compared to my 5760 x 1200, 11 Million pixels compared to just under 7 Million. For reference I've seen benchmarks with the GTX 780 Ti running a 4K monitor at 8.2 Million pixels pretty respectably.

I'd suggest if you want a 27" triple screen setup you stick with 1920 x 1080 (1080p). That about 6.2 Million pixels, a little lower than what I am running. You could probably even get away with a lesser card, like the GTX 780 (Non Ti version).

 

[Stereo]

Oh, another benefit of the nVidia surround. I didn't need to use display port to setup my triple screen. You can use any combination of monitor outputs.

Yeah, I tried a multi screen setup with my mix of monitors (1920x1200 & 1920x1080) and my 460GTX pushed 3d to them fine. If AC explicitly supported 2-screen setups I'd probably try to run that way all the time, no room on my desk for a third one and the videocard only supports 2, so 3 just means a bunch of wasted rendering and apps being on the invisible third screen. Two would give me a decent enough left/right half of the windscreen view.

 

[Saul Boucher]

I think the bezels smack dab in the middle of your view would be far too distracting.

I remember an article about the 6 screen eyefinity configuration when it first came out. They hated it because of the bezels in the middle of your viewing, they found it to really distract immersion. I can see that being especially so in racing sims.

Best stick to either a single monitor, or triple.

 

[DennS]

Currently as a result of the altcoin boom, street price is getting driven up on the new AMD cards a lot from what I hear. Milage may vary by region of course, where I am at there isn't a single one to be seen in stock anywhere.

But you are correct. I paid about $100 more than for the equivalent AMD card, but I figured the lower thermals and quiter profile, and better quality cooling system and overall build quality justified it.

I guess it really depends on where you are based, here I can get a standard 290X starting at 460Euro, with custom cooler like the Sapphire Tri-X at 520Euro... stock for standard cards is quite good, custom cards are still not that widely available but "ok"... Standard 780ti starts at 580Euro with custom cooler in the range of 600 to 700 Euro (stock on the custom cooler versions is really really low though)...

Oh, another benefit of the nVidia surround. I didn't need to use display port to setup my triple screen. You can use any combination of monitor outputs.

sorry for being off topic but since you mention that I have some questions about surround...

1. How many screens can be simultaneously driven with one card? "only" 3 or more?
2. Is it possible to create profiles for example connect 4 screens to the card and switch which 3 are used? Or for normal triple screens one setup with a "big" desktop (gaming) and one setup where each screen is seperate (extended) for work?

 

[Saul Boucher]

Dennis, absolutely! As long as the card supports it and has the necessary number of ports.

My current config:
3 x 24" Dell U2410 Triple screen setup 5760 x 1200
1 x 30" Dell U3010 Single 2560 x 1600

I call it the best of both worlds setup. I have my triple screen setup that I use pretty much exclusively for racing sims. Then I use my single 30" for everything else. The GTX 780 Ti card I am using has exactly 4 outputs. 1 - DVI-I, 1 - DVI-D, 1-HDMI, and 1-Display Port. I use the DVI and HDMI ports for the surround setup and DP for the 30" screen. I'm using Windows 8.1 because it handles multi-monitor setups better than Win 7 from what I've heard, which seems to be true. I can configure the 3 x 24" monitors in the nVidia control panel to treat as a surround setup. Once that is completed I can go into the windows display properties and see the surround setup as 1 screen, and my 30" as another screen. From there I can choose which I want to be my primary, or I can disable one or the other entirely. Typically I'll have my 30" set as my primary, and my triple screen setup disabled and turned off until I want to race. I can activate the surround setup, set it to primary, then either disable the 30" entirely or set it up as an extended. As of right now I disable it because if it is set up as an extended then I can't access that AC side bar (probably a bug - first world problems I know..). But in the future I'll probably keep it up as an extended for external telemetry programs, etc.

You can only setup 3 screens in a surround setup though, the 4th screen is an extended. When setting up the surround setup, you choose which monitors you want to use and where they are placed. They need to be the same resolution though.

I'll upload a pic later.

 

[Tim Meuris]

Depends on the resolution, 27" monitors are available in both 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440 resolutions. Running triple screen with 2560 x 1440 might be pretty taxing on even a GTX 780 Ti. That would be a 7680 x 1440 resolution, compared to my 5760 x 1200, 11 Million pixels compared to just under 7 Million. For reference I've seen benchmarks with the GTX 780 Ti running a 4K monitor at 8.2 Million pixels pretty respectably.

I'd suggest if you want a 27" triple screen setup you stick with 1920 x 1080 (1080p). That about 6.2 Million pixels, a little lower than what I am running. You could probably even get away with a lesser card, like the GTX 780 (Non Ti version).

it will be 1920 x 1080 (1080p
those other monitors are way too heavy as well on performance as on my budget...

would you guys go for IPS panels or TN?

 

[Saul Boucher]

IPS for sure! better viewing angles and color accuracy.