Ideas for ideal GPU's for my 6-monitor setup

aquinn

Junior Member
May 12, 2011
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Hi guys - so I'm planning on getting a 6-monitor setup and need advice on best GPU's to get.
I'm going to be doing some serious gaming, as well as trading during the day on it... but obviously the gaming is the intensive bit.

I was considering 2 x 6990's in CrossFire
or, perhaps 2 x ATI 590's in SLI

...but I've heard conflicting advice left right and center about all of this...

I'd like the best possible performance, and am willing to pay for it. Any advice on what best graphics setup to choose?

feel free to suggest any other setup (e.g. some people have said just stick with a single ATI 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition... but am worried the performance won't be enough to handle games like TW Shogun 2 and the Old Republic (when it eventually comes out!) in ultra-high settings)

FYI it'll be with a Sandy Bridge i7 2600K setup, on an Asus P8Z68-V Pro motherboard. 8GB of 2133MHz ram and a whole load of SSD.

Am all ears :) Thanks in advance
 

Arkadrel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2010
3,681
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Im gonna go with 2x 6990 :)

And make sure your i7 2600k or whatever is overclocked alot so you dont cpu bottleneck the cards. Even a slight overclock of a i7 2600k usually isnt enough for cards that powerfull, so it ll be the cpu holding you back and not that cards.

I believe they perform better (6990's>590's), esp at 6 monitor resolutions.
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
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If you want to use 6 monitors in a single group you need to go AMD. nVidia only supports 3 monitor surround. Dual 6990's would be the best setup, but as mosox said, you'd be better off water cooling them.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,330
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If you want to use 6 monitors in a single group you need to go AMD. nVidia only supports 3 monitor surround. Dual 6990's would be the best setup, but as mosox said, you'd be better off water cooling them.

^What he said....I just have to say, that is a sweet look monitor setup!

You will have to water cool these bad boys though as they are just loud & hot...so you are going to need a decent case to hold them in...i recommend a Silverstone Fortress 02
 

tynopik

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2004
5,245
500
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have you considered a 3x30" setup?

3x2560x1600 has almost the same number of pixels and eliminates the bezel in the exact center of the screen

also it gives you more options in terms of driving with nvidia solutions
 

Madcatatlas

Golden Member
Feb 22, 2010
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If you can get 3x 30" screens for £2,677.19 inc VAT, you should consider that, if it meets your other criterias.
 

NickR

Member
Feb 18, 2008
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6990s for sure. Get water cooling block for CPU and graphics cards. You'll need a car radiator to cool that methinks.
 

Voo

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2009
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+1 for at least considering the 3x 30" solution. 3x2 has the real problem of the bezels being exactly in the middle of the screen which I think is suboptimal at least for all kinds of FPSes (not played old republic but I'd think it'd apply there as well).
 

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
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The other option is 5x portrait mode for the monitors. No bezel dividing the upper and lower screens. I haven't seen a 5x setup though with the neat integrated stand like the one the OP's looking at though.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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alienbabeltech.com
The other option is 5x portrait mode for the monitors. No bezel dividing the upper and lower screens. I haven't seen a 5x setup though with the neat integrated stand like the one the OP's looking at though.

i have 5x1 Eyefinity and the issue is that it takes approximately 10 feet of horizontal 'desktop' space and it doesn't work well with a lot of games yet
:eek:

if i was going to expand beyond my 5760x1080 setup, i'd go for 3 x 2560x1600 instead of 6 screens with the horizontal bezel.
- but then i'd have to forget about 3D vision, and perhaps it's just me

If the OP is looking to save a few bucks (doubtful), then HD 6990+HD 6970 TriFire-X3 is a very powerful graphics solution and not much slower than QuadFire-X4
 
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bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
12,248
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no, a 6990 is not the only option. Maybe its the "only option" if we considering gaming with 6 monitors, but there are other options to run 6 monitors off of 1 card such as the original 5870 Eyefinity 6 cards, and even ASUS has produced a 6970 and even some 6950s with 6 monitor support

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121437

granted I wouldn't want to game on that card with any Eyefinity 6 resolution
 

T101

Senior member
Oct 13, 1999
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As someone who is running 2 x 470 in SLI with 3 monitors, I would say, stay away from nvidia. Working with more than two monitors is a hassle.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,330
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no, a 6990 is not the only option. Maybe its the "only option" if we considering gaming with 6 monitors, but there are other options to run 6 monitors off of 1 card such as the original 5870 Eyefinity 6 cards, and even ASUS has produced a 6970 and even some 6950s with 6 monitor support

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121437

granted I wouldn't want to game on that card with any Eyefinity 6 resolution

Pointless post, as it was already established this is for gaming...


Actually someone suggested the OP think about 3 x 30"LCD which would then bring NV back into the options