Quad SLI 580s (4x) or Quad SLI 590s (2x) or Quad CF 6990s (2x)

[Polymerabbit]

Which setup would be best for outputting to three 30" 2560x1600 monitors?

1. 4x EVGA GTX 580 FTW Hydro Copper 2
2. 2x EVGA GTX 590 Hydro Copper
3. 2x Radeon HD 6990

I have an i7-2600k at 4.8Ghz so cpu bottlenecking shouldn't really be an issue.

I currently have 2 stock 580s and I'm looking to upgrade.

 

[mnewsham]

I would say 2x 6990 or 2x 590 because of the space and the PCIe bandwidth limitations of 1155.

 

[Polymerabbit]

@mnewsham
Thanks for the reply, how does the 590 stack up against the 6990 with the new drivers?

 

[mnewsham]

Well because of AMD's better Multi GPU scaling i would go with AMD, but it is a wash really as both are close enough that they tie. Go with whichever you like best, i would however try and put them on water, as they run HOT and LOUD. Both of them NOT just AMD being loud.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Right on the fornt page AT has a three way scaling article.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4254/triplegpu-performance-multigpu-scaling-part1

They did not test multi-monitor, though. But generally speaking, I think AMD's 69xx cards close the gap compared to faster Nvidia cards as resolution increases. Of course in this case quad scaling will probably matter more. But I have to think the 2GB of memory per GPU on the 6990's, the three way scaling results, and the better performance as resolution increases would point to the 6990's being the better choice. But again, quad scaling is probably what will make the difference.

 

[Arkadrel]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/03/24/asus_geforce_gtx_590_video_card_review/1

HardOCP.com tests 590 + 6990 + 580 SLI on 3 monitor resolutions:
here are some pics:

Apple-to-Apples (same setting benchs):
5040x1050 benchmarks.

 

[Mistwalker]

@mnewsham
Thanks for the reply, how does the 590 stack up against the 6990 with the new drivers?

The 6990s lead slightly in performance (especially at 7680x1600) but are incredibly loud cards, so if noise is at all a factor you'll want to watercool them or look at other options.

 

[n0x1ous]

guru 3d has a recent article up about triple monitor performance with quad 590 vs quad 6990. it was back and forth. there were a lot of comments in the original 590 review that the games it was faster in were already over 100 fps etc but with 3 monitors, then the 590s lead does start to matter as the fps fall to numbers that make or break playability. certainly 4 580s (particularly the 3gb versions) is the fastest setup on earth. if you found a mobo with an nf200 bridge chip then go with that. otherwise I would say chech the guru3d article to find out which games are better suited to the quad 590 or quad6990 and make your decision based on the games that matter to you