Widescreen Gaming Forum

I have two GTX 560 2GB cards installed. I play Battlefield 3 on ~6000*1080. My first card hits the VRAM limit. What exactly will happen next?
1) Will it dump to my system memory?
2) Will the second card pick up where the other left and I can play on without noticing anything?
3) Will the second card say: f*ck it, I'm outta here?

None of the above ^ - the game would simply slow.

If you hit a VRAM limit your framerate will fall precipitously and it will look like crap. You'd likely need to lower your AA settings to avoid the VRAM limit. The computer won't crash or anything.

This ^

The pc will be fine, the game just slows.

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You know, I got the weirdest thoughts now. Am I correct if I say that if the VRAM limit is reached on one of your cards, the game slows down. And therefor the only thing you *double* or *triple* is the computing power?

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Music is my life. You are my music.

Yes, your GPU processing power increases according to the SLI/Crossfire scaling for the game or benchmark you're running. Your VRAM ostensibly remains the same as a single card solution.

I think you're worrying too much about the screen tearing issue. I installed my 7970 last night and could only notice the tearing by moving a window around on the DVI-connected monitor (far left one for me). I played BC2 and BF3 and never noticed any tearing. If you've ever played a game with v-sync disabled you've experienced the screen tearing already.

Thanks for your delightful explanation!

And about the tearing: yes, I might be a bit too worried. The problem is that I've never actually seen the tearing issue with my own eyes. And it's never mentioned in official reviews with 3 monitors. However, I've seen in your system that you use HP ZR24W monitors. I've looked up the specs on those, and you have DVI and DP connections on the monitors. That means you don't have to use any adapters (or a DVI ot HDMI, which doesn't count). I've read from more people that if you don't use DP > DVI adapters you will not get the tearing. So I was wondering how you hooked up your monitors in the first place. Could you be so kind to enlighten me?

Moose

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Music is my life. You are my music.

With my old card (5870 Eyefinity6 edition) I just used 3 mini-DP links to connect the 3 monitors. There is a simple passive adapter in-line to convert between mini-DP and DP. They're electrically equivalent. There was no screen tearing with that setup.

My new card, a reference 7970, has only 2 mini-DP, 1 HDMI and a DVI connection. I'm using the 2 mini-DP connectors for the center and right monitors. The DVI connector drives the left monitor. There is screen tearing on the left monitor. I think the tearing is a result of the DVI connection being out-of-sync with frame buffer updates from the video card. The mini-DP links are in-sync and have no tearing.

Thanks for the info. I've already worked out the problems causing tearing, I'm just obsessed with trying not to get the problem myself. It's extra difficult because I've got three DVI/HDMI screens :/

I've always wondered if it'd be annoying or very noticable. I've got two choices left: get two GTX560/570 2GB cards or go for an 7970/6990/GTX590 (the last two are slightly over budget at the moment). However, If I buy an 7970 I have to buy a 30 bucks adapter, and if I buy an 6990 I'd have to buy three adapters (90 bucks).

What would you do if you were me? (also take tearing into consideration)

Moose

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Music is my life. You are my music.

7970. Single GPU solutions have less headaches. If the tearing bothers you then get an MST hub this summer and buy 2 more active adapters - problem solved.

You know what? I made myself a new list of choices based on what you said and what I found out (this never ends :tired:)

1) Buy an AMD 6990
With this card I get 2 x DisplayPort-DVI-adapter | 1 x DisplayPort-HDMI adapter.
If I want to eliminate screentearing I have to buy one adapter more, which will result in a total price of 625 euro's.

2) Buy an AMD 7970
With this card I get 2 x DisplayPort - Apple mini-DisplayPort | 1 x HDMI - 19-pens HDMI type A ( met adapter ) | 1 x DVI-I (dubbele verbinding) - 29-pin combined DVI.
I am not sure if I get the right adapters with this card, could anybody tell me if the Apple mini-Displayport adapters are the same as the ones I get with the 6990?
If yes, then this would cost me 510 euro's in total.
However, I would still have screentearing until the MST hub comes out. This means another XXX euro's and an extra adapter. Does an MST hub also increase input lag?

3) Buy two GTX560 2GB cards
With these cards I'd have no tearing and I do not have to buy any adapters. However, SLI does not always work properly.
This will cost me around 400 euro's.

Please give some valid arguments and/or benchmarks so I can make my mind up.
Moose

EDIT: I will also make some argument and look up benchmarks myself, but I cannot speak from experience. That's why I am asking you :)

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Music is my life. You are my music.

what do you mean sli does not always work properly?
while its true a number of games didnt have out of the box support i havnt seen recent AAA titles have that issue, or they are repidly patched.

the only headaches i really have from my setup (2x gtx 470s) are the same ones anyone with 3x monitors running a single res have.

why i went with 2x 470s:
i had to really hunt them down as not many places still sell them, but they bench higher than the current 560s and were similarly priced.
i actually care about physX. playing games like batman or Alice without physX would kill me, for me in a game its all about the little things, so i "needed" (lol) that stuff.
i think nvidias drivers (while yes they have issues) are a bit more solid, at least in my experience.. i seriously loathe CCC.


that 7970 looks really kickass on paper and it benches great.
it also would eliminate alot of issues with multiple cards, might be worth it for easier use..


as for tearing on nvidia, i dont get any tearing in games, no tearing on movies and such either. However if i watch a video on a video player that uses hardware accelleration, or i watch a youtube video which also does that, i get tearing on one monitor, but only at high resolutions, and it gets worse the higher the res. at 480p its pretty much not noticable, at 720 its mild, and at 1080 its pretty obvious. the monitor it tears on is one plugged into the second card, and if i switch the ports around one monitor still tears no matter what. of course those resolutions dont really reach the side monitors but if i stretch them or reposition them or whatever is when i see it.

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Asus P8P67 Pro, I7 2600k @ 4.6Ghz, 8gb, 250GB SSD/ 4TB Mechanical, Modded GTX 780TI, 3x AOC 27" IPS 5760x1080

You know what? I made myself a new list of choices based on what you said and what I found out (this never ends :tired:)

1) Buy an AMD 6990
With this card I get 2 x DisplayPort-DVI-adapter | 1 x DisplayPort-HDMI adapter.
If I want to eliminate screentearing I have to buy one adapter more, which will result in a total price of 625 euro's.

2) Buy an AMD 7970
With this card I get 2 x DisplayPort - Apple mini-DisplayPort | 1 x HDMI - 19-pens HDMI type A ( met adapter ) | 1 x DVI-I (dubbele verbinding) - 29-pin combined DVI.
I am not sure if I get the right adapters with this card, could anybody tell me if the Apple mini-Displayport adapters are the same as the ones I get with the 6990?
If yes, then this would cost me 510 euro's in total.
However, I would still have screentearing until the MST hub comes out. This means another XXX euro's and an extra adapter. Does an MST hub also increase input lag?

3) Buy two GTX560 2GB cards
With these cards I'd have no tearing and I do not have to buy any adapters. However, SLI does not always work properly.
This will cost me around 400 euro's.

Please give some valid arguments and/or benchmarks so I can make my mind up.
Moose

EDIT: I will also make some argument and look up benchmarks myself, but I cannot speak from experience. That's why I am asking you :)

I'm going to say exactly the same thing again. Buy a 7970. Multi-GPU setups can be a headache (a 6990 is a multi-GPU card if you didn't know). If you've never noticed the tearing before and you've played a game with v-sync turned off then the tearing won't bother you (it was there but you didn't notice it).

No one knows the details about the upcoming MST hubs - they're not out yet. I'm pretty familiar with the DP 1.2 spec though and it would make no sense for the hub to buffer any of the incoming signal so you shouldn't get any more input lag as a result of the hub.