3-Way Sli worth the upgrade

[lundrog]

Ok all, i'm a gamer, plus I fold. And i'm wondering if I should pull the trigger on a used third GTX 680 Classified.

My current spec's.


Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard
2X Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 Kits
2X EVGA GTX 680 Classified in SLI
Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Water Cooler in Push / Pull
3x Crucial C400 128GB, 3x Samsung 840 pro Raid 0 Crucial C400 128GB boot drive.
PC Power & Cooling 950


Cough..

Still running my 21" CRT @ 2048x1536 , can't stand most LCD / LED....

http://ap.viewsonic.com/my/product_pdfs/crt/21/E-G220fB.pdf


Looking to move to 3x 27" once I find the res I like in a IPS.

I have water blocks I've yet to use, and i found someone selling a GTX 680 classified with block also.... Would give me future projects.

Whats the performance gain with a third Classified?

I would need a motherboard.. maybe a Gigabyte G1. Sniper 3 or used z68x-ud7-b3?



Thoughts and comments?



Thanks

 

[PhantomTaco]

Well if you take these numbers into consideration:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012..._gpu_gaming_performance_review/4#.UTBk_TCkrN0

You get a pretty decent idea of your baseline performance on some titles for non classifed, non oc'd cards. Granted this isn't necessarily tri 2560x1440 screens but 1080p, it's also what you could consider the absolute minimum performance to expect at tri 1080p for your cards.

 

[xnikx]

i had two 4gb 680s and i decided to upgrade to a third plus a i7 3930k
i am running three 27" monitors, 5760x1080 and the third card was a great buy.

i would say expect a 15-25% improvement in games that will utilize them.
example in crysis 3 the third card makes the difference of 90fps avg vs 60fps avg with two 680s.
in bf3 i get worse performance. although its not that much better in surround with just two cards.

not only did it improve my performance it actually improved my temps as well. strangely tri sli stays much cooler than dual cards.

there are a few issues but the benefits definitively out way the problems.
two issues for example is that i get a lot of downclocking on my 1st and 2nd card and it causes fps drops, it usually happens at the start of games but it is annoying when it randomly happens in a fire fight.
i get screentearing but only on loading screens, never noticed any ingame.
these are minor issues but worth mentioning.

also people say you get worse scaling in tri sli but in crysis 3 all three of my cards are utilized 99% most of the time.

 

[wand3r3r]

You can see an example of scaling here (1920x1200).
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_680_3_way_sli_review,8.html

Personally I wouldn't bother. It's diminishing returns after 1, much less after 2.

 

[Tol]

I wouldn't just suggest it, I'd be very close to saying it's necessary. I'm running 3 Classifieds and a 3570k @ 4.8GHz for my 3 x 30" setup. I generally run 8050x1600...slightly more than what you'd have with your 27"ers, but probably similar enough.

We don't have to worry much about the downclocking with the Classified cards. It seems kinda crazy to have those things sandwiched together like that but the cooling is great on them even without liquid. I'm a pretty light gamer these days but I haven't noticed any issues being caused by sli.

I wish I had numbers for you but it's been a long time since I gathered any. I'll just say that you'll get to check a couple extra boxes in the video options menus with 3 cards that you wouldn't be able to with 2...

 

[xnikx]

I wouldn't just suggest it, I'd be very close to saying it's necessary. I'm running 3 Classifieds and a 3570k @ 4.8GHz for my 3 x 30" setup. I generally run 8050x1600...slightly more than what you'd have with your 27"ers, but probably similar enough.

We don't have to worry much about the downclocking with the Classified cards. It seems kinda crazy to have those things sandwiched together like that but the cooling is great on them even without liquid. I'm a pretty light gamer these days but I haven't noticed any issues being caused by sli.

I wish I had numbers for you but it's been a long time since I gathered any. I'll just say that you'll get to check a couple extra boxes in the video options menus with 3 cards that you wouldn't be able to with 2...

why do you say you dont have to worry about the downclocking with the classifieds?
my cards downclock but its not due to temperatures, trying to figure out why my 680 ftws downclock.

 

[Tol]

I was under the impression it WAS from the temperatures...I ran into that situation with my first set of 680s(I was an idiot and bought the Gigabyte Windforce cards that don't use blowers and had no space to gather cool air). I was always able to see mine hit a certain temp and downclock themselves after a minute of gaming.

I don't recall hearing of any other reason. I hope you find it and can take care of it.