i7 3820 could bottleneck 680 gtx Sli?

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce' started by jaredimre, Nov 4, 2012.

  1. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    I am going to buy a new PC with 680 gtx Sli. If I equip it with a i7 3820, could the 680 gtx Sli be limited by the CPU? Would a i7 3930k be a better choice? Worth spending more money? I am going to play at 1920x1080 with all filters on AA AF AO Vsync. Thanks.
     
  2. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    as long as you overclock the 3820 you will be fine pushing 2 680`s
     
  3. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    i am not going to overclock the CPU. Could it be a problem?
     
  4. mitzi76

    mitzi76 Guest

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    well a problem in so much as you will losing a big chunk of performance. otherwise cards will run fine...

    why dont you oc? it's not as if it's hard or dangerous. (common misconception). you will need an aftermarket cooler and generally not a cheap one.
     

  5. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    but you will have a lot of unused potential not overclocking whichever cpu you buy, will it run fine? yep
     
  6. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    If he's going to be using v-sync....he's already going to be severely limiting performance anyway...and 1080 + v-sync = 680SLI becomes a waste of money.

    @OP, you'd be better off with 670SLI at 1920x1080 if you're going to be using v-sync. Overall, you'll see the same performance because v-sync attempts to lock the framerate to match your monitor's refresh rate.
     
  7. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    Ok, fine. Thank you very much for your evidences. So I presume that a 3930k rather than a 3820 could give my 680 gtx Sli only a moderate fps boost when playing at 1920x1080 all filters ON (AA, AF, and so on). Am I wrong?
     
  8. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    no point in buying a 3930k if you are not going to overclock it. vast majority of games would show 0 difference between a 3930k and 3820 at the same clock speed. get the 3820 as its got a higher stock cpu speed
     
  9. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    This!
     
  10. hallryu

    hallryu Don Altobello

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    What is this 'not overclocking' business? I've heard everything now! lol
     

  11. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    I understand what your saying but thats not necessaily true with alot of recent titles, When using anti aliasing and you have vsync on certain games will still take you below 60fps to around 40fps depending on whats happening and it stays at 40fps until screen is cleared, Even with my 690 i get dips down to 40fps on many games especially the newer games with everything maxed out ingame and Nvidia inspector 4-8xMSAA+4-8SGSSAA at 1920*1200.

    Its not a waste and you never can have too much power especially when Nvidia Inspector is massively tweaked.
     
  12. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    You’re just the one I wanted to see! You have a 690 gtx + i7 930, may I ask you if you have ever noticed a significant fps difference between your system results and widespread 690 gtx benchmarks being issued online which generally equip a 3930k/3960x CPU? What fps range difference have you noticed at 1920x1080 all filters maxed out?
     
  13. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    There are games which max out my well overclocked 2500K and I'm not running SLI.
    SLI uses more CPU than a single gfx card, it may end up using a core that isnt being maxed. Then again it might not.
    It only takes one ""core"" to get around 90% use and it can start to limit framerate.

    No matter what CPU you get, there are games that will benefit from overclocking the CPU.
    For example X3, Skyrim (especially when modded), NFS MW 2012, Arma 2, Morrowind (is great with the new gfx expansion), Crysis, ....
     
  14. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    Regardless of buying a 3820 rather than a 3930K, if I use 1920x1080 60Hz display (not 120Hz), can I see the difference between e.g. 90-100 fps and 60 fps when I play video games with Sli enabled? Do they look smoother even with a 60Hz display when reaching 100 fps instead of 60 fps?
     
  15. Veteran

    Veteran Ancient Guru

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    For my cpu and oc the benchmarks that i have run are spot on for my hardware, Although a 3930/3960 will bring higher scoring on the benchmark as they generally oc more than my cpu and they are *TRUE* 6 core instead of quad core which is common sense and a no brainer.

    Saying that my 930 at 4.4 ht on fully stable gives me great performance with all settings on high and the anti aliasing that i said in the above post, This is how it is in most games at 60hz/60fps(remember fps in locked to your vsync).

    Even if i turn vsync off in Borderlands it caps at more than 60fps but still dips around 45fps when there's alot going on and physx on high is involved, Remember when running at 120hz you need even more power to run at 120fps with Anti-aliasing and ultra high resolutions if you choose to do that.

    In most games though if i have vsync on it never drops below 60fps even when theres alot going on, But like i said there are quite a few current games where it does drop especially when the Anti Aliasing is turned on from Nvidia Inspector,but even when its turned on from here in most games i still get constant 60fps, But some i do not get constant ie:Meaning Never ever dropping below 60fps even for only 1 second.

    So having poweful gpu(s) at 1920*1080/1200 is not a waste, Not with the *current games*, I know this as fact as ive seen it with my own eyes.

    I prefer a 60hz IPS monitor over a 120hz TN as i prefer the picture quality, I have a Dell U2410, One of the best 60hz monitors out there.

    The day a 120hz IPS monitor is released from Dell, I will be first in the queue to purchase one but until that day im happy with what i got.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2012

  16. The Lengthy One

    The Lengthy One Guest

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    Depending on the game ofc, what FPS you require, and if you like to max games out or not - this is total total nonsense.

    I would no way manage to max out several games with a single 680 - not if I want a constant 60FPS, which I do, and especially using VSYNC above all! coz once you drop even a little below 60 it turns into a freakin slideshow.

    BF3 is a good example, I play pretty standard stuff in BF3 - 1080p, 60hz 60FPS and Ultra settings.

    I quite often see GPU usage go above 50-60% (on each card) in MP BF3.

    In other words, if I had a single 680 with the same settings, I would see it drop below 60FPS a few times per game and usage much of the time in the 90%+ zone.

    As it is, I can actually play 64 player BF3 in all situations without a SINGLE drop below 60FPS and this is the sole reason I payed £800 for graphics alone - a solid 60FPS is very hard to achieve.

    However he has a good point about 670 - that's a smart move, for close to the same performance.

    Biggest issue you will run into is very poorly coded games, they will get you more FPS drops than any hardware weaknesses.

    Game coding alone makes PC gaming a serious waste of money.

    Since I came back from XBOX gaming I have spent more time trying to fix and fiddle with games and settings then I did actual gaming on the XBOX and this is NOT an exaggeration.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2012
  17. ---TK---

    ---TK--- Guest

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    I max out all my games at 1920x1080 with 2 580`s with a minimum 60fps except for Metro 2033. I could not do that on 1 card. Sli at this resolution is not a waste of money for me.
     
  18. jaredimre

    jaredimre Guest

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    Thanks, very clear explanations. But so it's totally pointless to get more than 60 fps on a 60Hz display? E.g. if fraps gives you 100 fps on a particular game when playing on a 60Hz display, are there any benefits compared to 60 fps? Smoothered camera, more eye comfortable on screen characters' movements, higher speed feeling in racing games and so on even if the display is 60hz locked?
     
  19. LinkDrive

    LinkDrive Ancient Guru

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    There's very little benefit to going higher than 60fps. 120hz monitos are nice and "feels" more responsive, even if you're not hitting 120fps. At least, that's my experience with it. Personally, I don't see much difference between 45fps and 60fps, much less 60fps and 120fps. I do notice the difference in refresh rates though. Only way to really find out what works for you is to try it out for yourself. But honestly, gaming at 1080 with a GTX680 is overkill. Most games don't even begin to saturate that card until 2560x1440 or with SSAA.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2012
  20. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    Inevitably to maintain at least 60fps everywhere you will far exceed 60fps in some places, you cant exclude this.
    It depends what you want and the games you play.

    Some games need an overclocked cpu to keep above the 60fps threshold.
    A few games will drop below 60fps in places regardless of cpu, but a faster cpu will give you higher framerate.
     

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