Graphics Card Help

[GafferGames]

Power wise you are fine, but im not sure you are doing the set up correctly, A) you shouldn't have two different cards running on the same processor they will compete for resources, B) if in fact you run the two cards then there is a chance that both of them will block 2 of your free slots(hence the name Dual Slot Cards), C) is the only reason for you keeping the 650 TI the second monitor? Because if it is you must not be aware of the fact that the 680 can run up to 4 monitors, 3 in surround setting, and 1 accessory display

Of course I'm aware of this, the GTX 650 Ti can run up to 4 monitors, but I have used adapters (due to there only being one HDMI slot) and it doesn't bring the same quality, plus it is much easier for me to get the better card now, than get a second 650 Ti and have to spend more money sooner.

Not exactly, if you have two different cards then what happends is that the two cards work like two independent cards, problem with this is that the CPU processing gets divided among them, usually this set up is used for Server design not desktop. As for your second point the cards dont plug into 2 slots but when you plug a Dual Slot Card into the Slot it will cover a Second slot due to its size making slot 2 unusable

This was exactly what I thought. and that was what I had seen written everywhere else. Well at the moment even during gaming I have never seen my CPU usage break 30%, so do you think I should be okay?[DOUBLEPOST=1373282641,1373282570][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes that would be correct, the slot that is covered is usually normal PCI slot, his original question pertained to his sound card which uses either PCI-E X1, or the regular slot depending on the sound card, so for his purpose the slot he needs potentially could be blocked by the cards depending on how they are placed

That's what I'm worried about, as I can tell a noteable difference without the sound card, so I wouldn't want to lose it.

 

[Ukraine Arsenal]

Of course I'm aware of this, the GTX 650 Ti can run up to 4 monitors, but I have used adapters (due to there only being one HDMI slot) and it doesn't bring the same quality, plus it is much easier for me to get the better card now, than get a second 650 Ti and have to spend more money sooner.


This was exactly what I thought. and that was what I had seen written everywhere else. Well at the moment even during gaming I have never seen my CPU usage break 30%, so do you think I should be okay?[DOUBLEPOST=1373282641,1373282570][/DOUBLEPOST]

That's what I'm worried about, as I can tell a noteable difference without the sound card, so I wouldn't want to lose it.

It really depends on which card you are gaming(hopefully the GTX 680) and although i dont recommend the set up, you are running 4.6 GHZ Intel I5 processor, that being said it really depends on what applications you are running beside the game, for example if you plan on rendering a video while playing you will have crappy experience on both considering that the processor will have to handle Game data and the GTX 680 while handling the data going to the 650 TI while Rendering the video. So if you do things independently(meaning that while gaming there are no other CPU intensive workloads) you should be just fine

As for the sound card you will have to see which slots you should connect the two cards to make sure you have a slot open for your sound card

 

[GafferGames]

It really depends on which card you are gaming(hopefully the GTX 680) and although i dont recommend the set up you are running 4.6 GHZ Intel I5 processor, that being said it really depends on what applications you are running beside the game, for example if you plan on rendering a video while playing you will have crappy experience on both considering that the processor will have to handle Game data and the GTX 680 while handling the data going to the 650 TI while Rendering the video. So if you do things independently(meaning that while gaming there are no other CPU intensive workloads) you should be just fine

No, even now rendering while playing creates a loss of about 10 FPS, so I shouldn't be doing anything else while gaming other than browser work/ sound levels etc.

 

[Ukraine Arsenal]

No, even now rendering while playing creates a loss of about 10 FPS, so I shouldn't be doing anything else while gaming other than browser work/ sound levels etc.

Yea definitely no rendering while gaming, also im just looking at your motherboard specs again and its a Z68, from what i read the PCI Slot memory bandwidth on these is not that great, so combining 3 cards on the same Memory channel might give you some issues, just a word of warning, your CPU may be able to handle the data but your memory lanes themselves may not be able to deliver that much data, worst case scenario - you get rid of your 650 TI, again just a precaution to what could happened if you put too many things onto the same bus

 

[GafferGames]

Yea definitely no rendering while gaming, also im just looking at your motherboard specs again and its a Z68, from what i read the PCI Slot memory bandwidth on these is not that great, so combining 3 cards on the same Memory channel might give you some issues, just a word of warning, your CPU may be able to handle the data but your memory lanes themselves may not be able to deliver that much data, worst case scenario - you get rid of your 650 TI, again just a precaution to what could happened if you put too many things onto the same bus

What do you mean by its a Z68, I can't find anything like that in the spec list.

 

[Ukraine Arsenal]

What do you mean by its a Z68, I can't find anything like that in the spec list.

Wait, no never mind i looked at the wrong thing on newegg, its a Z77 based mother board. The situation is better but still keep in mind that the data rate for 3 independent cards can be high, the Z77 should do fine as long as you dont try to play a different game on each of the cards

 

[GafferGames]

Wait, no never mind i looked at the wrong thing on newegg, its a Z77 based mother board. The situation is better but still keep in mind that the data rate for 3 independent cards can be high, the Z77 should do fine as long as you dont try to play a different game on each of the cards

Yeah, I wasn't planning on, so it should be okay