GTX 285's in SLI

[kpat99]

I'm considering getting a second GTX 285 to add to my system because i intend on setting up 3 monitors. I'm hoping to get 3 dell 20's in landscape mode which would make up 3600 X 1600.

Basically i'm wondering if these cards are going to be powerful enough to drive that resolution in games such as crysis 2 and the upcoming battlefield 3.

My Specs

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
I7-920
12 GB RAM
BFG GTX 285 (planning to add a second)

Also planning on upgrading Case on Power Supply
Corsair 600T Special Edition White
Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular TX850M

 

[iFargle]

I don't think you'll be able to play games at that resolution because (as far as I know) the 2xx series doesn't support it like the 4xx series or ATi's EyeFinity.

 

[PP Mguire]

It does support 3D Surround, but I don't think SLI 285's will be powerful enough to handle it on Battlefield 3.

 

[iFargle]

oh.. man I have to get an SLi board and another one myself then

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Expect a considerable frame-drop on a 285 with 3D enabled, I tested it myself but can't remember the exact figures I arrived at. IIRC I read a test someone else did, turned out to be 30% decrease in fps?

 

[PP Mguire]

Well I don't think he wants to run 3D, but only the triple monitors. I just know it as being called 3D Surround but the FPS will drop a lot in BF3.

 

[kpat99]

As far as i can read i do need to run them in nvidia 2D Surround. Right now with a 1920 X 1080 I have high framerates in Crysis 2 and similar games. That's why i figured in SLI I might have a chance at decent frame rates. Though I've read 1GB is low for triple monitor set-ups.

Soulphire if you can post a report on SLI's running Nvidia Surround i would love to see it...thanks

 

[PP Mguire]

I know he has had those 480s for a while so drivers probably improved drastically. SLI 285s running DX10 should be pretty ok in BF3 but at that res it's almost guaranteed that it will lag on high. I can say for sure that SLI 280s OCed ran anything DX10 perfectly at 2048x1152.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Oh sure, if you're just running plain old 2D surround on 3 monitors, then SLI'd 285s will run just fine. As PP said, you will definitely not be able to max BF3 with that config, but it should be very playable on lower settings. BF3 is a gpu killer

 

[kpat99]

Do most games (Crysis, Battlefield...) support 3 monitor pixel counts in Windows 7? There are so many combinations!