Since I've been thinking of getting the Yamakasi Catleap, a monitor for €330 incl. shipping, an IPS screen the quality of the Dell, but for less than half the price, delivering 2560x1440 in 27inches, is just... for the lack of the better word... awesome. :yahoo:

 

Now, I tested on my current screen (it actually managed to show the resolution, if even in the bad quality), what it means when I crank up to 2560x1440.

 

I lost 20% of the performance!

 

So, I don't know if this is overkilling now, but I'm looking at another used GTX580 on Ebay, which is going for €200 now.

 

I don't know what the selling price is going to be, but, nonetheless, it's interesting to know if the extreme resolutions and knowingly extreme AA I'm running, are going to be helped by a 2nd GTX580.

 

Reading this:

http://blogs.msdn.co...multi-core.aspx

Phil Taylor clearly states:

"So SLI doesn’t benefit FSX much except at extreme resolutions with high AA."

 

So now, considering that he says at extreme resolutions and extreme AA, you could have a boost, I beg the question:

 

How much of a boost?

 

And more importantly in the end:

Should I get a 2nd GTX580 or...

Should I just forget this, because GTX580 being an old tech, and think about striking into 680?

Interesting article. But I just wonder how valid it is due to the advances of cpu's over the last few years.

Very interesting. I was planning to get a 27 inch ultra high resolution monitor as well, until I now find out that it could reduce FPS, I never knew that! Maybe a GTX 680 will help with that. :P

Of course it reduces. Every resolution change chages the FPS. More pixels to render, more work for the GPU, less FPS.

 

Been thinking of ordering a GTX580 from Amazon to test and then send it back. Just for test.

Hows the perf drop if any w/o SGSS?

I tried a GTX480 SLI sometime ago aiming to crank up AA but didn't work in DX9. Resolution was just 1920x1080 however

Comparisons:

 

My normal setup + locked in FSX at 90FPS.

 

Windowed tests, not maximized:

NGX + UK2000 EGLL

2x SGSS 25fps

no SGSS 27fps

 

Cloudtest:

2x SGSS 36fps

no SGSS 49fps

 

 

Full screen, 1920x1200 vs 2560x1440:

 

1920x1200

NGX + UK2000 EGLL

2x SGSS 22fps (usage about 80%)

no SGSS 22fps

 

2560x1440

2x SGSS 19fps (hitting 95-100%)

no SGSS 22fps

 

Cloudtest:

 

1920x1200

2x SGSS 30fps

no SGSS 30fps

 

2560x1440

2x SGSS 20fps

no SGSS 29fps

 

This is a clear test of GPU virtually choking on the highres + SGSS.

When you compare non-SGSS tests with resolution change, there is virtually no difference. Both cloudtest and the NGX test show that if I change the res, without SGSS, there is virtually no FPS change. Also, GPU-Z shows no 100% GPU usage. Usually around 50-60%.

In my situations, I seem to be highly GPU limited if running SGSS. This is where the 2nd card, according to Phil, would help. How much... well, I asked that already

Just make sure you test that SLI thoroughly before getting another waterblock and all. I know I was very disappointed with mine

Yes. I will order both, screen and the 580. Costly thing... phuh... but, I definitely need a new screen. The 245B is terrible already, after 7 years of service, backlight is starting to fade away lightly, contrast is terrible and colors are totally washed out.

I know you're going Nvidia, and I'm ATI but I'll throw my experience with Crossfire in this. I have a ATI 6990 which for those who don't know is known as a "Crossfire on a stick" card. ie: Just like the short lived GTX 590. Two GPUs, one card.

 

It indeed does give you more overhead I was able to push 16x SSAA in Crossfire when running FSX but more often that not I still found it hitting the 100% load mark on both GPUs which just induced stuttering. I usually ran at 4x or 8x SSAA which handled it just fine. The thing is, running it on a single GPU runs 4x or 8x SSAA just fine and smooth. I stopped using Crossfire though because even though GPU usage was averaging 40% on both GPUs it was also inducing the flashing black texture anomalies. Running the same SSAA on just a single GPU nearly eliminated the flashing black textures completely. I think FSX has a terrible time at managing two sources of VRAM at once and my next issue I had with it kind of backs that up a bit. Now this may be of no concern for you but when running Crossfire 80% of my screenshots taken with the FSX screenshot feature (V key) would be just black BMPs. No picture, no nothing, just a completely black BMP. Every one in a while it would capture it fine but more often than not it would just be black. FRAPs also had the same issue taking screenshots within FSX running in Crossfire. The only program that never had an issue capturing screenshots when running in Crossfire was MSI Afterburner.

 

I have resorted to just disabling Crossfire for FSX as it just causes too many anomalies and I can get the same exact performance on a single GPU.

I don't know Word Not Allowed. I can't remember ever seeing objective confirmation that SLI of any GPU improves FSX resolution capability whatsoever. I think you are barking up the wrong tree looking for another 580 GTX.

 

Kind regards,

Neither did I Stephen. But did anyone really bother to run SLI in such high configurations? I mean, until I started barking with the 2x SGSS, that mode was barely known. Dario picked it somewhere, and since then, I was using it, but barely anyone else here. So, how do we actually know, that at such high AA settings, where the GPU is really used at 100% (at other settings it's not), that the SLI wouldn't help, possibly even a lot?

 

I think I'll do everyone a favor: I'll test it. It costs me not a dime to do it. I wish I knew someone with a 2nd GTX580 close enough...

Here's my personal experience

 

http://www.forum.avsim.net/topic/340761-fsx-sli-antialiasing-dx9-and-virtual-cockpits/

 

Where I talk about 3D gauges, I should be saying glass cockpits / displays

I wonder if that changed, with glass cockpits. And in that thread, all picture are missing, so I have no idea what you were talking about.

 

If DescendDescend could run these tests I ran above, would that show us what SLI is capable of? I could even make a 3rd test, with the NGX and cloudcover. Would probably bring my FPS down to the teens, but what the hell :)

Srdjan, save yourself a headache and wait for some better single GPU cards. I had 2 GTS450's and there wasn't one time were the performance was any better. I'd recommend that you wait for the 685 or get a 680. I have a feeling that this is where the 680 might flex its muscles.

Waiting I can do when I die.

 

As Dario already reported, there is a benefit when using SLI when it comes to very high AA and resolutions possibly. We need to test this into detail.

I'll be doing this in next couple of days, so stay tuned.

 

You are preaching to the choir man I know the 685 recommendation quite well, though I am not putting that much hope into that card as of yet, because there is too much unknown. Especially in light of 680s inability to push the limits of AA in 1920. I might ask JohnFromCo that we repeat the test in 2560, if he agrees to do it :)