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2 x Ares III in crossfire with 3 Swift's - need your opinion pls!

sp33d3ple
Level 9
I'm putting together a new rig, and waiting for the Swift's to become avail in USA again. Bought 2 Ares III recently to use in crossfire, but not sure if I should go with 3 Swift's or not?! Prior to buying the 2 Ares, I bought 3 Poseidon's to run in 3-Sli thinking that I would never be lucky enough to get 2 Ares III. Now that I'm holding them in my hands, I 'm totally puzzled by the reviews that I'm reading on these forums...
So, here are my questions pls:
First, will the HDMI on the Ares 3 allow for 144Hz refresh for the swift? (planing on using HDMI to DP1.2) I know that the DVI and DP will, but what about the HDMI?
Second, if above is possible, will 2 Ares 3 in crossfire support 3 swifts? If so, what ports do I connect to? All into 1 card as above?
Third, if you think it's too early to venture in 3 Swift monitor setup with 2 Ares 3 in crossfire, should I go for another brand with 144Hz refresh in order to use the 2 Ares 3 in crossfire? I see new monitors with 144Hz popping out daily on Newegg and Amazon...
4) If you think the above is too much, should I just stay with 3 Poseidon 3-Sli and go with 3 Swifts for G-sync setup. I feel this is the best scenario, especially since my rig will be able to put out some serious cooling for these 3 cards.

Ultimately, I would like to get the Swifts, but I can't be as careless as with these cards when these monitors are fetching a premium...
My setup is a 3930K on a Asrock extreme 11, with 4 x 16PCI-E supported by two PLX chips, so I know that 3-Sli will be swell if I go that route.
Thanks,
sp33d3ple
4,156 Views
2 REPLIES 2

NavasC
Level 7
1) No, the HDMI won't. The Swift does not support HDMI to DP 1.2 conversion. Even if you find an Active DP converter that will convert successfully, the HDMI port cannot push 144 Hz @ 1080p OR 1440p.
2) You will need 3 DPs to use Tri-Swifts, because of the only 1 DP port on most cards. If the ARES has more than 1 DP port, you may be able to get by, but I don't know how AMD handles Eyefinity setups with monitors plugged into separate cards.
3) The safest route would be Three monitors with DVI or DP, since you would have enough ports for all 3, assuming Eyefinity allows the monitors to be plugged into separate cards. I know Nvidia drivers do not yet support this, I don't know if AMD drivers do.
4) If you do this, contact Nvidia and find out if the latest drivers support 3-Way Surround with the monitors plugged into separate cards. As it stands right now, SLI and G-Sync Surround only works if all 3 monitors are plugged into one card.


sp33d3ple
Level 9
Thanks NavasC! Reaffirmed my suspicions about the hdmi port. Hate not being able to get the slimmed bezel Swift, but it looks like it won't work. So now the question remains: should I go with 3 x asus vg248qe instead? But then again, that would undermine the purpose of having 2 ares in crossfire. It just kills me that ROG decided to put a hdmi port on the Ares 3. I understand that the card is geared towards 4 gaming, but why wouldn't anyone from the development team think about hdmi limitations? Clearly all the 295x cards are designed to provide more horsepower for multi-monitor setup, and here you have the top card with major deign setbacks. Just don't get it :confused: