Questions about GPUs

[jonathan1107]

1. There are "single" cards that have "dual GPUs" on em, do they use Crossfire/SLI drivers or normal drivers?

2. For instance, which would be better? 2x 6970 in CF? or 1x 6990?

3. I see PCI-E 3.0 on some new Graphics Cards label, are there mobos with 3.0 PCI-E out there yet? and is there a performance difference when using the same card on a PCI-E 2.0 vs PCI-E 3.0 ???

4. I have 1x radeon 6950 2gb (I sold my second one...) WHAT would be the best GPU upgrade I could do on my system? (look @ my specs please) I'd like to sell my remaining 6950 2gb and get something with a "after market" cooler on it, so I don't deal with the crappy ones that often come with the reference models... they're often very loud...

5. - NVIDIA seems to have better GPUs in general (better driver support too I hear...)
- NVIDIA cards go better with intel CPUs and AMD cards go better with AMD CPUs

Are these statements true?

[the54thvoid]

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

1. There are "single" cards that have "dual GPUs" on em, do they use Crossfire/SLI drivers or normal drivers?

Same driver bundles as single cards. AMD also release Catalyst Application Profiles which can be downloaded to augment the release drivers.

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

2. For instance, which would be better? 2x 6970 in CF? or 1x 6990?

6990 were very loud. 2 custom 6970's would be better if space and cooling allows.

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

3. I see PCI-E 3.0 on some new Graphics Cards label, are there mobos with 3.0 PCI-E out there yet? and is there a performance difference when using the same card on a PCI-E 2.0 vs PCI-E 3.0 ???

Yes, plenty PCI-E 3.0 mobos. They allow more bandwidth on the PCI lanes. There are very few performance benefits at current times. W1zzard did a review of PCI-E 2.0 versus 3.0 a while back.

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

4. I have 1x radeon 6950 2gb (I sold my second one...) WHAT would be the best GPU upgrade I could do on my system? (look @ my specs please) I'd like to sell my remaining 6950 2gb and get something with a "after market" cooler on it, so I don't deal with the crappy ones that often come with the reference models... they're often very loud...

At your resolution a GTX 670 is probably the best option. Or a custom 660Ti.

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

5. - NVIDIA seems to have better GPUs in general (better driver support too I hear...)
- NVIDIA cards go better with intel CPUs and AMD cards go better with AMD CPUs

Nvidia GPU's are neither better or worse. Nvidia sacrificed GPU power of the Kepler desktop series to produce a strong card in a low (ish) power envelope. The 7970 is a very powerful all round card. Arguably far better at maximum screen sizes with full effects (not for 1080). At same clocks the 680 wins at lower resolutions but at >1080 the 7970 shines.
Drivers can suck for both but 'generally' Nvidia have less stubborn issues. But on single cards, I've had zero probs from either.

And on V-sync - It's a gimmick that has caused overclockers grief. The mechanics behind it mean a voltage regulatory system is in place that Nvidia demand not be altered. It works well enough but arguably reduces overclocking in some cases and when the GPU heats up the boost function will degrade.

[EarthDog]

What is it with the AMD with AMD or Nvidia with Nvidia = better? Been a lot of that garbage popping up lately...

AKA - Not remotely true.

[Zubasa]

Originally Posted by jonathan1107

NVIDIA cards go better with intel CPUs and AMD cards go better with AMD CPUs

This is just BS period

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by Zubasa

This is just BS period

this entire thread is BS period. lol

[BarbaricSoul]

1. Yes, they use crossfire/SLI drivers.

2. 6970 in crossfire is better than a 6990 as a 6990 = two 6950 GPUs

3. Todays highest end cards are just barely using all the bandwith of PCIe 2.0, so unless your running something like quad-crossfire HD6990 or quad-SLI GTX690 cards, your perfectly fine with PCIe 2.0

4. I just replaced a pair of 5870 cards I was running in crossfire(about the same as corssfire 6950) with a single 7970. Personally, I'm not dissapointed one bit.

5. There are times where AMD's GPUs outperform Nvidia, and there are times where Nvidia outperforms AMD. There is no clear answer to which GPU manufacturer is better than the other. It really depends on the exact situation the GPU will be used for.

As for AMD CPUs with AMD GPUs and Nividia GPUs with Intel CPUs, all that is bullsh-t. AMD GPUs work just as good with Intel CPUs as they do with AMD CPUs and Nvidia GPUs work just as good with AMD CPUs as they do with Intel CPUs.

[jonathan1107]

Thanks for all yours answers... it really cleared up a lot of things I was unsure about...

Let's make something clear here tho: I want MAX quality in my graphics, CONSTANT 60 Fps is what I'm lookin for @ max settings (1080p res)...

Now I often get "your 6950 2gb can max out everything"... unfortunatly, that is SO untrue. It depends what game we're talkin about...

Let's say I'd want my GPU to be futureproof (or a least for a good while) and be able to MAX everything, would the nvidia 680 cut it?

And I've looked @ various game benchmarks for the 7970, and 2x 6950 2gb in CF often beat the 7970 (at 1080p) for the same price (1x 7970 = about 400$... and so does 2x 6950 2gb)...

What about the 690? and the upcoming 7990 ?