Multi-GPU Madness

[hellrazor]

Okay, let's pretend I have this elusive thing I heard about once that was called..... oh, what was it..... "monev"....no, wait.....was it "money"? I think so...... OK, we'll stick with that whether it's right or wrong........ (note that I really don't have any, this is just for planning once I do get some)

Now, not taking a look at my current rig (because, well....) what do you all think about the current state of SLI/Crossfire? Would it be worth it to get two video cards, assuming one of these (it doesn't really have to be that specific mobo, the important thing is dual 16x PCIe2.0 - and this isn't a rig-building thread so don't sit there and tell me to get a different one) got catapulted out of a warehouse and into my home through a series/parallel of unrelated events? And if so, is SLI or Crossfire better?

I really don't care about the last 2 questions all that much, but most importantly, is the current state of multi-GPU solutions good (works for a lot of games, actually increases performance, stable, etc), and what are the ups and downs (aside from the obvious power and cooling and sound)?

Please don't turn this into a fanboi thread. Pretty please?

 

[entropy13]

SLI > Crossfire right now.

Going with older generations of CPUs/mobos would hurt your multi-gpu config a bit. Well, it's more like Sandy Bridge had improvements over the previous gen. Nothing really attractive in the AMD front especially if you're going to use multiple cards.

Depends on what you mean with "a lot of games" though. Of course it actually increases performance. Well unless you go Crossfire and AMD still don't do anything with their drivers and profiles (remember than the HD 7970 in Crossfire performs worse than a single HD 7970 in Skyrim for example).

 

[Sinzia]

Ive used SLi on and off again for years, I have yet to reach an issue where it wouldn't work, save for a game not having an SLi profile, but you can make your own and with a quick google search find what others are using for profiles.

Nvidia drivers seem to be more stable, I see a decent amount of complaints about amd's driver support.

the only real downside is microstuttering, but I don't notice it myself.

 

[yangwangbrock]

SLI > Crossfire right now.

Going with older generations of CPUs/mobos would hurt your multi-gpu config a bit. Well, it's more like Sandy Bridge had improvements over the previous gen. Nothing really attractive in the AMD front especially if you're going to use multiple cards.

Depends on what you mean with "a lot of games" though. Of course it actually increases performance. Well unless you go Crossfire and AMD still don't do anything with their drivers and profiles (remember than the HD 7970 in Crossfire performs worse than a single HD 7970 in Skyrim for example).

SLI> CF? What is your proof?

 

[DRDNA]

I have been using CF since the X1900 series and never looked back...I actually use two X2 ATI cards and love it! I cant say I have had any issues other than I wish they folded better.

 

[Sasqui]

For now... at least... all you have to do is read the 7xxx CF scaling reviews by W1zzard on the front page. Next gen NV? Who knows... It does seem to me more complaints about CF, but that's 100% anectodal.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

i have used crossfire a few times now as i get a top end card , then a baby bro gfx card a year or so later and xfire them ,I had a 3870(on day 1)then got another and crossfired and now have 5870-5850 xfired and i find them to be fine ,so long as you dont go out and buy the latest card out x2, because they do take some time to get all games working right , but thats the same with single gpu new cards from either vendor.

dont get me wrong ,even initially xfire/sli new cards or single gpu work 98% right from day 1 but that 2% gets ironed out in the first few months, and last gen xfire/ sli tend to work brilliantly

and yes i get decent performance 10000 max attainable 3d mark11 score(catalyst enforced tweeks all round), 2500 in uniengine v2.5 though mine are both waterblocked and at 1000 core 1200 mem

and 79xx cards WILL be amazeing in crossfire given a bit of time in the games others choose to mention ,ie the ones that arent working right now(skyrim), i mean come on why point out the few that dont work so great when i bet a great many games work fine on 7xxx from the off

and its the same with SLI as you WILL see when kepler comes out except it will be AMD fanbois pointing out the odd one or two games that dont work so well initially

 

[Frizz]

SLI> CF? What is your proof?

Don't get him wrong, I am assuming he is referring to drivers and not the performance they both offer. I can humbly agree for now that crossfire has been slow recently, as their support for launching CF profiles for new titles lately have been quite horrible. But yeah most of those games did have issues with their performance on their own though namely Rage and Skyrim.

The only way I can sum it down for the OP is if you're a PC enthusiast, don't even think about it and just pull the trigger as it is damn satisfying seeing the performance of the Multi-GPU configuration, but of course there are alot of obstacles that you might have to go through to get it running properly for some titles but that's part of the fun. If you're just a gamer then don't even bother with a multi-GPU setup.. buy the best single GPU you can afford such as GTX 580 or a 6970 and up and you'll never run into any annoying issues with game releases.

I personally love the multi gpu technology and don't mind having to bear with the issues I could possibly have with them as I find that the performance you get in the end and the quality of the gfx is the best you'd be able to get in a gaming device.

 

[cadaveca]

is the current state of multi-GPU solutions good (works for a lot of games, actually increases performance, stable, etc), and what are the ups and downs (aside from the obvious power and cooling and sound)?

Multi-GPU, whether Crossfire or SLi, works fine. Crossfire has better efficiency, but SLi seems less problematic right now with new games.

That said, the down-side is that if you want the best Multi-GPU can give, you need to use an Intel system. You may lose up to 50% performance with an AMD CPU vs amnd Intel CPU, depending on the app and what AMD CPU is used.