2x 6870x2 in crossfire or AMD 7000 series

[lastcalaveras]

I've had two 6950 in crossfire but sent them both into warranty and got a credit on both.
the Sapphire 6950 ruined my video playback, the XFX 6950 would switch from 16 pci-e 2.0 lanes to 8 lanes to 4 lane the came down to 2 lane in pci-ex 1.1 and would display but not allow any form of graphic performance.

so I'm looking at either 2x 6870x2 in crossfire or a new 7000 series card

2x 6870x2 in crossfire provide me almost no microstutter and will cost little more than a single 7970

but a 7000 series card is newer and runs less power and cheaper than the crossfire setup

also i run eyefinity 3x1 setup

 

[Ryleh]

I would go for the 7xxx series because you don't have to worry about microstuttering or driver issues as much.

Not to mention you'd get far more VRAM(2gb on a dual card really means 1gb per card - each card needs it's own RAM pool because of bandwidth), overclocking headroom, and you'd save on electricity.

It'd be far more upgradeable in the future as well too.

 

[Volkszorn88]

I use to have 2x 6870s and 1x 6870x2, the 6870x2 was the biggest headache (for me at least).

Had a ton of issues with that card.

For example...
1.Very loud annoying clicking noise when gaming
2. Crossfire did not work with my regular 6870's (so no 1x 6870 + 1x 6870x2 for Trifire)
3. Major artifacts in game
4. Nothing but stutters and freezes in game
5. For a card that is super heavy it feels like it was put together very "cheaply"
6. Very heavy and will sag on your motherboard
7. Tried multiple drivers and nothing worked

I listed the problems that I had and when I read reviews, I read similar things about this card, but was blind "oh it wont happen to me" well it did.

So I can't even imagine the headaches you would have with quadfire.

But again, just because it happened to me doesn't mean it will to you. But IMO it's best to avoid this card and definitely go w/ the 7xxx series or keep your 2x 6950s since there's nothing that they can't play.

Hope this helped. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Ryleh]

I use to have 2x 6870s and 1x 6870x2, the 6870x2 was the biggest headache (for me at least).

Not to mention the fact that hardly any games scale for three graphics cards. Scaling for 4 cards would be even more unlikely. And even if it were to be supported the diminishing returns are an absolute pain.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I suggest waiting for Keplar at this juncture, Even if you DONT like green camp. it should push prices DOWN on AMD cards. so just sit tight and wait n' see how everything plays out.

If you dont want to wait then I recommend going single 7970 as AMDs drivers for crossfire setups have been completely garbage since cat 9.12's

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Not to mention the fact that hardly any games scale for three graphics cards. Scaling for 4 cards would be even more unlikely. And even if it were to be supported the diminishing returns are an absolute pain.

While performance wise, more than two cards don't scale very well, what they do do generally is eliminate micro-stutter. Crazyeyesreaper can go alot more indepth about how that happens.

 

[Ryleh]

I suggest waiting for Keplar at this juncture, Even if you DONT like green camp. it should push prices DOWN on AMD cards. so just sit tight and wait n' see how everything plays out.

If you dont want to wait then I recommend going single 7970 as AMDs drivers for crossfire setups have been completely garbage since cat 9.12's

I agree with the first point but I am somewhat unsure on the 2nd.

I was always under the impression that the drivers themselves have been good overall but the support for the newer games have been lack-luster(CFx profiles and other SLI bugs).

^Rewrote that 3-4 times until I felt like it started to more closely resembled what I had meant to say, only to find out I agree/understand with what you're saying now. I think someone put some downers in my coffee this morning. Or maybe the smell of paint thinner in my room is making my brain think it is being damage so it is playing dumb.

While performance wise, more than two cards don't scale very well, what they do do generally is eliminate micro-stutter. Crazyeyesreaper can go alot more indepth about how that happens.

I doubt going in too much depth is necessary for anything besides curiosity for the OP so I'll just to explain it bluntly to save anyone else the time.

It has to do with how the cards render the frames(duh - to self). I'm pretty sure that while there are like 3 distinct methods of displaying the frames (interlaced, take turns, and cards rendering different things entirely) the alternating is far more popular in games. It's pretty much the cards not synchronizing with one another.

Something else you should take into account is the frame-response (something I need to look into some more). Reading a Skyrim performance review a while back it talked about how 'high fps =/= smooth gameplay' because jumping from 120fps to 20fps will still look bad. IIRC AMD cards actually ran the game smoother despite getting similar or slightly lesser frames in comparison to Nvidia cards.

----

I really need to start unsubscribing to threads more quickly.
I so much as look at a thread and I'm irrevocably force-fed updates for life!
The more posts I respond to the worse they get. x_x

 

[Outback Bronze]

Yep wait for keplar/7xxx series.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I agree with the first point but I am somewhat unsure on the 2nd.

I was always under the impression that the drivers themselves have been good overall but the support for the newer games have been lack-luster(CFx profiles and other SLI bugs).

^Rewrote that 3-4 times until I felt like it started to more closely resembled what I had meant to say, only to find out I agree/understand with what you're saying now.

I really need to start unsubscribing to threads more quickly.
I so much as look at a thread and I'm irrevocably force-fed updates for life!

TheMailMan used to run 2 5850's in crossfire (or was that a single 5850??) then he ditched them for a GTX570 because of garbage drivers.

I too almost sold on my 2 6970s for a single 7970 because it kept crashing in ARMA II and nothing but ARMA II and this never used to happen with Cat 9.12's. crossfire also bought a lot of CTD's and microstutter to BF3 and AMD have released about 3-4 drivers trying to correct issues with BF3. A lot of users also suffered issues when running Skyrim with crossfire setups and its also taken them a while to iron it out.

Its good that they got a team with enough dedication to rush out drivers but its almost as if they laid off all the staff in the QA department.


Bad drivers are bad, thats all i can say. Its only recently where their drivers have started the slow climb up the ladder to being any good, but that could be down to the lack of game releases.

 

[Ryleh]

Bad drivers are bad, thats all i can say. Its only recently where their drivers have started the slow climb up the ladder to being any good, but that could be down to the lack of game releases.

I guess i'm one of the few people to have had nothing but great experiences with both AMD and Nvidia cards (1x5850, 2x5850, 1x6950 2xGTS 250s, and now my 1x 560ti-448).

Seems a bit tin-foil but I think AMD drivers are starting to pick up because developers are slowly shunning Nvidia sponsored folk out of their game development. I've always felt AMD cards were better in design but it seems like it's only just now starting to catch up.

It does seem like they've been slipping up again though in the driver area. On the other hand, Nvidia seems to be doing just as well and have been being a little bit more vocal when they do slip up or something else goes wrong. At least with the whole Realtek Ethernet driver thing.

I really wish companies could just be more vocal with their development (Dice and AMD come to mind) because it makes them messing up seems much less unforgivable.

Maybe I'm just being weird because I've always been more obsessed with efficiency than power.
I've always seen AMD(GPU-end) as an old frail watchmaker meticulously making mechanical pocketwatches, toiling over all the little parts and trying his damnedest to make it easy for other people to use(but almost to a fault) and Nvidia as a big goose that just poops out stone dials. The stone dials still managing to tell time more accurately and easily but only when interpreted through the right mediums. Definitely a metaphor I should work on some time, even if only for my own amusement.

Sorry if I'm crapping up this thread with my speculation, ass-hattery and grab-ass. :shadedshu

To everyones' relief I just found out that I can preemptively choose which threads to subscribe to (or not to) so the days of me manually unsubscribing is over! Unfortunately, without repercussion it's too late to for me to ever leave this thread. Unless I drive myself mad first, which I'm quickly starting to do.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Ive had 2x4870s 2x5850s and my current 2x6970s it doesnt take a phd to see where it went all down hill. I never had ANY issues with my 4870s and 5850s.

for single card setups the drivers are the boss though.

Im still teetering on the edge, If keplar is good then thats where I will go, If not then I'll decide what to do next (also based on how much money is in my pocket ) 6970s provide plenty of grunt for my gaming but Im after a single card that really puts them to shame

 

[lastcalaveras]

cool ill wait for a 7000 series price drop when kepler release
thanks for the advice eveyone