Crossfiring/SLIing

adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
Hey

I just have a query regarding performance of crossfired or SLId GPUs......

I am thinking of getting either a 560 or a 6850 for my rig soon, with a view to adding a second one further down the line.

My question is, how well would these double GPU systems perform compared to say a single 580 or 6970?

Thanks :)
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
I'd always suggest going for one stronger card than two lesser cards. Reason being, consumes less power, creates less heat, more future proof, also a 580 would perform excellently anyway. I've not met a game i cant play on pretty much ultra.
 
NMEBowen

NMEBowen

Master Poster
as tom said its better to get a single power card than two weaker ones but as far as your question goes a 2nd card gives around 75% more power so say your getting 100 frames your looking at 175 frames with a 2nd card though i used to get 60 frames with my single gtx 580 on bf3 now im getting 140 frames with a sli setup so its not always true wheather thats newer drivers or not i cant say.
 
Tracker

Tracker

Enthusiast
Mileage varies based on what software you're using, alot of games nowadays seem better optimised for it but you do get some games where SLi/xfire doesn't have the same effect on performance as in others.. to make things worse, because some games are developed with one brand or the other in mind, xfire will outperform SLi in some games, and the other way around on others! it literally is down to the individual games and how they're coded to deal with things, but it's alot better nowadays than it used to be and drivers are always improving to let you get the best out of your cards with time, if you have an idea of what games exactly you want to play, it's best to look up benchmarks and work out which brand to go for, and whether SLi/xfire is worth it for you.

if you want something more all purpose and you don't know exactly what you're getting it for, then getting a single, powerful card may be a much safer bet, less fuss, less power draw, and you'll get far better performance particularly on newer games as they come out.
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
Thanks Tracker, that was very useful information!

What are your opinions on the current graphics cards?

I can't really afford to spend more than £150 on a GPU at the moment. Ive been looking at the NVidia Geforce GTX 560 OC by Gigabyte which I can get for £139. Do you think I could get anything better than this without spending much more?
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
It may be an idea to wait a bit until you can afford a better GPU. A 570 por ejemplo costs £250 and has a huge amount of difference compared to a 560.
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
Do you think the prices are genuinely likely to fall anytime soon like I have heard?
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
well due to new GPUs maybe. the 7k series are out which has altered the prices of the radeons, maybe when the 600 series of nvidia gpus release they will follow suit (as usual)
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
Yes I have mate, I can afford a 6870 at current prices but the 6950's are around £200 which is a little more than I can stretch at the moment :(

Whats your views on these Tom?
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
adahil said:
Yes I have mate, I can afford a 6870 at current prices but the 6950's are around £200 which is a little more than I can stretch at the moment :(

Whats your views on these Tom?
Click to expand...

The 6950 is a downclocked 6970, a 6950 can use one of its bioses to be flashed to the clock speeds of a 6970 (to get similar performance) for a cheaper price. A 6970 is the more powerful option but there is a LARGE price gap.
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
Thats interesting.....

Is flashing the speeds up to a 6970 something a complete novice like me could do with reasonable instructions?
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
adahil said:
Thats interesting.....

Is flashing the speeds up to a 6970 something a complete novice like me could do with reasonable instructions?
Click to expand...

In good reason. Plus you need a 6950 which is eligible for a BIOS flash. I don't know if Powercolour ones are included in that equation
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
adahil said:
Thats interesting.....

Is flashing the speeds up to a 6970 something a complete novice like me could do with reasonable instructions?
Click to expand...

No, dont lol, Will void warranty and if it fails, wave bye bye to warranty, (PCS will know)

If i were you i'd try and save a little more for a 6950. Alot of guys on these forums have them, and in return have really good levels of gaming.
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
tom_gr7 said:
No, dont lol, Will void warranty and if it fails, wave bye bye to warranty, (PCS will know)

If i were you i'd try and save a little more for a 6950. Alot of guys on these forums have them, and in return have really good levels of gaming.
Click to expand...

The magic of dual bios :D
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
No, dont lol, Will void warranty and if it fails, wave bye bye to warranty, (PCS will know)
Click to expand...

Good point :p I wouldn't know where to start anyway, so think I will scrap that idea.

Looks like its gonna be a 6950 (when I have enough pennies) then! Is there much difference between the different versions Tom? Gigabyte, Asus, PowerColour etc?
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
adahil said:
Good point :p I wouldn't know where to start anyway, so think I will scrap that idea.

Looks like its gonna be a 6950 (when I have enough pennies) then! Is there much difference between the different versions Tom? Gigabyte, Asus, PowerColour etc?
Click to expand...

yeah i'd avoid things like oc's cpu's/gpu's

The only difference would be some brands may be slightly faster. But for that slight increase in clock speed, would cast you more.

Personally I'd give pcs a call, (if you have a pcs pc) see what they can sell you one for, then ya covered by warranty (which you would be anyway) but with pcs if something is wrong they will help unlike alot of other companies.
 
adahil

adahil

Gold Level Poster
What do PCS charge you for delivery for stuff like GPU's etc, and is their delivery speed as impressive as with their PCs?
 
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