6990+6970 tri-fire or 7900 series cfx setup for cost/performance/features?

[Neon01]

I was all ready to pull the trigger on a new 7970 setup (considering CFX of either 7970s or 7950s), but I'm shying away for a couple reasons:

-The 7970 cfx setup is just plain too expensive for my needs. I'd like to keep my budget to $1000 or less, though I suppose I could stretch that if there's a compelling reason to do so.

-None of the 7950 card designs have more than 4 monitors supported. This is a dealbreaker for me since I have to have 5 displays hooked up simultaneous (though a maximum of 4 display at the same time). This kind of ruled out the 7950 cfx that seemed ideal. All of the 6900 series cards can do this, and the 6990 even gives me the ability to hook all up with miniDP to avoid tearing in eyefinity.

So now I'm thinking about going for a used 6990 and adding a 6970 to it. This should still give me performance in the range of a 7950 cfx setup (I think), and if I'm buying used, I can get it all for <$800. My big concern with this one is the tri-fire support and microstutter (if there is any). What I've read on Tom's though seems to indicate that microstutter is somewhat reduced with three GPU setups, so maybe that's a good thing. I'm also concerned that I'm buying "old tech", but then again the 6990 is really not that old, and it seems that the features added to the 7900 series are pretty minor. Heat/noise is another issue with the tri-fire setup.

For reference, I game on both a 2560x1600 panel and a 3700x1600 portrait eyefinity setup, and my goals are 60fps with maxed settings and 4xAA, no microstutter - though I realize I won't get all this on the eyefinity setup. I play (or will play) Rift, Diablo 3, Skyrim, Witcher 2, Guild Wars 2, Crysis 2 (full bells and whistles), Metro2033 and sequel, and others of this ilk.

Your thoughts are appreciated

 

[magoo]

Been there, done that.

The Crossfired 7970 will beat the triple -fired 6990 + 6970, like red-headed step-child.

The trifire scaling just isn't there to justify the expense.

If you buy the 6990 and add it in, versus the two 7970s you'll be pretty much even.
Not to mention the 7970s OC like crazy.

There is no comparison.

 

[Vegasr]

6990 & 6970 isn't a bad plan at all seeing how it will meet your needs, l think your $800 estimate for both are high so a lower price for both, probably $700, will even make it more beneficial.
Getting a couple of 7950s would be very nice, but it appears with your montior setup it wouldn't really work for you. So I'd say get the 6990/6970 combo at a great price.

 

[Neon01]

Been there, done that.

The Crossfired 7970 will beat the triple -fired 6990 + 6970, like red-headed step-child.

The trifire scaling just isn't there to justify the expense.

If you buy the 6990 and add it in, versus the two 7970s you'll be pretty much even.
Not to mention the 7970s OC like crazy.

There is no comparison.

I didn't mean that it'll put down 7970 cfx numbers, but then again it's at roughly $300-500 cheaper than that setup as well. I also realize that the 6990+6970 setup isn't actually going to perform much better than a single 6990 at lower res, but I'm really interested in what I can get for 2560x1600 and up, where I've read it really shines. At these types of resolutions, I thought it would probably perform similarly to a 7950 cfx setup - though perhaps not while OCed - while still being at least $100-200 cheaper still.

Regarding the prices, I'm talking used 6990+6970 setup vs. new 7970 setup. I know this isn't exactly fair, but the price discounts on 6000 series hardware are large at this point since it's not the latest tech, whereas the 7900 series stuff is basically selling at almost new prices on the used market (when it's available at all).

Also, the only 7970 card that gives me the monitor outputs I need currently is the Asus DCII, and that's not going to be available for at least another couple weeks, and who knows how much stock will come in at that time.

 

[magoo]

The 6990 can shine all it wants, but if you are wanting the best performance in the games you listed, it just won't hold up.

That and TriFire at times complicates instead of improves.

I cant begin to tell you the performance I've seen from the two 7970s I currently have.

I'd just save some cash, in another month you'll find the stock you want OR just buy a 7990.

 

[elvn]

trifire has negiligible microstuttering where crossfire has a bunch (perhaps not that horrible if your fps is very high as a buffer vs the dips).. however you could suffer some and hope to build toward a 7000 series trifire later of course.

Imo the 7970's came in quite high for their place in the gpu hierarchy. They are overpriced. Personally I can wait quite awhile for the dust to settle on the new gpu gen. Definitely waiting for all the cards to be dealt, and probably longer. I'm going to get a used 6970 to add to my 6990 to hold me through most of 2012 most likely, and concentrate on a new cpu+mobo+ram build instead. I bought my 6990 since my current matx board has only one pciex16 slot, and I've had it for a year already I think so I've got some play out of it. It is crossfire so yes it microstutters. I can prob score a used 6970 for trifire over the next several months (sometime after I upgrade cpu+mobo+ram) for $200 or less. I can wait.

 

[Aquineas]

I have a 7970CF in my primary system, and a tri-fire in in the other. In my primary system, the tri-fire used to be the card setup. So in the same system, I will say that the 7970 CF seems noticeably cooler than the 6990+6970 it replaced.

 

[Aquineas]

Yanno, for grins, I decided to run the Heaven benchmark on my primary and secondary systems. Primary is a i7-2600K, mildly overclocked, with 7970 crossfire. Secondary is an FX-8150, mildly overclocked, with tri-fire. The results surprised me.

7970cf on I7-2600K


6990+6970 on FX-8150:


I should note that I'm running the crappy pre-release 7970 drivers. I realize these are apples-to-oranges comparisons, but I still thought some would find this interesting.

 

[Neon01]

Yanno, for grins, I decided to run the Heaven benchmark on my primary and secondary systems. Primary is a i7-2600K, mildly overclocked, with 7970 crossfire. Secondary is an FX-8150, mildly overclocked, with tri-fire. The results surprised me.

7970cf on I7-2600K


6990+6970 on FX-8150:


I should note that I'm running the crappy pre-release 7970 drivers. I realize these are apples-to-oranges comparisons, but I still thought some would find this interesting.

Very interesting. Are you talking about the RC drivers that were released in late January, or the drivers that came on the CD with the 7970s?

If you have the time and don't mind, do you have the ability to run this at 2560x1600 or an eyefinity resolution? I'm curious if they switch places moving to a higher res.

It also (somewhat) illustrates the truth of what Tom's said about tri-fire helping with microstutter. The min and max delta on the tri-fire setup was pretty significantly lower than the 7970 cfx setup, so it certainly appears that way, at any rate.

 

[Aquineas]

I am referring to the RC drivers from January. I can do some Eyefinity testing, but it's going to require a bit more time than I have at the moment (one machine is Eyefinity capable and the other will require monitor switching, crawling under desk, etc).

I should note that when running Heaven, it was cruising along just fine and then all of a sudden the framerate dropped in half, and never recovered.

 

[elvn]

Thanks.

.
If you or anyone with trifire are taking requests, I'd like to see the game "Rift" on ULTRA settings (custom can even go higher than ultra). I'd prefer it to not be on super-sampling. I don't care about AA that much that I would use more than a hint of it if at all, and AA causes input lag anyway.

The game has a free to play deal up to level 20, with no time limit.
Rift Lite - free to level 20 (no time limit)

I'm really curious how Rift (which has very demanding graphics at ultra) and later guild wars 2 will perform on a 6990+6970 trifire that I am shooting for. Of course they are also partly cpu dependent, but I'm hoping to upgrade cpu+mobo+ram in the next few months.

As a comparison, these charts show the two different highest settings with a single gtx570 and lesser cards.

RIFT -- CUSTOM SETTINGS (higher than ultra, including supersampling)


RIFT - ULTRA SETTINGS

..
..

 

[Neon01]

I am referring to the RC drivers from January. I can do some Eyefinity testing, but it's going to require a bit more time than I have at the moment (one machine is Eyefinity capable and the other will require monitor switching, crawling under desk, etc).

I should note that when running Heaven, it was cruising along just fine and then all of a sudden the framerate dropped in half, and never recovered.

Oh, don't worry about switching your setups around on my account. That sounds like a lot of trouble.

Your second comment is interesting. You said the 7970 setup just crapped out about half way through? That's weird. I would be interested to see if the numbers you got get better if you ran it again (and that error didn't occur). I've run Heaven many times and never seen anything like that.

 

[elvn]

Yes don't go through too much trouble. I'm just curious to see a preview of what I can expect in those games at higher settings when I finally do trifire. I'll find out eventually myself in a month or two.

 

[Aquineas]

Oh, don't worry about switching your setups around on my account. That sounds like a lot of trouble.

Your second comment is interesting. You said the 7970 setup just crapped out about half way through? That's weird. I would be interested to see if the numbers you got get better if you ran it again (and that error didn't occur). I've run Heaven many times and never seen anything like that.

Yep, I thought it particularly odd too. I'll try to pay attention to which test it's in the next time.

 

[Aquineas]

Okay, not sure what went wrong on the other runs, but here are some fresh results for 7970CF, more in line with what I would expect. Not gonna bother with the screenshots unless you really want to see them; here are the main numbers:

1900x1200 8xaa fullscreen
FPS 71.3
Scores: 1796
Min FPS:25
Max FPS 177.7

3840x1200 8xaa fullscreen eyefinity
FPS: 43.3
Scores: 1091
Min FPS: 16.5
Max FPS: 102.6

I'll do the Tri-fire in a bit; machine is busy on a work task atm. Keep in mind these are stock speed video cards; I tend to not OC my video cards for historical reasons; perhaps with the 7970s I'll try it.

 

[Neon01]

Okay, not sure what went wrong on the other runs, but here are some fresh results for 7970CF, more in line with what I would expect. Not gonna bother with the screenshots unless you really want to see them; here are the main numbers:

1900x1200 8xaa fullscreen
FPS 71.3
Scores: 1796
Min FPS:25
Max FPS 177.7

3840x1200 8xaa fullscreen eyefinity
FPS: 43.3
Scores: 1091
Min FPS: 16.5
Max FPS: 102.6

I'll do the Tri-fire in a bit; machine is busy on a work task atm. Keep in mind these are stock speed video cards; I tend to not OC my video cards for historical reasons; perhaps with the 7970s I'll try it.

Ahh, that sounds better. Was gonna ask about OC speeds, but it makes sense about them being @ stock. From what I hear, it's a little tough to OC with CFX anyway. I've only ever tried on my previous setup, which was a pair of 6950s, and I never pushed them beyond CCC max, which they would do happily. Of course, when I sold them, the guy that bought one of them told me it was stable to almost 1200mHz!! You can imagine I was little bummed that I never really tried to push them

 

[Elmy]

6990+6970 gets about the same score as Crossfired 7970's in 3DMark11

 

[elvn]

this site has some benchmarks on different games in trifire and cfx. Its not in english but the charts read just fine. I'm not sure what version of drivers and game patches they are using, they didn't overclock any of the cards. You would also get higher numbers with less AA or no AA ( AA adds input lag anyway ).

They both seem to be very good performers with the 7970 CFX slightly faster in some games but not others. However the 7970 is supposed to have considerable overclocking room. This is also compared vs three 6970's not a 6990+6970 where the 6990 is slightly slower than 6970's. Another consideration to remember is that trifire has negligible microstutter while dual CFX has a lot of microstutter (chart from Tom's showing dual vs Tri microstutter). This is noticeable at 60fps and less in my experience, and extremely annoying. For example, move that dotted line's midline on Tom's chart of 140fps or its top of 160fps down to 60fps and consider how far down the microstutter dips go. They would bottom out.

extrahardware.cz benchmark comparison


6970x3 vs 7970x2

Stalker:call of pripyat 1920x1200 4xAA DX11 108.3 vs 121.8


Metro2033 chart off that site DX11 4xAA 1920x1200 73.9 vs 70.2


Metro2033 off that site DX10 4xAA 1920x1200 114.1 vs 111.5


If I can get 90fps or better yet 130 fps in Guild Wars2 and Rift and a few other demanding games with some tweaking I'll be pretty happy, even if I have to turn some things down a little. I'm very curious what kind of numbers you would get in those games with little to no AA at high and ultra settings with a 6990+6970 trifire.

 

[Aquineas]

I started to install Rift but it's friggin' 10GB. Assuming it does install okay, is there a built-in benchmark or something I can run?

 

[elvn]

i'm not aware of a built in benchmark , but the city itself is always going to be criplingly low fps so is not a good gauge.. I was more interested in just running fraps and running around questing in the field at some of the higher settings since the view distance and vey high terrain and creature textures, lighting, etc crush your gpu.
.
You really don't have to go through that trouble but I really appreciate it if you do.. I don't have a guild wars2 beta key or I'd let you log on for awhile on that to test heh.

 

[elvn]

from another thread about rift -- "I run the game on max [custom in the graphs] on a gtx570 and an i5 2500k @ 4.7ghz [from aria] and i get about 20-25fps at 1080p if antisotropic is at x16, and about 35-40 if it's at x2. "

I was getting around 52 - 68 fps at med-high settings with my 6990 but the micro stutter was annoying. When I turned Rift to Low I got (62) 79 - 90 (~110) running around killing stuff, and it seems much more fluid and less judder (assuming that was the microstutter) and less blurry on my 120hz monitor at higher fps. Similarly the easy to run L4D2 is much more fluid and clearer than more demanding games and seems to blur less on my monitor since its fps is so high. Microstutter and screen blurring is even worse on the more demanding games and demanding-games-more-toward-their-graphics-ceiling to be precise, because the textures are so detailed. The effects actually hurt my eyes at lower fps.
.
I'm prob bottlenecked and limited by my cpu at this point as well on demanding graphics yet also cpu dependent games like rift. I'm assuming guild wars 2 will be at least as demanding considering the graphics I've seen in HD videos of GW2. I'm going to upgrade my cpu+mobo+ram in the next few months, and hopefully score a used 6970 for $200 bux or less for trifire with my 6990 and see what kind of performance I get. I'll also benefit from the virtual elimination of microstutter when I get tri.

 

[Neon01]

from another thread about rift -- "I run the game on max [custom in the graphs] on a gtx570 and an i5 2500k @ 4.7ghz [from aria] and i get about 20-25fps at 1080p if antisotropic is at x16, and about 35-40 if it's at x2. "

I was getting around 52 - 68 fps at med-high settings with my 6990 but the micro stutter was annoying. When I turned Rift to Low I got (62) 79 - 90 (~110) running around killing stuff, and it seems much more fluid and less judder (assuming that was the microstutter) and less blurry on my 120hz monitor at higher fps. Similarly the easy to run L4D2 is much more fluid and clearer than more demanding games and seems to blur less on my monitor since its fps is so high. Microstutter and screen blurring is even worse on the more demanding games and demanding-games-more-toward-their-graphics-ceiling to be precise, because the textures are so detailed. The effects actually hurt my eyes at lower fps.
.
I'm prob bottlenecked and limited by my cpu at this point as well on demanding graphics yet also cpu dependent games like rift. I'm assuming guild wars 2 will be at least as demanding considering the graphics I've seen in HD videos of GW2. I'm going to upgrade my cpu+mobo+ram in the next few months, and hopefully score a used 6970 for $200 bux or less for trifire with my 6990 and see what kind of performance I get. I'll also benefit from the virtual elimination of microstutter when I get tri.

I can tell you this (I picked up Rift about 3 weeks ago) - with a single 7970 at 1125/1525 and 1080p, I can run at much higher than ultra settings averaging between 70 and 80fps in most non-city areas, and maybe 40-50 in Meridian (I'm defiant). Those settings are ultra plus SSAA, 16xAF, ground clutter maxed, horizon maxed, and a couple other things. It's very playable even at 3800x1600 eyefinity (though not in Meridian) with the single 7970.

I know that doesn't help at all with the tri-fire benchmark, but I thought I'd add it as a data point for you. Also, I get zero micro stutter. Though I do occasionally get this weird tearing that looks different from normal tearing

 

[elvn]

thank you for responding.

You have no microstutter because you are using a single card. Single cards have no microstutter really and tri eliminates it pretty much from what dual gpu suffers back to normal more or less. I think what you are telling me is what I feared -- my cpu might be holding me back a lot. I prob am not even getting much if anything out of my 2nd gpu since the cpu is holding me back.
.
I'll get my tax return and start shopping for new cpu+mobo+ram. Playing the game on low is at least giving me an idea of the fps I can hope for later on, but with better eye candy. I can turn it up to higher eye candy to get an idea what I'm missing, but it will be too slow for reasons I previously stated.

I'm defiant in Rift also, on the wolfsbane shard/server just so you know.

As an example, warcraft can get a lot more fps out of higher clock speeds and more powerful cpus, as shown in this cpu test at 1680x1050. I'm sure rift being an mmo is similarly cpu dependent in part.

Mine is at around 3.8ghz but its an older cpu now. I got 4 years out of it though it was a good run. (QX9650).
.

 

[Aquineas]

K I finally fired up Rift on the tri-fire system, and my power supply can't keep up. I'll get numbers to you after new power supply arrives and gets installed. Apparently, when I did the Heaven benchmark on this system the CF was disabled as well. Sorry, will be a few more days..

 

[Neon01]

K I finally fired up Rift on the tri-fire system, and my power supply can't keep up. I'll get numbers to you after new power supply arrives and gets installed. Apparently, when I did the Heaven benchmark on this system the CF was disabled as well. Sorry, will be a few more days..

Which PSU?

 

[Aquineas]

Which PSU?

I am getting this guy. This is the one which is dying. I tried to save a couple of bucks (was $99 at the time) and it wasn't a good idea; because now I'm spending more good money to recover from a bad purchase.

 

[elvn]

Divert power from the shields? :b Ah that sucks. Rift is pretty demanding.. some people seem to think its like WoW but WoW graphics are from 2005, even if ultra can be a little more demanding (view distances, objects animated in distance, shadow details, etc). I mean the genre and interface of Rift is a lot like WoW (however much improved), but the graphics ceiling and texture details are magnitudes higher, almost like cgi movie cutscene quality at ultra setting or custom ("ultra+"/max) settings. From the videos of GuildWars2 I've watched in HD it looks to have at least as detailed and demanding of a graphics ceiling. They both have cpu dependencies too since they are mmorpgs.
.
Thanks for giving it a shot. My psu is a corsair 1200w I got on sale when I upgraded my gpu a year ago so I should be good for my mobo+cpu+ram upgrade and possible addition of a used 6970 if I can find one cheap in the next few months.

 

[Aquineas]

I haven't given up yet; I will definitely try it when the new one comes in, just keep in mind it will probably be two weeks minimum (ordering new part plus business trip).

Rift looked interesting (I was able to play it for a few on a single card), though honestly I am spoiled by SWTOR's quests, so reading the quest text (rather than watching a cutscene) felt a little antiquated to me.

I also realized after playing (and subsequently quitting) SWTOR that I really don't have time for a MMORPG. Even after getting to 50, it takes hours and hours of questing to get really good gear, and I just don't have that kind of time atm. The epic level raids for my guild in SWTOR would start at 8pm on say a Friday night and go until 2-3am. On Friday nights after midnight, I'd much rather be cuddled up with the lady than listening to a bunch of other dudes on Vent

 

[Neon01]

I am getting this guy. This is the one which is dying. I tried to save a couple of bucks (was $99 at the time) and it wasn't a good idea; because now I'm spending more good money to recover from a bad purchase.

Nice! That's got to be one of the best PSUs available, and you'll certainly have plenty of power for tri-fire if you want to. I just picked up a Corsair AX850 on a recent Newegg sale ($142 shipped after rebate!), and I'm liking it so far. Only problem is I'm wondering whether I should have just gotten the AX1200. My rationalization at the time is that the 850 is more efficient at the power loads I put on it. But now I'm thinking if I want to go tri-fire what I have won't be enough. Oh well.

I also realized after playing (and subsequently quitting) SWTOR that I really don't have time for a MMORPG. Even after getting to 50, it takes hours and hours of questing to get really good gear, and I just don't have that kind of time atm. The epic level raids for my guild in SWTOR would start at 8pm on say a Friday night and go until 2-3am. On Friday nights after midnight, I'd much rather be cuddled up with the lady than listening to a bunch of other dudes on Vent

I hear you there. I always start MMOs with the best of intentions and a high level of enthusiasm, but I've never even max leveled before. I think a big part of it is that I'm usually a very solo player, and I don't know enough/too lazy to get into an organized group. I'm sure doing so really helps level you faster.

Question about SWTOR - everyone raves about it, but I've never really liked the whole Star Wars ethos. Is it worth looking into despite this?

 

[Aquineas]

Nice! That's got to be one of the best PSUs available, and you'll certainly have plenty of power for tri-fire if you want to. I just picked up a Corsair AX850 on a recent Newegg sale ($142 shipped after rebate!), and I'm liking it so far. Only problem is I'm wondering whether I should have just gotten the AX1200. My rationalization at the time is that the 850 is more efficient at the power loads I put on it. But now I'm thinking if I want to go tri-fire what I have won't be enough. Oh well.



I hear you there. I always start MMOs with the best of intentions and a high level of enthusiasm, but I've never even max leveled before. I think a big part of it is that I'm usually a very solo player, and I don't know enough/too lazy to get into an organized group. I'm sure doing so really helps level you faster.

Question about SWTOR - everyone raves about it, but I've never really liked the whole Star Wars ethos. Is it worth looking into despite this?

Well you really can't ignore the Star Wars theme. All the planets that you know and love (Hoth, Tattoine, Alderaan, etc) are present, and you will be spending about 5 levels (or more) on each as you make your way up. I will say this: Getting to 50 in SWTOR is a very enjoyable experience. It's like playing a single player rpg. It doesn't feel like a grind. Well not as bad as it could be. I honestly think it's worth playing even if you decide not to stay in the game; that's how enjoyable it was.

 

[elvn]

I've just been casually leveling a few characters on rift. I found the 2nd character I started much more fun and colorful to play. Necromancer/warlock has a heavy occult theme and an interesting talent tree to fill out. I've run around the map in some zone-wide rift invasion squashing raid groups a few times, and grouped with people to do some area quests but nothing like end game scheduled weekly raids of endgame content.. at least not yet. Its still a lot of fun. I really can't get into single player games much anymore. Once in awhile I'll get into one, like picking up a book. I prefer multiplayer and coop - even if its just the chat added to it.... much like I can get on a roll on forums I like playing L4D2 with voice chat too. I wish a game like that would be filled out more with some boss levels and such and be less generic (and with more modern graphics).. sortof like borderlands/L4D2 hybrid or something. Anyway all good. I've loved rpg's forever. Playing games like skryim and dragon age seem vaccuous to me compared to an mmo with other players, and the skill sets an abilities tend to be limited by comparison usually.

 

[XpediencY]

I just migrated from 6990+6970 to a single 7970 and today crossfire 7970. The difference in BF3 is like night and day to me. I can max out the game with 4x AA at 2560x1600 with zero choppiness.

 

[Neon01]

I just migrated from 6990+6970 to a single 7970 and today crossfire 7970. The difference in BF3 is like night and day to me. I can max out the game with 4x AA at 2560x1600 with zero choppiness.

Sweet! Thanks for the data point.

 

[elvn]

Since I'm upgrading my cpu+mobo+ram with my tax return I'm hoping to just get a used 6970 for trifire until xmas or so. A $200 gpu upgrade this year considering what I'm going to dump on upgrading the rest is much more palletable than buying two overpriced out the gate (no offense) 7970's.. thats very expensive. Plus crossfire has microstutter where tri virtually eliminates it. I'm trying to hold off until xmas/tax return next year to look at all the cards available and that have been out , with more budget to spare again.

 

[Aquineas]

Okay some updated numbers with power supply. Running Rift tri-fire on Ultra @ 1900x1200 gets me about 45-55fps when running around near Hallowed Hill (Mathosia). It's very smooth, but my character's animation looks dopey (probably because he's level 2 ).

Tri-fire Heaven was 65fps.

 

[{NG}Fidel]

Dual 7970s.
Count it for the win.

 

[oldmanbal]

If you buy the 6990 and add it in, versus the two 7970s you'll be pretty much even.
Not to mention the 7970s OC like crazy.

They don't oc that crazy in crossfire mode but there is appreciable gain.

 

[elvn]

Thanks for testing it out. Dual 7970's aren't in the budget this year for me. I'd rather just score a used 6970 for trifire and drop my tax return on cpu+mobo+ram this time around. I'll still get some really good performance and keep my gpu cost for this year at around $200 bux rather than $550 each. Even if I managed to sell my 6990 to lessen the cost somewhat it would still be a lot more money after my cpu+mobo+ram upgrade. Plus trifire virtually eliminates microstutter while dual gpu suffers it. Its noticeable now in demanding graphic games on my 6990 unless I turn settings down enough to maintain a high framerate (70 - 90fps). Maybe xmas this year or next years tax return I'll look at the gpu landscape with a clearer picture of the new lines of cards from both manufacturers, and possibly a bit of price normalization.
.
edit.. just so you know, Rift only uses one core and is also cpu dependent.. so if you didn't run it on your fastst cpu//overclocked rig, the fps would be lower even with the same gpu.

 

[Neon01]

Thanks for testing it out for me. Dual 7970's aren't in the budget this year for me. I'd rather just score a used 6970 for trifire and drop my tax return on cpu+mobo+ram this time around. I'll still get some really good performance and keep my gpu cost for this year at around $200 bux rather than $550 each. Even if I managed to sell my 6990 to lessen the cost somewhat it would still be a lot more money after my cpu+mobo+ram upgrade. Plus trifire virtually eliminates microstutter while dual gpu suffers it. Its noticeable now in demanding graphic games on my 6990 unless I turn settings down enough to maintain a high framerate (70 - 90fps). Maybe xmas this year or next years tax return I'll look at the gpu landscape with a clearer picture of the new lines of cards from both manufacturers, and possibly a bit of price normalization.
.
edit.. just so you know, Rift only uses one core and is also cpu dependent.. so if you didn't run it on your fastst cpu//overclocked rig, the fps would be lower even with the same gpu.

I'm still on the fence a bit because I couldn't make my first 7970 cfx setup work out (Asus DC2 models that were both defective), and one 7970 is borderline too slow for me without a healthy (read: hot and power sucking) OC/OV. At least in eyefinity, which is how I'm playing kingdoms of amalur right now.

I understand that Tom's posted the bit about tri-fire reducing microstutter, but I'd really want to see more conclusive proof (the tested cards aren't even 6000 series cards, for one) before I dump my 7970 and go with that setup. elvn, if you do end up getting the 6970 to augment your current setup, please post your experience with it so we can hear first hand how it affects microstutter.

 

[elvn]

Will do. Might be a bit of a wait though. Doing some basement remodel and haven't even done taxes yet . I can't do tri until after I upgrade since my current motherboard is matx with only one slot.. which is the reason I got the 6990 a year ago instead of two 6970's.
.
I'm looking into getting a 3930k , 16gb ram, decent motherboard hsf, and a new case. I already started my shopping list of items/brands but I don't have it handy atm.
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.. I'm also keeping an eye on Lucid virtu MVP tech. I have to read up on it more but if its something that helps with framerates and/or vsync as much as it is supposed to, it might be worth waiting for a motherboard that support it before I do my upgrade.