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Is SLI/Crossfire worth it?

S

Superjoe

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
1,311
A few years ago I dabled in SLI with a pair of 8800GTS'

Had the first for a while, liked it. Crysis tore it up of course. So I added a second one.

Didn't really help in Crysis, but whatever. Basically I didn't feel like it was worth the price and hassle. Didn't seem like the scaling was cost efficient at the time.

So lately I'm considering building a new computer with either an nVidia 560 or maybe an AMD 6950 or something. Probably more than enough for my gaming. But if I get a motherboard and powersupply and case to support it, and I decide to add a second card, is it worth it in your opinion? Has the tech matured since the 8800 days?

And is one better than the other? SLI - Crossfire


Thanks!
 
Superjoe said:
So lately I'm considering building a new computer with either an nVidia 560 or maybe an AMD 6950 or something. Probably more than enough for my gaming. But if I get a motherboard and powersupply and case to support it, and I decide to add a second card, is it worth it in your opinion? Has the tech matured since the 8800 days?
Click to expand...

What resolution are you shooting for? At 1920x1200, you can get away with a single GPU. But with PC exlusive games and multimonitor setups, you're probably looking at a Crossfire or SLI setup. I can't speak for current SLI technology. But crossfire has been pretty good to be so far. The only problem I encountered with crossfire it when the FPU go below 30 FPS like in Witcher 2 it will stutter like CRAZY. But if you go above 30 FPS you will get smooth gameplay.

And is one better than the other? SLI - Crossfire


Thanks!
Click to expand...

They're both good. You won't be dissapointed with either from what I have read and seen. I didn't spend alot of time with SLI, only briefly with a SLI GTX 580 rig here.
 
Honestly,I don't see myself ever using crossfire or SLI,to me there is a point of diminishing return.

But it is worth it,if you enjoy multiple monitors or extreme resolution.

SLI and Crossfire are usually about the same,they use the same technology,but it depends on drivers and specific games.

Buy one card,the best one you can afford,overclock it.If you absolutely need more,get another,that's my advice.
 
I would say its worth it and has gotten better since the 8800 days. It also depends on what games you play as some scale better then others. But overall I think its way better then it was a few years ago.

I think you'll be satisfied with either sli or crossfire. The only real difference is if you want to do eyefinity or surround. I think ATI's implementation of eyefinity is better then nvidia's surround.
 
It depends on what resolution you plan to play on with what graphical settings enabled and what type of performance you would like to have.

If your answer to those 3 things are;

> 1920x1200
All Maxed or Very HIgh
60 FPS or more at all times

then the answer is yes.

However there is something called micro stuttering and some people are sensitive to it and you can find a game feels smoother playing with one card despite the reported fps. That still is not going to get you the same graphical detail possible with SLi or crossfire.
 
Resolution is indeed the biggest factor in deciding if it's worth it.
 
I can vouch for xfire being quite stable. I've only had a few minor issues...pretty enjoyable experience thus far though.

I've played BFBC2, Borderlands, CoD's, Titan Quest, Bulletstorm, RE5, Dead Rising 2, GTA IV, Painkiller, Conan, BioShock 2, Crysis, Fallout 3...all have ran proper.
 
Thanks for all of the input. I game at 1080p and right now I have an MSI 460gtx that I love. As far as I'm concerned it runs everything maxed out, save for AA, I only run 2 or 4x because I can't really tell the difference after that. Low power consumption and small size too. But that's for another thread I guess, it's "old" now. The first game to give me trouble was Crysis 2 with it's dx11 and texture update.

I'm putting together a new build and the motherboard supports both crossfire and sli. Leaning towards a 560ti if i don't just keep the 460 for now. That way I have the SLI capability if i feel I need it.

Thanks again
 
I'm considering SLI as well, and I had a couple of questions. (Copy-pasted from a recent near-identical thread, since I didn't get an answer...)

Anyone got some recent data on microstutter? I haven't been able to find anything solid on the last couple of generations of cards (hell, it's hard enough to find someone who knows what the word means these days...). Just to be clear, I'm not looking for vague reassurances about how it "feels"; please, just run the Fraps frametimer and show me some numbers ;) .

I'm also wondering how VSync works in SLI, since I'm not sure how the frame buffers are laid out. Do you still jump from 60 to 30fps? If so, is there any solution? (I've heard triple buffering doesn't work; is this still the case?)
 
I been playing in SLI for almost a year and have been very happy. I play at 3240 x 1920 on 3 U2311H IPS monitors. I wont be going back to a single monitor. It really all depends on what resolution you play at, honestly.
 
yep tech has matured. with eyefinity and surround becoming popular, sli and crossfire are becoming necessary. sli is definately stable. ati will suffer from the regular driver issues...;) , but yeah sli is definately worth getting into nowdays.
 
When I had a SLI GTX 580 setup, I was pretty impressed with its scaling and performance, and it was worth it.
 
I didn't think it would be and then I tried it for the hell of it. I have to say it's probably not 100% worth double the price but it's certainly nice to have. The extra framerates do help out if you have a fast enough CPU to keep it up. Right now I have a 1075t -stock- paired with two crossfired 6950's and I can finally max out both AA and AF in almost all games at 1920x1080. If a game doesn't really support AA or certain features ala Metro2033 or DeadSpace then I can get the extra push for no slowdowns and turn on morph AA.

If you want to make sure you can max out nearly all your settings at the lower resolutions, or you aren't quite getting the performance you'd like out of a extremly high resolution then it is worth it, I think.
 
I play at 5760 x 1080 on a 3 monitor setup and found buying a second HD6970 made it so I could pretty much max games out. I love how well crossfire scales with these 6K series cards. I gave up on most games that use the Unreal engine since you have to tweek the game so much to make it halfway playable on 3 screens.

I don't have experience with Green so I can't comment on SLI.
 
I've been running SLI and Crossfire configurations since the 6800 Ultra / X800XT days. (I actually had Voodoo 2's in SLI before even that.) So I'm no stranger to this type of configuration. It's treated me well for the most part with the exception being some of the dual GPU cards combined for Quad SLI or CrossfireX. However, one 6970 or one GTX 580 can pretty much crush any game at 2560x1600 these days. So unless you are going with a multi-monitor setup like NV Surround or Eyefinity, I probably wouldn't bother with multiple GPUs.
 
I hate to disagree with the experts, but I wouldn't say a single 6970 "crushes" current games at 2560x1600. It will run most games very well, but you will need to have 1 or 2 high-end graphical settings disabled and run no or low AA, particularly in MP games.

I absolutely noticed a substantial difference (a near perfect 100% scaling in most games) by adding a 2nd 6970.

As for ease of use, I did have some issues in a few games with some older drivers, but that all seems to be wrapped up now. And for the just over $600 I paid for both cards (about the same I paid for a brand new GTX280 when it just came out) I feel it's a pretty damn good value.
 
I game at 2560x1600. I went from a overclocked 5970 (essentially 2x5870) to a single 6970 and didn't notice much of a difference. The FPS numbers were obviously higher with the 5970 but it didn't make games feel any smoother. Sticking with single GPU from here on out.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I hate to disagree with the experts, but I wouldn't say a single 6970 "crushes" current games at 2560x1600. It will run most games very well, but you will need to have 1 or 2 high-end graphical settings disabled and run no or low AA, particularly in MP games.

I absolutely noticed a substantial difference (a near perfect 100% scaling in most games) by adding a 2nd 6970.

As for ease of use, I did have some issues in a few games with some older drivers, but that all seems to be wrapped up now. And for the just over $600 I paid for both cards (about the same I paid for a brand new GTX280 when it just came out) I feel it's a pretty damn good value.
Click to expand...

I agree, coming from a single GTX 580 going to oc'd 570 SLI I am quite happy. SLI just plain works nowadays, and provides substantial performance gains both subjectively and of course absolutely objectively. No settings to turn down, 16x HQ AF, 2-4x MSAA or 8x CSAA, and 2560x1600... and no, a single 580 can't handle that in quite a few titles, both single and multi, that I play. Dual high-end cards are still very much worthwhile, even in this age of "console ports" as people love to call 'em.

I've run "SLI" since owning a Voodoo 5 5500 I guess you could say as it was basically a pair of Voodoo 3 3000's on one card (which I owned one prior)... I've gone back and forth over the years, but the last few it has been rock-solid and has had virtually no compatibility issues at all (I've yet to encounter a game I can't spend 5 minutes to tweak in those rare few cases and have work permanently). Scaling tends to be excellent (85-90%+) in virtually all titles at this time. Previously when I tried two 8800GT 512's, I was less impressed. With two GTX 570's, though, it is everything I wished for.

This isn't even touching multi-monitor setups which just destroy single-card setups. Three 1920x1080 monitors end up at 6 megapixels; my 2560x1600 single-monitor setup is around 4.1 megapixels, and I still want more performance in some games. As soon as the framerate dips during heavy action below around 45-50 I can tell quite easily and it appears somewhat "choppy" to me. Keeping things running with 50+ fps at all times is no easy task even for multi-card setups of high-end cards now.
 
GoldenTiger said:
I've run "SLI" since owning a Voodoo 5 5500 I guess you could say as it was basically a pair of Voodoo 3 3000's on one card (which I owned one prior)...
Click to expand...

I loved my old Voodoo 2's SLi'd, that was pure e-penis viagra back in the day! The newer cards definitely seem to scale a whole lot better than they used to and am fully intending to jump on a pair of 6950's in the near future.
 
To add to my "yes". I have had dual or triple cards now for over 5 years.
Now with triple monitor gaming the utility is even more-so than before.
One gpu simply cannot outperform two or three. The scaling now is almost 100%. Where it has not been prior.
Expensive.....yes. Worth it.....never a doubt.
 
My workstation ran a single watercooled GTX470 since February, and in the last month I've added a second. I think my decision to get the extra card was more about futureproofing, as the single GTX470 handled everything I tried with it.

Keep in mind that future software will likely put more of an emphasis on the GPU encoding/processing, so the extra horsepower should help there.

Overall I think SLI and dual/triple setups are primarily the domain of heavy/hardcore users, but could provide some extra value down the road. Say for example you buy one of the current cards now. Three or four years down the road, you could pick up a second card for much less and essentially get back up to current performance.
 
I've had SLI multiple times and Crossfire once. My best answer to the original question: "No."

It's like having an old car. With one carb, you have a standard car. Some days, the carb doesn't work well but no big deal. Put on two carbs, suddenly the expense goes up quite dramatically, things never seem to be adjusted the way they said they would adjust on the box, and things break at least twice as often. When it works, it works well. However, one high-flow carb would have been cheaper and more reliable. So, in my humble opinion, spend the money on a good single GPU and screw multi-GPU stuff. It can be awesome but it can be a huge regrettable pain in the neck as well.
 
kevineugenius said:
I've had SLI multiple times and Crossfire once. My best answer to the original question: "No."

It's like having an old car. With one carb, you have a standard car. Some days, the carb doesn't work well but no big deal. Put on two carbs, suddenly the expense goes up quite dramatically, things never seem to be adjusted the way they said they would adjust on the box, and things break at least twice as often. When it works, it works well. However, one high-flow carb would have been cheaper and more reliable. So, in my humble opinion, spend the money on a good single GPU and screw multi-GPU stuff. It can be awesome but it can be a huge regrettable pain in the neck as well.
Click to expand...

It hasn't been like that in awhile, and it is best to sli high end cards, not low end ones, of course.
 
kevineugenius said:
I've had SLI multiple times and Crossfire once. My best answer to the original question: "No."

It's like having an old car. With one carb, you have a standard car. Some days, the carb doesn't work well but no big deal. Put on two carbs, suddenly the expense goes up quite dramatically, things never seem to be adjusted the way they said they would adjust on the box, and things break at least twice as often. When it works, it works well. However, one high-flow carb would have been cheaper and more reliable. So, in my humble opinion, spend the money on a good single GPU and screw multi-GPU stuff. It can be awesome but it can be a huge regrettable pain in the neck as well.
Click to expand...

Bullschizzle.
 
kevineugenius said:
I've had SLI multiple times and Crossfire once. My best answer to the original question: "No."

It's like having an old car. With one carb, you have a standard car. Some days, the carb doesn't work well but no big deal. Put on two carbs, suddenly the expense goes up quite dramatically, things never seem to be adjusted the way they said they would adjust on the box, and things break at least twice as often. When it works, it works well. However, one high-flow carb would have been cheaper and more reliable. So, in my humble opinion, spend the money on a good single GPU and screw multi-GPU stuff. It can be awesome but it can be a huge regrettable pain in the neck as well.
Click to expand...

I agree with your point on carburetors 100%, but I don't think it applies to this. I just switched to a 590, which is SLI on card, and it works great in every game.

And to the OP, if you have a 460, I would just add a 460. I think, unless someone has an example otherwise, that SLI 460s is about the greatest bang for the buck offered on video cards in recent years (6850 and 6870 CF is good as well).
 
To me there is no question, multi-GPU give you more performance across the board. It's not perfect but it works very well overall.
 
I have 2x5870 and this is my last foray into the world of dual GPUs. Not worth the hassle or gain IMO and in some games it introduces micro-stutters. I hate stuttering in games.
 
I love my 2x6950 setup, but it takes a little more work than a single card though.
 
Gnasher said:
I have 2x5870 and this is my last foray into the world of dual GPUs. Not worth the hassle or gain IMO and in some games it introduces micro-stutters. I hate stuttering in games.
Click to expand...

Even with the frametimes somewhat uneven, you're still seeing more frames in addition to what you would otherwise... microstuttering is way, way overblown. I'd rather have frames at:

DUAL-CARD (in ms): 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 16, 20
than
SINGLE-CARD (in ms): 2, 8, 14, 20

The dual-card setup despite having some frames clumped still gives a smoother experience. In addition, I don't know about the ATI/AMD side of the fence nowadays with dual-card, but on the nVidia side it is basically flawless, nowhere near an annoyance let alone a hassle.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Even with the frametimes somewhat uneven, you're still seeing more frames in addition to what you would otherwise... microstuttering is way, way overblown. I'd rather have frames at:

DUAL-CARD (in ms): 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 16, 20
than
SINGLE-CARD (in ms): 2, 8, 14, 20

The dual-card setup despite having some frames clumped still gives a smoother experience. In addition, I don't know about the ATI/AMD side of the fence nowadays with dual-card, but on the nVidia side it is basically flawless, nowhere near an annoyance let alone a hassle.
Click to expand...

In my experience, the performance from dual cards is very erratic. I found that 25-30 FPS, while playable (for me) on a single card, is not playable on a dual GPU setup. Unless I was averaging over 40+ FPS the framerate felt very jerky with dual cards.

But yeah, I don't have experience with Fermi. Nvidia uses the same rendering approach (AFR) so I can't see how it'd be different, though.
 
Looking to sli some 470's or some 570's.I already have a 470 could I use it for PHSY X and Sli some 570's?
 
GoldenTiger said:
I'd rather have frames at:

DUAL-CARD (in ms): 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 16, 20
than
SINGLE-CARD (in ms): 2, 8, 14, 20
Click to expand...
So would anyone. But seeing your framerates neatly doubled isn't exactly typical. And at anything less than that, it's at least possible for the effective performance to be worse than a single card. Even if you don't hit the worst-case scenario, where your actual framerate is effectively halved, your gains could still fall well short of justifying the cost of a second card.

How bad it is in reality, I have no idea. But if you want to convince us that the problem is "way, way overblown", how about some real numbers? (Try Fraps' frametime logger)
 
LuminaryJanitor said:
So would anyone. But seeing your framerates neatly doubled isn't exactly typical. And at anything less than that, it's at least possible for the effective performance to be worse than a single card. Even if you don't hit the worst-case scenario, where your actual framerate is effectively halved, your gains could still fall well short of justifying the cost of a second card.

How bad it is in reality, I have no idea. But if you want to convince us that the problem is "way, way overblown", how about some real numbers? (Try Fraps' frametime logger)
Click to expand...

Others have already done this type of comparison with frametime logging and it looks almost identical to the brief example I provided. With modern SLI/CF setups, performance is almost consistently always 85-90%+ scaling. 10 years ago you may have had a point on it not scaling as well (or even low-to-no scaling), but today? None at all.
 
Gnasher said:
I have 2x5870 and this is my last foray into the world of dual GPUs. Not worth the hassle or gain IMO and in some games it introduces micro-stutters. I hate stuttering in games.
Click to expand...


The performance of the 5000 series in Crossfire was not very good, I know, I had 5870 E6 models and 5870 plain 1GB models.

I don't believe in microstutter or whatever it's called, but the scaling in the 5000 series wasn't as good as it could have been.

That has changed with the 6000 series and truthfully, my AMD cards are better performers than the two GTX 580s I had earlier this year.

People who bemoan multi-gpus generally have never used them, or didn't try them for long for whatever reason.
 
The bottom line is that you simply CAN'T get the same performance from a single card as multi-GPU, at least when you're talking about cards of the same performance level.

It's seems as though people are looking for excuses, microstutter (which can happen with only a single card actually though not as much as multi-GPU), support, etc. Yes there are issues but multi-GPU overall these days is very good and it will almost always yield much more performance. Sometimes a game may need a hack or a patch but multi-GPU just tends to work well in the end.

Top-line gaming without multi-GPU just isn't possible anymore, there's simply do debate about that. If you want to stick with single monitors you can still do pretty well with a single high-end card even on a 30" monitor, but when you got to multi-screen HD+ screens and 3D, single GPUs today simply don't have the performance to drive these things.
 
heatlesssun said:
The bottom line is that you simply CAN'T get the same performance from a single card as multi-GPU, at least when you're talking about cards of the same performance level.

It's seems as though people are looking for excuses, microstutter (which can happen with only a single card actually though not as much as multi-GPU), support, etc. Yes there are issues but multi-GPU overall these days is very good and it will almost always yield much more performance. Sometimes a game may need a hack or a patch but multi-GPU just tends to work well in the end.

Top-line gaming without multi-GPU just isn't possible anymore, there's simply do debate about that. If you want to stick with single monitors you can still do pretty well with a single high-end card even on a 30" monitor, but when you got to multi-screen HD+ screens and 3D, single GPUs today simply don't have the performance to drive these things.
Click to expand...

Bingo!:D
If you don't like to tinker with things or have "microstutter" problems, buy an XBox 360.

Nothing is perfect, but multi-GPU gaming is improving daily, and there IS no comparison, the end.:D

There are no single card solutions (not counting GTX 590 or HD 6990, or others) that can compete with SLi or Crossfire. ( the obvious of course discounting two lesser cards, vs one top of the line......but in many cases two lesser cards CAN trump one high-end card)
 
Threads like this always amuse me, i know that there are problems that exist for SLI / CF i wont deny that, however i have never ran into any problems that prevented me from enjoying the game of my choice in any of the below configurations.

9800 GT SLI
4890 CF
5970
580 SLI
I have also helped friends build 570 SLI and 6950 CF systems and they also have had 0 problems with.

The 5970 and 580's have also been with 3 Monitors in Eyefinity / Surround configurations. Hey maybe i am lucky 6 times and counting but keeping up to date on drivers and using Google to search for any problem i may be having at the time has always resulted in solid systems without any micro stuttering or massive driver issues. The worst thing i have ever ran into has been Bad Company flickering which is a well known issue and can be resolved with a little searching.

When you are a true PC gaming enthusiast using large resolutions and maxing out modern games, you cannot beat the performance benefits of running multiple cards.
 
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