Have an R9 390 GPU Installed Also Have an R9 270X Laying Around... Can I Use Crossfire?

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ChronicleMe

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Have an AMD MSI R9 390 GPU Installed Also Have an MSI R9 270X Laying Around... Can I Use Crossfire? If so, would there be any performance gain? Any thing I should keep in mind while doing?
Windows 10 64
Relevant System specs:

  • AMD FX-9590
    AMD MSI R9 390
    ASUS M5A99 Pro R2.0 MB
    Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133mhz (8GB)
    Corsair AX750 PSU
    Lots of fans and liquid cooling... No issues with heat...
 
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Yes. Two R9 390's can be Crossfired. But with that setup, you're going to need a bit more than 750W of power, especially if you're overclocking anything.

Using Outer Vision's PSU Calculator, an 850W would just barely cover everything at stock clocks. So, you'll probably want to go to 1000W to have some headroom.
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RazberyBandit

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Nope. Those cards are not in the same family.

There would be no sense pairing an 8GB card with a 2GB one even if you could because you'd lose 6GB of frame buffer on the 390. A 290 would probably work (same GPU core), but it would have to be an 8GB model or you end up wasting a significant portion of the 390's 8GB of memory.

We're all hopeful Direct X 12 will eventually allow us to mix-and-match cards for increased performance, but that day has yet to come.
 
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ChronicleMe

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My R9 270X is a 4GB Card... Not a 2GB card...
 
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RazberyBandit

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Yes. Two R9 390's can be Crossfired. But with that setup, you're going to need a bit more than 750W of power, especially if you're overclocking anything.

Using Outer Vision's PSU Calculator, an 850W would just barely cover everything at stock clocks. So, you'll probably want to go to 1000W to have some headroom.
 
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ChronicleMe

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Thank you for the info... So is that basically the only card that I could run a dual setup with? Would it make more sense to run 2xR290 than 1xR390
or 2xR280s
or 2xR270X (4gb each)
 
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RazberyBandit

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Really, graphics configuration needs depend on how many pixels you intend to push, and what image quality you seek. And no, an R9 390 should also be capable of being paired with an R9 290. (Preferably an 8GB R9 290...)

What resolution is your monitor? If it's anything less than 1440p, a single 390 should be plenty.

And instead of spending all this money on two cards and a much beefier power supply, it might be more economical to buy the most powerful single-GPU card you can afford. I realize you already have a 390, but if you could sell it or use it in another build, you might want to consider dropping $500 to $650 on a GTX 980, R9 Fury, or GTX 980 Ti. (My personal opinion is that the slight performance boost of the Fury X over the Fury isn't worth the $100 price increase. The same could be said about a GTX 980 that overclocks well versus the 980 Ti.)
 
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ChronicleMe

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You know, that is a very good idea! I have 2 monitors.
-28” 3840 x 2160, 1ms GTG response time
- 27" 2560 x 1440 with 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time

So would the Fury suffice? Or a GTX 980 or Titan?
 
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RazberyBandit

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That's a really tough call...

And I should have previously said that if your monitor is 1440p resolution or lower because a single 390 can game fairly well at 1440p. But even though the 390 is capable of decent quality gaming at 1440p, given the choice (if money weren't an issue) I probably would have chosen a single GTX 980 or an R9 Fury on a 1440p monitor, and single 980 Ti on a 4K monitor. (I'm usually an AMD guy, too, as my last three cards have been AMD.)

My primary reason for a best-single-GPU-you-can-afford approach is because new titles almost always have SLI/Xfire issues at release, and pairing two lower-grade GPUs always feels like a compromise with caveats. Sure, two 390's in CrossFire will outperform a Fury / Fury X, but at what extra cost? PSU upgrade? Power consumption? Heat? Oh yeah... lots of power and heat.

Honestly, it might be best to open up a new Q&A thread for fresh opinions on the matter. I think the first step might be deciding which monitor you really want to use - the 4K or the 1440p. You may want to try some side-by-side image comparisons using your current hardware to help you reach that decision. Who knows? You might end up feeling your 390 is good enough for now on the 1440p...
 
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