SLI / CrossFire FAQs - Page 22
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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
CMac019
July 23, 2013 1:29:27 PM
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Reply to CMac019
piklar
July 31, 2013 4:22:59 AM
CMac019 said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I heard AMD is having driver problems with Crossfire recently, so that if I add another 7850 it won't add the performance that it should. This will be my first time running Crossfire/SLI and don't know if I should just sell my card and get a better one instead.Can say from experience that HD 7850s scale very nicely when you add a second card, what mobo do you have? if its PCI-Ex 2.0 then you want at least 8x 8x to get decent scaling, if you have 2 PCI Ex 3.0 slots then 8x 4x is fine assuming you have a decent CPU and a decent 600w+ PSU with 50A or higher on the 12v rail. If so then your golden and should be looking at close to double the performance you are getting now in games that utilize crossfire and be comparable to a GTX 770 performance wise. Not sure about the latest ATI drivers as I'm using Nvidia cards currently but even the ATI drivers from early last year were great with crossfire HD7850s.
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Reply to piklar
CMac019
July 31, 2013 2:11:20 PM
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I heard AMD is having driver problems with Crossfire recently, so that if I add another 7850 it won't add the performance that it should. This will be my first time running Crossfire/SLI and don't know if I should just sell my card and get a better one instead.Can say from experience that HD 7850s scale very nicely when you add a second card, what mobo do you have? if its PCI-Ex 2.0 then you want at least 8x 8x to get decent scaling, if you have 2 PCI Ex 3.0 slots then 8x 4x is fine assuming you have a decent CPU and a decent 600w+ PSU with 50A or higher on the 12v rail. If so then your golden and should be looking at close to double the performance you are getting now in games that utilize crossfire and be comparable to a GTX 770 performance wise. Not sure about the latest ATI drivers as I'm using Nvidia cards currently but even the ATI drivers from early last year were great with crossfire HD7850s.
This is my exact build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CMac019/saved/20Xe
I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade my PSU though
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Reply to CMac019
Related resources
- SLI / CrossFire FAQs - Forum
- CrossFire FAQs - Forum
- crossfire-faqs - Forum
- Sli/ Crossfire or single GPU ? - Tech Support
- GTX 970 SLI vs R9 290 CROSSFIRE - Tech Support
piklar
July 31, 2013 4:27:42 PM
CMac019 said:
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I heard AMD is having driver problems with Crossfire recently, so that if I add another 7850 it won't add the performance that it should. This will be my first time running Crossfire/SLI and don't know if I should just sell my card and get a better one instead.Can say from experience that HD 7850s scale very nicely when you add a second card, what mobo do you have? if its PCI-Ex 2.0 then you want at least 8x 8x to get decent scaling, if you have 2 PCI Ex 3.0 slots then 8x 4x is fine assuming you have a decent CPU and a decent 600w+ PSU with 50A or higher on the 12v rail. If so then your golden and should be looking at close to double the performance you are getting now in games that utilize crossfire and be comparable to a GTX 770 performance wise. Not sure about the latest ATI drivers as I'm using Nvidia cards currently but even the ATI drivers from early last year were great with crossfire HD7850s.
This is my exact build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CMac019/saved/20Xe
I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade my PSU though
Yeah your PSU is border line but you might get away with it if you leave everything at stock , by the looks of your component selection your already aware of the OCing potential wasted unless you upgrade the PSU. ATI are currently trying to sort out frame pacing issues, no doubt these issues have been there all along however I only noticed micro stutter in 1 game at the time, Skyrim. If you like to tinker and problem solve then adding a second 7850 and upgrading your PSU will likely prove rewarding. I would be weighing up "the cost of a new PSU and another 7850" vs "selling your 7850 and buying a 7970 or gtx770" vs "SLI gtx 760+new PSU". On a side note the biggest/easiest upgrade for your overall PC performance is adding an SSD...
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Reply to piklar
CMac019
August 5, 2013 2:45:08 PM
piklar
August 7, 2013 12:15:12 AM
CMac019 said:
I already have a Crucial M4 and the cpu and gpu are both overclocked. I'm still deciding between crossfire or sell and upgrade.Ah my bad I did not see you had an SSD already. Have you read about the catalyst 13.8 betas? How's that for good timing!
If I were you the first thing Id do is upgrade the PSU to a decent 800W or better, some might say that's overkill but I call it peace of mind..
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Reply to piklar
fasterbetter
August 18, 2013 1:26:51 AM
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I heard AMD is having driver problems with Crossfire recently, so that if I add another 7850 it won't add the performance that it should. This will be my first time running Crossfire/SLI and don't know if I should just sell my card and get a better one instead.Can say from experience that HD 7850s scale very nicely when you add a second card, what mobo do you have? if its PCI-Ex 2.0 then you want at least 8x 8x to get decent scaling, if you have 2 PCI Ex 3.0 slots then 8x 4x is fine assuming you have a decent CPU and a decent 600w+ PSU with 50A or higher on the 12v rail. If so then your golden and should be looking at close to double the performance you are getting now in games that utilize crossfire and be comparable to a GTX 770 performance wise. Not sure about the latest ATI drivers as I'm using Nvidia cards currently but even the ATI drivers from early last year were great with crossfire HD7850s.
This is my exact build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CMac019/saved/20Xe
I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade my PSU though
Yeah your PSU is border line but you might get away with it if you leave everything at stock , by the looks of your component selection your already aware of the OCing potential wasted unless you upgrade the PSU. ATI are currently trying to sort out frame pacing issues, no doubt these issues have been there all along however I only noticed micro stutter in 1 game at the time, Skyrim. If you like to tinker and problem solve then adding a second 7850 and upgrading your PSU will likely prove rewarding. I would be weighing up "the cost of a new PSU and another 7850" vs "selling your 7850 and buying a 7970 or gtx770" vs "SLI gtx 760+new PSU". On a side note the biggest/easiest upgrade for your overall PC performance is adding an SSD...
On pc partpicker it shows estimated wattage as 316W according to link posted by him,so how come a 550W psu not enough?sorry if i am wrong,but would like to know that.
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Reply to fasterbetter
fasterbetter said:
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
piklar said:
CMac019 said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I heard AMD is having driver problems with Crossfire recently, so that if I add another 7850 it won't add the performance that it should. This will be my first time running Crossfire/SLI and don't know if I should just sell my card and get a better one instead.Can say from experience that HD 7850s scale very nicely when you add a second card, what mobo do you have? if its PCI-Ex 2.0 then you want at least 8x 8x to get decent scaling, if you have 2 PCI Ex 3.0 slots then 8x 4x is fine assuming you have a decent CPU and a decent 600w+ PSU with 50A or higher on the 12v rail. If so then your golden and should be looking at close to double the performance you are getting now in games that utilize crossfire and be comparable to a GTX 770 performance wise. Not sure about the latest ATI drivers as I'm using Nvidia cards currently but even the ATI drivers from early last year were great with crossfire HD7850s.
This is my exact build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/CMac019/saved/20Xe
I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade my PSU though
Yeah your PSU is border line but you might get away with it if you leave everything at stock , by the looks of your component selection your already aware of the OCing potential wasted unless you upgrade the PSU. ATI are currently trying to sort out frame pacing issues, no doubt these issues have been there all along however I only noticed micro stutter in 1 game at the time, Skyrim. If you like to tinker and problem solve then adding a second 7850 and upgrading your PSU will likely prove rewarding. I would be weighing up "the cost of a new PSU and another 7850" vs "selling your 7850 and buying a 7970 or gtx770" vs "SLI gtx 760+new PSU". On a side note the biggest/easiest upgrade for your overall PC performance is adding an SSD...
On pc partpicker it shows estimated wattage as 316W according to link posted by him,so how come a 550W psu not enough?sorry if i am wrong,but would like to know that.
Well, adding another 7850 might push it a little bit, but I think 550w should sill be enough as long as no hefty OC occurs.
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Reply to skolpo
Andrew_Bu
August 27, 2013 4:02:12 AM
TheGamerHorse
September 3, 2013 9:50:04 PM
abuzz
September 5, 2013 6:10:07 AM
TheGamerHorse
September 5, 2013 9:51:49 AM
abuzz
September 12, 2013 1:19:46 PM
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
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Reply to abuzz
j0ndafr3ak
September 13, 2013 6:26:49 AM
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
as far as i know, molex adapters won't harm your hardware. just make sure it's dual molex to 1 pci-e connector. if you have 2 6 pcie connector, then 2 molexes per pcie connector.
single molex to pcie may not be sufficient for the power draw.
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Reply to j0ndafr3ak
TheGamerHorse
September 13, 2013 8:29:56 AM
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
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Reply to TheGamerHorse
abuzz
September 13, 2013 8:47:42 AM
j0ndafr3ak said:
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
as far as i know, molex adapters won't harm your hardware. just make sure it's dual molex to 1 pci-e connector. if you have 2 6 pcie connector, then 2 molexes per pcie connector.
single molex to pcie may not be sufficient for the power draw.
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
ya i will buy a new psu but not now after 2months can it work for 2months?
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Reply to abuzz
TheGamerHorse
September 13, 2013 3:27:51 PM
abuzz said:
j0ndafr3ak said:
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
as far as i know, molex adapters won't harm your hardware. just make sure it's dual molex to 1 pci-e connector. if you have 2 6 pcie connector, then 2 molexes per pcie connector.
single molex to pcie may not be sufficient for the power draw.
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
TheGamerHorse said:
abuzz said:
will 650ti boost sli will be a good idea against a single 760? ( i dont have single 650ti boost now )dude my psu is coolermaster thunder 500w and its having 1x6 pin but gtx 760 require 2of them should I take the risk and power up using molex?
ya i will buy a new psu but not now after 2months can it work for 2months?
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Reply to TheGamerHorse
The scary part is how coolermaster has had issues with underrated power supplies in the past.
If the specs are right it has 408 watts on its 12 volt rails.
Techpowerup places that card at about 165 watts peak. Making it not an overly power hungry card.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_7...
If the specs are right it has 408 watts on its 12 volt rails.
Techpowerup places that card at about 165 watts peak. Making it not an overly power hungry card.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_7...
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Reply to nukemaster
Wrathinside
October 25, 2013 7:46:46 AM
Ugh, can't read 20 pages, especially with so "incredible" quoting system. And it's sad that with all the useful information, a very important... the most important for me actually question is not answered(or I couldn't figure it on the first read).
I read:
"Brands don't matter.It's however recommended that the cards have the same amount of memory and speed."
Does that mean that any 78x or 79x AMD family, for instance, can be Crossed, as long as they have relatively similar Mhz models and same 2gb memory?
My idea until now(which means literally having "no idea" about the subject), was that SLI\XF are virtually a way to recycle your GPUs. Like adding more RAM or another HDD. I've already read that some Nvidias can be SLI-ed to work in this pattern: weak GPU does PhysX, strong GPU does the rest. I think it was somewhere on THW.
After reading this article, I am further confused. Does it indeed mean that only "rather similar" models can be SLI-ed?
Does that mean that if I buy some high-mid scale card, like HD7870, which should work it's whole price for at least 2 years, when it finally gets a bit behind and forces me to choose between ultra and 40+ FPS, if I want to add a new GPU, most likely from new gen family, either same high-mid or high-end card - it will NOT Crossfire with HD7870, because of rather apparent difference in Mhz\Memory?
Does this really mean that SLI\XF is merely just an option of spending your money? Like getting 2-3channel for multi-screen films\games, which probably would work better, like multi-core processors for multitask?(well, just a guess)
So basically, does this technology not allow to "upgrade" GPUs, but instead merely pair the same species in the Ark, per say?
I read:
"Brands don't matter.It's however recommended that the cards have the same amount of memory and speed."
Does that mean that any 78x or 79x AMD family, for instance, can be Crossed, as long as they have relatively similar Mhz models and same 2gb memory?
My idea until now(which means literally having "no idea" about the subject), was that SLI\XF are virtually a way to recycle your GPUs. Like adding more RAM or another HDD. I've already read that some Nvidias can be SLI-ed to work in this pattern: weak GPU does PhysX, strong GPU does the rest. I think it was somewhere on THW.
After reading this article, I am further confused. Does it indeed mean that only "rather similar" models can be SLI-ed?
Does that mean that if I buy some high-mid scale card, like HD7870, which should work it's whole price for at least 2 years, when it finally gets a bit behind and forces me to choose between ultra and 40+ FPS, if I want to add a new GPU, most likely from new gen family, either same high-mid or high-end card - it will NOT Crossfire with HD7870, because of rather apparent difference in Mhz\Memory?
Does this really mean that SLI\XF is merely just an option of spending your money? Like getting 2-3channel for multi-screen films\games, which probably would work better, like multi-core processors for multitask?(well, just a guess)
So basically, does this technology not allow to "upgrade" GPUs, but instead merely pair the same species in the Ark, per say?
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Reply to Wrathinside
Wrathinside said:
Ugh, can't read 20 pages, especially with so "incredible" quoting system. And it's sad that with all the useful information, a very important... the most important for me actually question is not answered(or I couldn't figure it on the first read).I read:
"Brands don't matter.It's however recommended that the cards have the same amount of memory and speed."
Does that mean that any 78x or 79x AMD family, for instance, can be Crossed, as long as they have relatively similar Mhz models and same 2gb memory?
Any can be crossfired, even with different Mhz and memory, but you'll still be limited by the card with the least memory and frame time variance may be higher if the Mhz is much different. However, you can use the CCC Overdrive software to clock both cards to the same speeds.
SLI is a little more picky, and will require the use of software that will update the registry so the card with the extra memory will not have access to the extra memory (Coolbits is the software).
Wrathinside said:
My idea until now(which means literally having "no idea" about the subject), was that SLI\XF are virtually a way to recycle your GPUs. Like adding more RAM or another HDD. I've already read that some Nvidias can be SLI-ed to work in this pattern: weak GPU does PhysX, strong GPU does the rest. I think it was somewhere on THW.That is one way you can look at it, but it is often a way to upgrade your system for more performance or even start from scratch with more performance than you can get with a single card. You could even use it as a way to save money.
Often times the more powerful single cards are much more expensive than the performance they gain, so you can buy two weaker cards for less and get more FPS than the faster more expensive single card, but you do have to live with the disadvantages of SLI/CF if you do.
Wrathinside said:
After reading this article, I am further confused. Does it indeed mean that only "rather similar" models can be SLI-ed?Does that mean that if I buy some high-mid scale card, like HD7870, which should work it's whole price for at least 2 years, when it finally gets a bit behind and forces me to choose between ultra and 40+ FPS, if I want to add a new GPU, most likely from new gen family, either same high-mid or high-end card - it will NOT Crossfire with HD7870, because of rather apparent difference in Mhz\Memory?
If the cards are the same model, like the HD7870, it will Crossfire with cards of the same name. But becareful about cards like the HD7870 XT, The XT is based on the 79xx models, so I am not sure it will work. The clocks can be altered through software and the cooling methods do not matter.
Wrathinside said:
Does this really mean that SLI\XF is merely just an option of spending your money? Like getting 2-3channel for multi-screen films\games, which probably would work better, like multi-core processors for multitask?(well, just a guess)So basically, does this technology not allow to "upgrade" GPUs, but instead merely pair the same species in the Ark, per say?
Yes, it is an option to upgrade, it is an option to make games work better, and it is an way to spend more money.
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Reply to bystander
Wrathinside
October 25, 2013 9:50:55 AM
So if I "add" a (theoretically) 1200 mhz\3gb card to 900mhz\2gb card, and the result will be 900mhz\2gb... Then how exactly is the performance improved? I've read\seen charts which show ~70% improvement, which would justify "recycling" old card, if it adds these 70% to the new card. How can it improve a card, when it diminishes the stats? Is it too technical? Like the "architecture of Intel" somehow beating raw numbers of ghz\cache\cores of AMD(for CPUs)?(Just an example of what I do not understand).
So either way, is getting 50%+ improvement to NEW card possible, if it gets stats of the old?
And since I am making a hard choice between two cards, GTX660OC and HD7870OC, being relatively same in price\performance comparison, where AMD seems to be "easier" to crossfire, while Nvidia has all the 3D\PhysX stuff.
Which card can be safe to buy now(since both seem to be the top of price\efficiency rank) and can be more possibly upgraded in theoretical future, with newer families of GPU?
So either way, is getting 50%+ improvement to NEW card possible, if it gets stats of the old?
And since I am making a hard choice between two cards, GTX660OC and HD7870OC, being relatively same in price\performance comparison, where AMD seems to be "easier" to crossfire, while Nvidia has all the 3D\PhysX stuff.
Which card can be safe to buy now(since both seem to be the top of price\efficiency rank) and can be more possibly upgraded in theoretical future, with newer families of GPU?
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Reply to Wrathinside
Wrathinside said:
So if I "add" a (theoretically) 1200 mhz\3gb card to 900mhz\2gb card, and the result will be 900mhz\2gb... Then how exactly is the performance improved? I've read\seen charts which show ~70% improvement, which would justify "recycling" old card, if it adds these 70% to the new card. How can it improve a card, when it diminishes the stats? Is it too technical? Like the "architecture of Intel" somehow beating raw numbers of ghz\cache\cores of AMD(for CPUs)?(Just an example of what I do not understand).So either way, is getting 50%+ improvement to NEW card possible, if it gets stats of the old?
And since I am making a hard choice between two cards, GTX660OC and HD7870OC, being relatively same in price\performance comparison, where AMD seems to be "easier" to crossfire, while Nvidia has all the 3D\PhysX stuff.
Which card can be safe to buy now(since both seem to be the top of price\efficiency rank) and can be more possibly upgraded in theoretical future, with newer families of GPU?
I do not know of any card that comes with options of 2Gb and 3Gb. Usually they only offer two versions, one with double vram and I do not know of any cards of the same model that are that drastically different in clocks either.
You still have to get the same model number, as in HD 7870 (XT if the other has XT in the name).
However, if you got two 7870's, one at 900Mhz, and the other at 1000Mhz, you will want to use MSI afterburner or CCC Overdrive and change the clocks of the slower or faster card to match the other (or meet in the middle).
The increase in speed is due to each card rendering every other frame. Two cards can make more frames than 1 card, even if that card is 10% faster than the slower card, but together, they may be 70% faster.
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Reply to bystander
Wrathinside
October 25, 2013 11:03:44 AM
Oh, now I get it. So it's just raw "2 heads is better than 1". But then... "Any can be crossfired", followed by "You still have to get the same model number, as in HD 7870", which I remember from article.
So that does indeed mean that even in the following years, if I want to upgrade my performance, my only chance is to buy ~exactly the same card, which would hopefully fall down in price gradually... and expect that it will together outdo something that would be fresh-new and cost much more?
Like, 200$ current card. 3 years later it costs 150$. Put them together, and it will work at least like 300$ card for at least 1-2 more years? Can this be achieved?
So that does indeed mean that even in the following years, if I want to upgrade my performance, my only chance is to buy ~exactly the same card, which would hopefully fall down in price gradually... and expect that it will together outdo something that would be fresh-new and cost much more?
Like, 200$ current card. 3 years later it costs 150$. Put them together, and it will work at least like 300$ card for at least 1-2 more years? Can this be achieved?
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Reply to Wrathinside
Wrathinside said:
Oh, now I get it. So it's just raw "2 heads is better than 1". But then... "Any can be crossfired", followed by "You still have to get the same model number, as in HD 7870", which I remember from article.So that does indeed mean that even in the following years, if I want to upgrade my performance, my only chance is to buy ~exactly the same card, which would hopefully fall down in price gradually... and expect that it will together outdo something that would be fresh-new and cost much more?
Like, 200$ current card. 3 years later it costs 150$. Put them together, and it will work at least like 300$ card for at least 1-2 more years? Can this be achieved?
Yes, it can be achieved, but VRAM limitations can sometimes get in the way, as in the future, more VRAM may be needed to run games well. Effective VRAM does not increase by Crossfire or SLI. You still are limited by what one card has. So there can come a time when Crossfire/SLI may not be effective.
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Reply to bystander
Wrathinside
October 28, 2013 10:47:35 AM
After reading some lines from the article and your reply "Yes, it can be achieved, but VRAM limitations can sometimes get in the way, as in the future, more VRAM may be needed to run games well.", I've been thinking quite a lot about what does it mean.
First I took it as: "If you SLI 2gb and 4gb card, 4gb card will become 2gb, and total memory will be 2gb nontheless".
After reading theads like http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857498/sli-76... \ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857056/gtx-77... ,
I may think that you meant that SLI 2gb+4gb will not be 6 gb, but 4(2+(4\2))gb. I do feel like 2gb is not really future-proof(those theads say that even modern mods and graphics sometimes favor 2gb+), but I thought that if I can't really push 4gb card now, should I go for decent 2gb card to SLI it later?
Since I would also like to stick with Nvidia, GTX760 for a couple of years, because it alone supports PhysX(althought I've read that later both greens and reds will share some similar technology to relieve customers from this torturous decision), and because benches at THW show GTX being superior to it's counterpart HD7950 in everything, but bitcoin, obviously.
I remember from the article that AMD can XF 2+4gb cards fine, just 4gb will be scaled down, and that Nvidia on the other hand - can't, without specific soft or something.
So the question is: will SLI of GTX760 2gb + GTX760 2gb(possibly different manufacturers, but otherwise same models) make it total of 4gb, or still 2?
First I took it as: "If you SLI 2gb and 4gb card, 4gb card will become 2gb, and total memory will be 2gb nontheless".
After reading theads like http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857498/sli-76... \ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857056/gtx-77... ,
I may think that you meant that SLI 2gb+4gb will not be 6 gb, but 4(2+(4\2))gb. I do feel like 2gb is not really future-proof(those theads say that even modern mods and graphics sometimes favor 2gb+), but I thought that if I can't really push 4gb card now, should I go for decent 2gb card to SLI it later?
Since I would also like to stick with Nvidia, GTX760 for a couple of years, because it alone supports PhysX(althought I've read that later both greens and reds will share some similar technology to relieve customers from this torturous decision), and because benches at THW show GTX being superior to it's counterpart HD7950 in everything, but bitcoin, obviously.
I remember from the article that AMD can XF 2+4gb cards fine, just 4gb will be scaled down, and that Nvidia on the other hand - can't, without specific soft or something.
So the question is: will SLI of GTX760 2gb + GTX760 2gb(possibly different manufacturers, but otherwise same models) make it total of 4gb, or still 2?
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Reply to Wrathinside
Wrathinside said:
After reading some lines from the article and your reply "Yes, it can be achieved, but VRAM limitations can sometimes get in the way, as in the future, more VRAM may be needed to run games well.", I've been thinking quite a lot about what does it mean.First I took it as: "If you SLI 2gb and 4gb card, 4gb card will become 2gb, and total memory will be 2gb nontheless".
After reading theads like http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857498/sli-76... \ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857056/gtx-77... ,
I may think that you meant that SLI 2gb+4gb will not be 6 gb, but 4(2+(4\2))gb. I do feel like 2gb is not really future-proof(those theads say that even modern mods and graphics sometimes favor 2gb+), but I thought that if I can't really push 4gb card now, should I go for decent 2gb card to SLI it later?
Since I would also like to stick with Nvidia, GTX760 for a couple of years, because it alone supports PhysX(althought I've read that later both greens and reds will share some similar technology to relieve customers from this torturous decision), and because benches at THW show GTX being superior to it's counterpart HD7950 in everything, but bitcoin, obviously.
I remember from the article that AMD can XF 2+4gb cards fine, just 4gb will be scaled down, and that Nvidia on the other hand - can't, without specific soft or something.
So the question is: will SLI of GTX760 2gb + GTX760 2gb(possibly different manufacturers, but otherwise same models) make it total of 4gb, or still 2?
2GB
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Reply to Maziar
Wrathinside said:
After reading some lines from the article and your reply "Yes, it can be achieved, but VRAM limitations can sometimes get in the way, as in the future, more VRAM may be needed to run games well.", I've been thinking quite a lot about what does it mean.First I took it as: "If you SLI 2gb and 4gb card, 4gb card will become 2gb, and total memory will be 2gb nontheless".
After reading theads like http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857498/sli-76... \ http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1857056/gtx-77... ,
I may think that you meant that SLI 2gb+4gb will not be 6 gb, but 4(2+(4\2))gb. I do feel like 2gb is not really future-proof(those theads say that even modern mods and graphics sometimes favor 2gb+), but I thought that if I can't really push 4gb card now, should I go for decent 2gb card to SLI it later?
Since I would also like to stick with Nvidia, GTX760 for a couple of years, because it alone supports PhysX(althought I've read that later both greens and reds will share some similar technology to relieve customers from this torturous decision), and because benches at THW show GTX being superior to it's counterpart HD7950 in everything, but bitcoin, obviously.
I remember from the article that AMD can XF 2+4gb cards fine, just 4gb will be scaled down, and that Nvidia on the other hand - can't, without specific soft or something.
So the question is: will SLI of GTX760 2gb + GTX760 2gb(possibly different manufacturers, but otherwise same models) make it total of 4gb, or still 2?
In AFR (alternate frame rendering), each card must render a full frame on their own, and their for need to load all the same stuff in VRAM as any other card in SLI/CF. As a result, you do not gain any benefit in terms of additional VRAM from multiple cards. You effectively are operating as if you have 2 card worth of VRAM, and it will operate as if you had which ever card has the least amount of VRAM.
When SLI and CF were new, there were other methods employed which may have gained some benefits, but did not give you nearly as good of scaling. These methods included splitting the screen in half and having each card only render half a screen. However, these methods are no longer used today.
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Reply to bystander
Wrathinside
November 1, 2013 7:37:43 PM
If SLI\CF pretty much screws up VRAM, then I read that to select another GPU to process PhysX, there is no bridge required. How does it work? Is it considered SLI\CF, or it's something else, but still supported by drivers?
Also - is it possible to use both Nvidia and AMD this way? So that Nvidia would manage PhysX and AMD would do the rest? Or there are no official drivers that could support this?
I understand that SLI\CF sum up the performances, so bridge-less PhysX GPU would not do anything for perforance, except for providing PhysX. I've also seen a vid, where a rather old card doing PhysX for something like 680x even reduced 680x' performance instead of improving it. That essentially means that card added will not make any benefit, if it doesn't do it's job as good as master card?
Also, I think I've heard tha if GPU runs out of VRAM - it takes from RAM, probably virtual memory, not sure. Is it possible to recompense for lack of VRAM by having plenty of RAM?
I just don't see the point in pushing 4gb version of technically 2gb card for future hopes of either multiscreen or super heavy games(which I don't play), but I don't see how can I use a 2gb GPU later, when I buy some newer and, hopefully, more-RAM filled GPU for multiscreen.
Also - is it possible to use both Nvidia and AMD this way? So that Nvidia would manage PhysX and AMD would do the rest? Or there are no official drivers that could support this?
I understand that SLI\CF sum up the performances, so bridge-less PhysX GPU would not do anything for perforance, except for providing PhysX. I've also seen a vid, where a rather old card doing PhysX for something like 680x even reduced 680x' performance instead of improving it. That essentially means that card added will not make any benefit, if it doesn't do it's job as good as master card?
Also, I think I've heard tha if GPU runs out of VRAM - it takes from RAM, probably virtual memory, not sure. Is it possible to recompense for lack of VRAM by having plenty of RAM?
I just don't see the point in pushing 4gb version of technically 2gb card for future hopes of either multiscreen or super heavy games(which I don't play), but I don't see how can I use a 2gb GPU later, when I buy some newer and, hopefully, more-RAM filled GPU for multiscreen.
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Reply to Wrathinside
kakscy
November 5, 2013 6:26:08 AM
asd12
November 7, 2013 2:51:49 PM
sickbullet
November 15, 2013 5:59:41 AM
asd12
November 27, 2013 1:46:50 AM
krayzier1
November 27, 2013 7:54:35 AM
Maziar said:
krayzier1 said:
XFX Radeon HD 7970 black is compatible with the other in its range HD 7970 for CF?seems your saying that as long as the GDDR is same and the speed is aits full steam ahead ? am i right ?...and how will this play out for the OC on the black edition ?
Yes,it'll work fine
officerkrc said:
if this has already been addressed I am sorry.. I just need some help now.. I have a problem.. I have 600 bucks worth of cards and they don't perform.. I have two MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC.. with 2GB.. I have a i-7 2600K CPU and a GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 motherboard.. Running 16 GB Ram (2X Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB. I also am running two Chronos SSD as well as 2 1 TB WD sata 6 drives.. I have a 680 watt APEVIA ATX-AS680W-BL 680W.
I can run one card and it crushes the two in SLI.. Can anyone tell me why? Seems afterburner telles me second card has 0% GPU use..
Probably one of your cards is defective,test them simultaneously to see if they work or not
krayzier1 said:
can you crossfire HIS Radeon HD 7970 X2 with r7970 black edition? are they still in the same family as there 2xs?You mean 3-way CF ? is so,then yes
calumconroy said:
Hmmm, Clears up some queries i had with Crossfire, nice one.Glad it helped
asd12 said:
hi can i put gtx 690 and 770 in sli cs they have the same gpu if not which sli do u more recommendty
Ty for your reply
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Reply to krayzier1
HogCooter
December 2, 2013 10:29:50 AM
Both Crossfire and SLI are designed to improve performance. This includes frame rates. AMD has been working to get more consistent frame times out of its cards with newer drivers.
So if you go this path, ensure you have the latest drivers.
Sometimes a single faster card is more desirable due to power and space concerns as well as more consistent performance(some games do not scale as well with multiple cards.).
So if you go this path, ensure you have the latest drivers.
Sometimes a single faster card is more desirable due to power and space concerns as well as more consistent performance(some games do not scale as well with multiple cards.).
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Reply to nukemaster
HogCooter
December 3, 2013 8:37:39 AM
BRANDON DAVIS
December 8, 2013 10:30:01 AM
This is more like my question, and this thread seems to be the right place to ask (I've made it through only the FAQ and the first three pages, so far lol ...but have a pressing need to get an answer, due to the sales this month). If I'm in the wrong place, do please let me know.
New build. Main board is Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (will arrive this week). Also purchased an XFX FX-785A-ZNL4 (HD 7850) ...$119 w/the rebate.
Should I buy a second XFX while they're on sale and CF 'em? IOW, is that going to be a well-spent $238 (i.e., $119x2 cards) for the performance (from what I've read, there does seem to be a performance advantage)? Or not? (I'll have my bro' purchase the 2nd XFX, so I'd get the rebate for the second card too.)
...even with a second 7850, my total build price (w/new everything), is going to be just under $800 (w/ an FX8320, 250+120GB SSD, 630W 80+ bronze, case, and 16GB RAM), so it's certainly a "budget build" as I understand it (be nice: I'm old lol, and haven't DIY'd a system in a decade). I still have an unused W7 license, though I'm not sure if I won't just install Linux, and run W7 as a VM (I do a lot of VM's for support reasons: my "day job").
(I run a minimum of four displays for various, non-gaming reasons with the main display at 1920x1200, and others at lesser res's ...that will be changing this coming year to all 1920x1200 minimum ...still not sure which direction I'm going to go.)
TIA.
...my first question on Tom's ever btw (though I've been reading the forums for ...idk, the past 10 years at least).
New build. Main board is Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (will arrive this week). Also purchased an XFX FX-785A-ZNL4 (HD 7850) ...$119 w/the rebate.
Should I buy a second XFX while they're on sale and CF 'em? IOW, is that going to be a well-spent $238 (i.e., $119x2 cards) for the performance (from what I've read, there does seem to be a performance advantage)? Or not? (I'll have my bro' purchase the 2nd XFX, so I'd get the rebate for the second card too.)
...even with a second 7850, my total build price (w/new everything), is going to be just under $800 (w/ an FX8320, 250+120GB SSD, 630W 80+ bronze, case, and 16GB RAM), so it's certainly a "budget build" as I understand it (be nice: I'm old lol, and haven't DIY'd a system in a decade). I still have an unused W7 license, though I'm not sure if I won't just install Linux, and run W7 as a VM (I do a lot of VM's for support reasons: my "day job").
(I run a minimum of four displays for various, non-gaming reasons with the main display at 1920x1200, and others at lesser res's ...that will be changing this coming year to all 1920x1200 minimum ...still not sure which direction I'm going to go.)
TIA.
...my first question on Tom's ever btw (though I've been reading the forums for ...idk, the past 10 years at least).
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Reply to BRANDON DAVIS
If you do not plan to game, You do not even need to get another 7850, you can even get something like a 7770 or 7750 just to run extra screens.
Each card should run 3 screens if one is Display Port. Having 2 should allow 2 analog + 2 digital not including the 2 Display Port options you still have or 4 Digital(HDMI/DVI) without issues.
2 7850's in crossfire should give a decent performance boost, but you will need the latest drivers and AMD is still working out driver issues with multi screen crossfire performance on some cards.
The chart on Tom's in the following link while old, gives you an idea what 2 x 7850's in crossfire will do, but again it is important to know that newer articles have show frame pace issues[high fps reported by games, but jumpy graphics due to partial frames or even frames that do not make it to the monitor] that are being addressed in current and newer drivers. It may still be a while for AMD to get all the bugs worked out(the fixes are underway for sure).
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-gef...
Each card should run 3 screens if one is Display Port. Having 2 should allow 2 analog + 2 digital not including the 2 Display Port options you still have or 4 Digital(HDMI/DVI) without issues.
2 7850's in crossfire should give a decent performance boost, but you will need the latest drivers and AMD is still working out driver issues with multi screen crossfire performance on some cards.
The chart on Tom's in the following link while old, gives you an idea what 2 x 7850's in crossfire will do, but again it is important to know that newer articles have show frame pace issues[high fps reported by games, but jumpy graphics due to partial frames or even frames that do not make it to the monitor] that are being addressed in current and newer drivers. It may still be a while for AMD to get all the bugs worked out(the fixes are underway for sure).
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-gef...
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Reply to nukemaster
BRANDON DAVIS
December 8, 2013 12:47:41 PM
nukemaster said:
If you do not plan to game, You do not even need to get another 7850, you can even get something like a 7770 or 7750 just to run extra screens.Each card should run 3 screens if one is Display Port. Having 2 should allow 2 analog + 2 digital not including the 2 Display Port options you still have or 4 Digital(HDMI/DVI) without issues.
2 7850's in crossfire should give a decent performance boost, but you will need the latest drivers and AMD is still working out driver issues with multi screen crossfire performance on some cards.
The chart on Tom's in the following link while old, gives you an idea what 2 x 7850's in crossfire will do, but again it is important to know that newer articles have show frame pace issues[high fps reported by games, but jumpy graphics due to partial frames or even frames that do not make it to the monitor] that are being addressed in current and newer drivers. It may still be a while for AMD to get all the bugs worked out(the fixes are underway for sure).
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-gef...
Thank you nukemaster. I will check out that link.
I think this card does support four displays btw ...but I may want to up that to six (or 3-4 with much higher resolution, and perhaps physically larger) displays, so for that reason, it might be justified?
...my productivity usually increases with more and/or better displays (so I can pretty much justify the expense ...plus my current displays are pretty old at this point, and I recall reading something about all the ones of this technological "era" having some kind of burn-out/end-of-life issues sooner than later).
...but I would like to be able to occasionally run a game as far as that goes (the last game I played was probably Quake or something: life has gotten really busy since then, but it's slowing down again, so maybe I can dip my feet back in the pool lol).
So for a $120 "upgrade": worth it?
UPDATE: You already answered the question, lol. Brilliant! Looking at the chart, and comparing a single 7850 with dual 7850's in CF, it seems that - for gaming - CFing with a second 7850 isn't that bad an idea. Thanks!
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Reply to BRANDON DAVIS
Resetes12
December 14, 2013 6:48:09 AM
Roadsguy
December 23, 2013 4:26:07 PM
Crossfire with cpu graphics is rather unimpressive when a single lower end card may be as fast.
The cart has actually not been updated by AMD yet so that is why it stops at the 7970.
I am sure Maziar may well update this in the future(for sure when AMD adds a new chart, maybe they do not want to tell people that a R9 280X can be combined
the rebranded cards can be crossfired with the card they have been rebranded from), but they have been rather busy lately.
The cart has actually not been updated by AMD yet so that is why it stops at the 7970.
I am sure Maziar may well update this in the future(for sure when AMD adds a new chart, maybe they do not want to tell people that a R9 280X can be combined
the rebranded cards can be crossfired with the card they have been rebranded from), but they have been rather busy lately. -
Reply to nukemaster
Pexon011
December 26, 2013 12:32:41 AM
TheDoubleD
December 26, 2013 12:19:07 PM
Hello. I have a Sapphire 7870 XT and I would like to upgrade by crossfiring it. With what GPU should I crossfire it? I know it can be crossfired with either another 7870 xt or 7950. Up here where I live, they have almost the same price, but should I really crossfire with 7950 when all their stats are different (like gpu clock, memory, memory clock, bit rate)? What would be the side effect of this?
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Reply to TheDoubleD
Pexon011 said:
Hello ,what should i buy ,at the moment i am using nvidia 560ti and i am thinking of putting one more in sli ,or to buy nvidia 660titnx for help
"Post edited by Maziar,reason: "No advertising here"
2 560Ti's will be notably faster than 1 660Ti
TheDoubleD said:
Hello. I have a Sapphire 7870 XT and I would like to upgrade by crossfiring it. With what GPU should I crossfire it? I know it can be crossfired with either another 7870 xt or 7950. Up here where I live, they have almost the same price, but should I really crossfire with 7950 when all their stats are different (like gpu clock, memory, memory clock, bit rate)? What would be the side effect of this?"One of the cards will raise/lower its clock speeds to reach the other card's speeds."
So I recommend getting the exact same model of the card you have
wh3resmycar said:
hi guys, is hypersli still serviceable on non sli motherboards?It seems it's no longer possible
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/hypersli-enab...
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Reply to Maziar
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