Micro-Stuttering

[shahrooz]

Hi I'm building a new PC I was going for two Nvidia cards in SLI but I'm afraid of the micro stuttering issue. since I haven't used or played on a PC with SLI/xFire Graphics I dont know how bad is this micro stuttering, should I go for three our four GPUs like TOM's article said? (PowerColor 6870 x2 three way xFire or four way) . help me please.

 

[rolli59]

I personally would go with HD6950 2 way crossfire rather than 3 or 4 x HD6870!

 

[shahrooz]

I personally would go with HD6950 2 way crossfire rather than 3 or 4 x HD6870!

but two ways suffer from micro stuttering which I dont know how bad it is, and how noticeable. I'd go for two 580s if I go for a two way.

I just wanna know how bad is micro stuttering

 

[bystander]

The micro stuttering was a lot lower with 6950's than the 6870's in crossfire. The micro-stutter problem could mainly be a 6800 issue as the tests did not test anything but those two cards for AMD.

 

[shahrooz]

The micro stuttering was a lot lower with 6950's than the 6870's in crossfire. The micro-stutter problem could mainly be a 6800 issue as the tests did not test anything but those two cards for AMD.

what about two 580s?

 

[wirzy]

well ive been working with 2- and 3 wai crossfire all this years

with hd5850 to hd6970

and i could tell that like in the article its not in all game the fact is

that at a mid fps rate you will get micro-stutering because the fps ratio is not even

its could pass in a blink of an eye from 30 to 20 fps 1 of 2 frame

but hoever its not suffering more you do a good fps ratio you wont see it

exemple crysis 2 whit 2-gtx580 25-50 fps youll see micro-stutering

most game under it you wont fell micro-s since you will be over 40 fps all the time so the micro-s will drop at 30 at lowest so still fluid and no stutering
myself i have gone whit 3xhd6970 just for that no micro-s at all not even in crysis 2 since my lowest fps is 45

for the price of about 2x580gtx

 

[wirzy]

is is on a big screen if you have a little resolution your fps goes up big screen fps goes down drasticly

 

[bystander]

what about two 580s?

The testing in the article did not have problems with a 590, which is essentially two 580's in SLI but on a single card and downclocked.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

One problem with this article is that it tests a very small range of cards and makes some assumptions based on too little info. It is a good start, but more cards should have been tested.

 

[shahrooz]

The testing in the article did not have problems with a 590, which is essentially two 580's in SLI but on a single card and downclocked.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

One problem with this article is that it tests a very small range of cards and makes some assumptions based on too little info. It is a good start, but more cards should have been tested.

yeah, I agree with you in that point. the article is not complete that's why I'm confused.

in the benchmarks PowerColor 6870x2 in xfire is like 580 SLI and I dont know which one should I go for

 

[lozz08]

The latest Tom's hardware article on microstutter proved a few points...

1. 2-way crossfirex with 6870 or lower suffers from micro stutter quite badly

2. Cards more powerful than 6870 seem okay

3. 3-way crossfirex greatly reduces microstutter to single-card levels.

If I were you, I would go with one HD6870x2 card and one 6870 standalone and corssfire them. You get 3-way 6870 crossfire with two total PCBs and no microstutter.

 

[wirzy]

totally correct like i said with 2x580 at a mid resolution in almost no game he will have micro-s
but on a eyefinity setup or something like that(my case)
a 590 or 2x580 is at the 30 to 40 ratio so micro-s could COULD be a probleme on a big big resolution

1024-1080 reso its will be enough for covering the issue

but i would appreciate more card test since all card are not handle the same way

 

[shahrooz]

The latest Tom's hardware article on microstutter proved a few points...

1. 2-way crossfirex with 6870 or lower suffers from micro stutter quite badly

2. Cards more powerful than 6870 seem okay

3. 3-way crossfirex greatly reduces microstutter to single-card levels.

If I were you, I would go with one HD6870x2 card and one 6870 standalone and corssfire them. You get 3-way 6870 crossfire with two total PCBs and no microstutter.

yea I agree.

In the time being I'm starting to change my opinion to three way crossfire as you said. since 508 SLI is not included in the test and is risky, but three way 6870 has passed its test.

 

[shahrooz]

totally correct like i said with 2x580 at a mid resolution in almost no game he will have micro-s
but on a eyefinity setup or something like that(my case)
a 590 or 2x580 is at the 30 to 40 ratio so micro-s could COULD be a probleme on a big big resolution

1024-1080 reso its will be enough for covering the issue

but i would appreciate more card test since all card are not handle the same way

I play on 1080p res

 

[wirzy]

if you have a big resolution to handle i will sugest yyou to goe with nothing less then what have 1.5g vram

since with crysis2 and some other game for all the eye candy 1gb become less and less futur proof

so if im correct the 6870 is out of the deal

 

[shahrooz]

if you have a big resolution to handle i will sugest yyou to goe with nothing less then what have 1.5g vram

since with crysis2 and some other game for all the eye candy 1gb become less and less futur proof

so if im correct the 6870 is out of the deal

according to the benchmarks four 6870s with total memory of 4GB outperforms 580SLI @ 1080p in most of the tests and three of them is a just a little weaker than 580s.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995-10.html

 

[wirzy]

(If I were you, I would go with one HD6870x2 card and one 6870 standalone and corssfire them. You get 3-way 6870 crossfire with two total PCBs and no microstutter.) quote

assure yourself to have a mobo that do 16x/8x at least not 8x/8x incrossfire are you will be getting a 4x/4x/8x crossfire a lot of loose power

but with a 16x/8x mobo you'll get a 8x/8x/8x crossfire

 

[wirzy]

the crossfire dont add the ram if you have three card whith 1gb still done crossfire at 1gb lol

 

[shahrooz]

(If I were you, I would go with one HD6870x2 card and one 6870 standalone and corssfire them. You get 3-way 6870 crossfire with two total PCBs and no microstutter.) quote

assure yourself to have a mobo that do 16x/8x at least not 8x/8x incrossfire are you will be getting a 4x/4x/8x crossfire a lot of loose power

but with a 16x/8x mobo you'll get a 8x/8x/8x crossfire

good point I should keep that in mind.

 

[wirzy]

the vram are just in mirror less error but still 1gb of vram for futur title on hd

 

[shahrooz]

the crossfire dont add the ram if you have three card whith 1gb still done crossfire at 1gb lol

I see, I'm just saying benchmarks are good @ 1080p.

 

[wirzy]

i think the 6870 was made whit one and 2gb version of the card ?

 

[wirzy]

yeah i know but keep in mind that futur title bf3 and all incoming skyrim is not benched yet and we never know what is coming so now ill let you decide whit other point of view chow

 

[wirzy]

last point jus let you know that i have pass from a 3-way crossfire 5850 to a 3-way 6970 for this reason
trouble with eyefinity and eyecandy at 1gb

1.5 have been enough but still want more futur proof

so for now 1gb become little by little alreay to less

 

[shahrooz]

last point jus let you know that i have pass from a 3-way crossfire 5850 to a 3-way 6970 for this reason
trouble with eyefinity and eyecandy at 1gb

1.5 have been enough but still want more futur proof

so for now 1gb become little by little alreay to less

how can I go for three cards? does xFire drivers support three way or you used something else?

 

[wirzy]

on the understand the question are you need to be informed lol

you can crossfire up to 4 card (pcb)with the good mobo