Trifire? Or SLI?

[jon_the_faun]

I've got two 6970s. I would like more power.

Should I sell them for two GTX 580's?

Or should I (can I?) buy another 6970, setting up TRI-fire? Or if that's not possible, should I sell one 6970, save up a bit more, and buy a 6990 to achieve the same result?

Benchmarks look pretty damn good. But are they stable? As far as driver support, I haven't been too happy with AMD. And my friend seems a lot happier with nvidia.

Do you think these two cards will continue to improve? I've had them for 7 months. They aren't bad. But they aren't perfect.

What's the right move to make?

This is my setup:

ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3
i5 2500k (oc'ed to 4.6 ghz; cooled by corsair water cooling)
Sapphire 6970 x2
HP 2511x (1980x1050)
8GB RAM (ripjaw)
Ultra X4 1050Watt
HAF 932 (case)

 

[hotthree]

Only 1 monitor? If so, Have you considered a single 7950 or 7970? It is hit and miss on drivers atm. AMD is known for bad drivers, but do not think by going to Nvidia will instantly solve problems. Pick your poisen imo. It really depends on hardware etc. So many tweaks have to be made that either company will have its problems.

 

[jon_the_faun]

Only got one, 25-inch, HP 2511x (1980x1050) connected with an HDMI cable...

Yes, they look insanely powerful. But since they are new, I'd like to wait at least a couple of months before considering them - the driver support I hear (from reviews on Newegg and such) is a little slow to develop.

 

[hotthree]

Tbh Im not so sure that sli/trifire would even do you much good. I would see the boost if you were running eyefinity or something but your only on a single.

Sli/xfire = Small performance gain. pretty much be able to max everything..

Trifire = decreasing performance gain which in turn would be wasting money until your on a multi screen setup.

Best purchase/gain for money = Single 7970 imo or 7950(gtx580 performance ish)

 

[jon_the_faun]

But that's to be expected with all new cards. And yeah, I know - "the grass isn't always greener on the other side". You are probably very right. But it seems that nvidia is a little better with the driver support, and those 580s just crush every game. Just recently, nvidia boosted Skyrims performance by 30%. It was already running amazing. So I don't know. That's pretty damn tempting. Not mention how well they run Batman Arkham City. My cards struggle at medium settings, dipping sporadically from 60 to 40 to 50 to 40 fps.

But the trifire idea seems cheaper from where I stand, and maybe the sheer power of 3 6970s could gloss over the rough driver support?? Then again, crossfire support is pretty poor with AMD, so what would make trifire any better? In fact, it would probably be worse.

Most likely, I'm not gonna update at all. But I'm just tossing out hypotheticals here.

 

[jon_the_faun]

Tbh Im not so sure that sli/trifire would even do you much good. I would see the boost if you were running eyefinity or something but your only on a single.

I'd go for a single 580, 7970, 7950. Thats just from a logical stand point. By going sli/trifire it won't be a huge noticable improvement on 1 monitor imo.

What I'm ultimately seeking is a steady 60 fps (vsync on) with minimal dips to 55. I'm not in to the whole multiple monitor setup, rather perfecting the single monitor. These dips really counter my immersion in these games. And the crossfire support is so bad, that I'm often wondering why I even bought two cards? I'm disabling it all the time and noticing higher performance gains. That's just counter-intuitive.

 

[hotthree]

well if your in the market now. It is not worth thinking about Nvidia unless you have time to kill. The first card is going to be around the 580/7950 (pure speculation) which would leave their higher end stuff until august (again speculation on rumers).

Thats why I say if your buying now the upside is go with the single card which will be "plenty" of power for you. 7970 imo.

Yes, Drivers can be shady, but really its not as bad as people make it out to be. I have been on both sides of the fence. Amd has its moments and so does Nvidia.

Im itching to buy to buy Im sitting on my 560ti until everything is out and then I can make an informed decision.

 

[COLGeek]

Given the resolution you are gaming at, throwing more horsepower at your games isn't going to gain much.....except for bragging rights and heat/noise generated.

 

[jon_the_faun]

well if your in the market now. It is not worth thinking about Nvidia unless you have time to kill. The first card is going to be around the 580/7950 (pure speculation) which would leave their higher end stuff until august (again speculation on rumers).

Thats why I say if your buying now the upside is go with the single card which will be "plenty" of power for you. 7970 imo.

Yes, Drivers can be shady, but really its not as bad as people make it out to be. I have been on both sides of the fence. Amd has its moments and so does Nvidia.

Im itching to buy to buy Im sitting on my 560ti until everything is out and then I can make an informed decision.

Yeah. That seems to be the most reasonable choice at the moment. I think I'll just wait and see how the market plays itself out. My cards aren't horrible. And I read that AMD has hired a good number of people this year in the driver department. Hopefully the next few fix some old stuff. I can't help but feel like once they think they've "Fixed" something, they never return to it even though its broken.

 

[jon_the_faun]

Best answer selected by jon_the_faun.