6990 or 2 X 6950 ?

[notigg]

assuming you had a rig that had a good enough power supply and mobo to run either of these which would you prefer?

 

[lavaheadache]

1 6970 or 1 580. I really don't like dual gpu setups. I HATE microstuttering.


If it had to be between those to choices I would pick 2 6950's. That way I could split them up into different rigs when I was done with them

 

[skipsneeky2]

Like lava said grab a 6970 or the best gtx580 you can, had a 6990 myself and it was insanely loud and very big .

 

[Madcatatlas]

1x 6990 definetly..what a beast!

 

[BrightCandle]

I would third the idea of getting the biggest beefiest card before crossfire. I bought a 5970 and I have been disappointed with the way it supports crossfire and the microstuttering problems. Its considerably more difficult to turn xfire off compared to having two cards and you are going to need to turn it off for some games.

Get the biggest card you can get and then if its not enough you add another, ie 6970 x 2 would be better.

 

[nanaki333]

if you want to see microstuttering, you'll see it. just like if you go ghost hunting you'll see/hear lots of ghosts and stuff.

go with 2x 6950. way cheaper and it'll give you the same performance with a small OC, and run cooler and quieter.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Microstuttering is very real. If that doesn't bother you, great! I know it would annoy the the shit outa me, especially if I'm dropping several hundred of my hard earned money a graphics card. Also, SLI has less microstutter than crossfire, so going dual gpu's with AMD would be my last choice.

1) Single fastest card
.
.
.
.
.
2) SLI
3) Crossfire.

 

[Silverforce11]

i guess you have to be a damn pretty unique snowflake to notice microstuttering because the mass population cannot perceive any difference when fps is above 60.

 

[Will Robinson]

Microstuttering is very real. If that doesn't bother you, great! I know it would annoy the the shit outa me, especially if I'm dropping several hundred of my hard earned money a graphics card. Also, SLI has less microstutter than crossfire, so going dual gpu's with AMD would be my last choice.

1) Single fastest card
.
.
.
.
.
2) SLI
3) Crossfire.

SLI has less microstutter...
And as for "dropping several hundred"...ummm..don't you mean around $700?
Perhaps your pricing is as out of date as the silly reference to SLI's superiority.:whiste:

 

[nanaki333]

Microstuttering is very real. If that doesn't bother you, great! I know it would annoy the the shit outa me, especially if I'm dropping several hundred of my hard earned money a graphics card. Also, SLI has less microstutter than crossfire, so going dual gpu's with AMD would be my last choice.

1) Single fastest card
.
.
.
.
.
2) SLI
3) Crossfire.

i'm sure it is, but like i said, if you're anal enough to constantly look for it, of course it's going to bother you.

 

[lavaheadache]

i guess you have to be a damn pretty unique snowflake to notice microstuttering because the mass population cannot perceive any difference when fps is above 60.

There is so much wrong in this post. Way back yonder when I got my first sli setup I had to search for many hours why my sli setup seemed to have many little hiccups when my fps were showing higher in fraps. This was way back in the 6600 GT days. I have since then have had no fewer than 4 sli setups and 2 different crossfire systems. Guess what? Microstuttering is as much an issue now as it was then. Actually the first sli setup I had was 12 meg voodoo 2's. That is a while different beast though.

Second thing I see wrong with this post is the 60 fps/Hz nonsense. Ask anybody who has a 120hz LCD if they can see the extra frames they are getting with their monitor. Look in my sig. My U3011 sits dormant most of the time while the 120 Hz gets extensive use. Is that because I like the inferior colors of the 1080p TN panel vs a gorgeous 4 megapixel IPS screen? Not a chance....

 

[bunnyfubbles]

i guess you have to be a damn pretty unique snowflake to notice microstuttering because the mass population cannot perceive any difference when fps is above 60.

ignorance is bliss

 

[notigg]

THe 120hz brings up something else I wanted to ask...

I will be buying 3 120hz monitors.

The thing is.. the only ones that seem suited to me are the new samsung ones... with the thin bezels. all the others (like those "officially" supported by nvidia have huge bezels it seems and are not as high quality as the samsung. )

 

[arredondo]

Wow, another person who feels that because he can't see any improvement over 60fps, no one can. Playing Counterstrike at 90fps and then at 60fps is ridiculously easy to see the difference in smoothness. It is VERY noticeable.

 

[Via]

5970 here, still can't see the microstutter. And believe me, I've tried to.

 

[nanaki333]

5970 here, still can't see the microstutter. And believe me, I've tried to.

i call BS! there's totally microstutter so you MUST see it! </sarcasm>

i've been running dual GPU for years and frankly... i'm way too busy enjoying the game i'm playing to notice/care about it.

 

[Silverforce11]

Wow, another person who feels that because he can't see any improvement over 60fps, no one can. Playing Counterstrike at 90fps and then at 60fps is ridiculously easy to see the difference in smoothness. It is VERY noticeable.

Scientific facts are hard to argue against.

I didn't say no one could perceive the difference. I said the vast majority cannot.

There's always a few oddballs in any large population.

 

[7earitup]

I've only ever experienced one or two SLI machines and maybe one Crossfire machine, and I did not notice any type of stuttering on either one.

 

[Bill Brasky]

SLI has less microstutter...
And as for "dropping several hundred"...ummm..don't you mean around $700?
Perhaps your pricing is as out of date as the silly reference to SLI's superiority.:whiste:

I don't think it's a silly reference, since I didn't pull it out of my butt.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/21516/11

"Third, in our test data, multi-GPU configs based on Radeons appear to exhibit somewhat more jitter than those based on GeForces. We can't yet say definitively that those observations will consistently hold true across different workloads, but that's where our data so far point."

I would agree that in very high fps scenarios, microstuttering is considerably less noticeable. However, I think that dual gpu systems have a much higher minimum fps threshold for playability due to microstutter.

 

[Silverforce11]

I don't think it's a silly reference, since I didn't pull it out of my butt.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/21516/11

"Third, in our test data, multi-GPU configs based on Radeons appear to exhibit somewhat more jitter than those based on GeForces. We can't yet say definitively that those observations will consistently hold true across different workloads, but that's where our data so far point."

I would agree that in very high fps scenarios, microstuttering is considerably less noticeable. However, I think that dual gpu systems have a much higher minimum fps threshold for playability due to microstutter.

Read the page again.. carefully. Makes u look like a fool if you think CF microstutters worse than SLI based on that article.

 

[Madcatatlas]

We'd mostly agree with that assessment, but with several caveats based on our admittedly somewhat limited test data. For one, although jitter varies over time, multi-GPU setups that are prone to jitter in a given test scenario tend to return to it throughout each test run and from one run to the next. Second, the degree of jitter appears to be higher for systems that are more performance-constrained. For instance, when tested in the same game at the same settings, the mid-range Radeon HD 6870 CrossFireX config generally showed more frame-to-frame variance than the higher-end Radeon HD 6970 CrossFireX setup. The same is true of the GeForce GTX 560 Ti SLI setup versus dual GTX 580s. If this observation amounts to a trait of multi-GPU systems, it's a negative trait. Multi-GPU rigs would have the most jitter just when low frame times are most threatened. Third, in our test data, multi-GPU configs based on Radeons appear to exhibit somewhat more jitter than those based on GeForces. We can't yet say definitively that those observations will consistently hold true across different workloads, but that's where our data so far point.

Now, take note of the implications here. Because the metering delay is presumably inserted between T_render and T_display, Fraps would miss it entirely. That means all of our SLI data on the preceding pages might not track with how frames are presented to the user.

so ye what i gather from that article, is that this wasnt exactly the best way to test for stuttering. Although it provides a good read and is a good article in many regards, the editor/author clearly states that they didnt even get any reliable data on SLI.

but hey, some might use this to say "SLI IS SUPERIOR"...
im still laughing.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Read the page again.. carefully. Makes u look like a fool if you think CF microstutters worse than SLI based on that article.

Perhaps you could point to the text your referring to because I read a good discussion about nvidia's frame metering to present frames in a smoother fashion.

It's really not necessary to be so hostile.

 

[Madcatatlas]

read the post above yours Bill

 

[Bill Brasky]

Yeah. I posted before refreshing the page. I'm gonna take another look at the conclusion.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

THe 120hz brings up something else I wanted to ask...

I will be buying 3 120hz monitors.

The thing is.. the only ones that seem suited to me are the new samsung ones... with the thin bezels. all the others (like those "officially" supported by nvidia have huge bezels it seems and are not as high quality as the samsung. )

If this is the monitor you are referring to I suggest you skip it for gaming purposes.

http://www.digitalversus.com/samsung-syncmaster-t27a950-p357_11317_36.html

This proves that 120hz does not necesarrily translate into the perfect gaming monitor. Also, no VESA mount is such a major issue with a monitor that is so plainly suited to multi monitor setups.