AMD 7970 CrossfireX vs nVidia GTX 680 SLI Scaling (2-Way) Benchmarked

[r3quiem]

Just put together an AMD CrossfireX vs nVidia SLI Scaling (2-Way) graph for though who are interested in seeing how the two cards scale across different resolutions.

Test Bed:
ASUS Rampage IV Formula Motherboard
Intel Core i7 3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) processor
16 GB Corsair DDR3-1600 RAM
Enermax Platimax 1500W PSU
Windows 7 x64

High '%' = Better Scaling with the addition of the second card:

The data used for the graph was taken from: http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/2641/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-quad-sli-review-english-version

 

[RavenSEAL]

Not surprised by the results. I'm really glad I went crossfire with my 6870s, got a lot of power for little money.

 

[Gloomy]

I've heard that CFX has more microstutter and that SLI has less, and that's the reason why it loses sometimes. But it's probably fud.

 

[-Slacker-]

I imagine we'd be hearing about it A LOT more often if that were the case.

 

[mak360]

WOW, Am just shocked how easy the so called “enthusiasts” are easily mislead (brainwashed) into nVidia marketing propaganda when in reality the difference is so minute when overclocked, the advantage actually being with the HD7970 (Per/Price HD7950) in Multi monitor, X-Fire, overclocking, heat and being future proof with extra RAM. I stock with AMD as I knew better (Than most it seems), NVidia don’t play around when it comes to marketing, even the most enthusiasts get dragged into the trap (reviews are partly to blame I think).

 

[r3quiem]

WOW, Am just shocked how easy the so called “enthusiasts” are easily mislead (brainwashed) into nVidia marketing propaganda when in reality the difference is so minute when overclocked, the advantage actually being with the HD7970 (Per/Price HD7950) in Multi monitor, X-Fire, overclocking, heat and being future proof with extra RAM. I stock with AMD as I knew better (Than most it seems), NVidia don’t play around when it comes to marketing, even the most enthusiasts get dragged into the trap (reviews are partly to blame I think).

I agree that nVidia has a better marketing strategy than AMD and to that end some users do get pulled in. Im not going to argue which is better I think at the end of the day it comes down to how much research you do.

However I did want to point out that the new Kepler series also supports, Multi-monitor (up to 3) and has a similar to better thermal performance with this generation.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

WOW, Am just shocked how easy the so called “enthusiasts” are easily mislead (brainwashed) into nVidia marketing propaganda when in reality the difference is so minute when overclocked, the advantage actually being with the HD7970 (Per/Price HD7950) in Multi monitor, X-Fire, overclocking, heat and being future proof with extra RAM. I stock with AMD as I knew better (Than most it seems), NVidia don’t play around when it comes to marketing, even the most enthusiasts get dragged into the trap (reviews are partly to blame I think).

The reason is that nobody, not even professional reviewers, seem to understand that the plural of anecdote is not data.

 

[Xeth]

WOW, Am just shocked how easy the so called “enthusiasts” are easily mislead (brainwashed) into nVidia marketing propaganda when in reality the difference is so minute when overclocked, the advantage actually being with the HD7970 (Per/Price HD7950) in Multi monitor, X-Fire, overclocking, heat and being future proof with extra RAM. I stock with AMD as I knew better (Than most it seems), NVidia don’t play around when it comes to marketing, even the most enthusiasts get dragged into the trap (reviews are partly to blame I think).

I have both SLI 580's and CFX 6970's and I like nVidia's driver support and noise profile a lot better than AMD, even though AMD has a better price/performance ratio (at least for last gen).

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I've heard that CFX has more microstutter and that SLI has less, and that's the reason why it loses sometimes. But it's probably fud.

Tom's said CF is worse than SLI for it, however what we're seeing now is driver issues, SLI still scales really well when not cpu limited.

 

[r3quiem]

Tom's said CF is worse than SLI for it, however what we're seeing now is driver issues, SLI still scales really well when not cpu limited.

I agree with you regarding the driver issues. We need a real push towards better optimized drivers by both nVidia and AMD. Just looking at the batman Arkham City says it all.

 

[blackened23]

This is exactly what i've been saying. 7970 is scaling better now in more games, especially all of the crysis games and metro 2033. 680 sli has some serious scaling issues right now. It is likely a pure driver issue, and hopefully NV gets this sorted out soon! NV has good software support so I expect things to improve.

While nvidia users were quick to attack AMD for this same thing at release, nvidia should have some leeway to fix it. If its still like this a month from now, there's a problem. AFAIK it took AMD around a month to completely sort most 7970cf issues. Also, the new Batman: AC patch fixes CF scaling, it is a lot better for both sli and xfire.

 

[Annisman*]

I have had so many cards from both camps, and I have always had great results (and some trouble) with every single card. Because I am an enthusiast, I generally buy the highest power card, which is GENERALLY Nvidia, which is why I've shifted a bit more that way lately, but that's the only reason.

 

[blackened23]

I agree with you regarding the driver issues. We need a real push towards better optimized drivers by both nVidia and AMD. Just looking at the batman Arkham City says it all.

Which version of Batman : AC do you have? You need to get the newest patch which improves sli and xfire performance substantially, it was released last thursday on steam.

I hope you have a version that was paid for D: The torrented versions apparently don't get along with the new patch. That didn't stop pirates from complaining on the rocksteady forums, LOL

 

[YBS1]

I've heard that CFX has more microstutter and that SLI has less, and that's the reason why it loses sometimes. But it's probably fud.

I don't know about CFX in general having more microstutter than SLI, but I have noticed they seem to have the issue in different games from each other and this may or may not be the case depending upon which cards you have. For instance, I never even realized I was getting microstutter in crysis (1 and 2) or metro 2033 with crossfire until I switched to nVidia, the difference is night and day. It's far superior on the nV cards in IMO. Black Ops on the other hand was smooth as silk on crossfire (well, other than the major hiccup that seemed to occur right at the begining of each match), while I seem to notice very slight microstutter on the nV cards. On the other hand crossfire has been broken for Black Ops for the past six months and they haven't bothered to fix it so unless you want to run the 11.7 Cats nV wins that by default anyway. I just ended up using SLI AA for Black Ops instead of SLI performance mode and that seemed to make it go away, though maybe that's in my head as I'm not really sure exactly how SLI AA works.

Overall I'm far happier thus far with my SLI experience than I had become with my Crossfire setup. In general it just seems most games have been a smoother experience, even though the framerate wouldn't lead you to believe that it would be any different. Also, I have not experienced a single in game crash thus far, including the games that were previously giving me fits on the AMD cards.

 

[Silverforce11]

Even faced with evidence that across the board on average CF scaling is superior, some users (or non-users) still cling to NV as having "superior drivers". Get with reality.

CF/SLI can be hit or miss depending on the games and it's a miss for a lot of games from both sides.

 

[Keysplayr]

Even faced with evidence that across the board on average CF scaling is superior, some users (or non-users) still cling to NV as having "superior drivers". Get with reality.

CF/SLI can be hit or miss depending on the games and it's a miss for a lot of games from both sides.

You are very correct. 680 drivers are young.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

looks like a great card.

 

[BrightCandle]

techreport.com tested the previous gen (580 v 6970 and 6990 v 590) SLI and xfire and they saw in both cases there was increased microstutter. They are the only place I know that actually uses fraps frame times to show stuttering problems and analyse it appropriately.

Their 680 review is very interesting to read, because despite achieving better fps on average the card shows much more stuttering than the 7970. They haven't done the SLI review or a 7970 crossfire review but I suspect in both cases it looks remarkably similar to the initial test of the two technologies that showed significant stuttering in both on almost every game. However they also show that xfire statistically has worse stuttering than NVidia, but they are both much worse than single cards.

 

[mnewsham]

You are very correct. 680 drivers are young.

I really Don't think that is what he was saying... it looked more like he was saying no matter what with CF/SLI it's gonna be a game by game basis not the 680 drivers are young and it will soon crush everything.

But sure, go ahead and spin it anyway you want...

 

[Olikan]

guys.... if both card have min fps beyond 60, there won't be microsutter