HD7870 Crossfire Benchmarks vs. Single HD7870 vs. Single GTX670

[Termie]

From OP: "That being said, it's well known that Crossfire microstutter does exist, and while we did not identify any obvious cases of microstutter in our testing, that doesn't mean it wouldn't occur with other games. Therefore, it might be prudent to trade off raw speed for more consistent results."

This addresses MS, or the lack there of. Most reviews don't include max playable settings. It doesn't make them pointless.

Thank you for seeing the value in my review. My point was to show the increase in processing power. HD7870 Crossfire is much, much more powerful than a single HD7870 or even a GTX670/GTX680/HD7970. Using vsync or a frame limiter allows the user to tap that power without the microstutter issue.

@Termie


http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2312003

I posted in your thread.

 

[3DVagabond]

Thank you for seeing the value in review. My point was to show the increase in processing power. HD7870 Crossfire is much, much more powerful than a single HD7870 or even a GTX670/GTX680/HD7970. Using vsync or a frame limiter allows the user to tap that power without the microstutter issue.

More games would have been nice.

It doesn't make sense people adding GPU power to increase FPS beyond what is needed for smooth game play instead of raising IQ. Great for benchmarking, I suppose, but then who cares about MS if they are only benchmarking?

 

[Termie]

More games would have been nice.

It doesn't make sense people adding GPU power to increase FPS beyond what is needed for smooth game play instead of raising IQ. Great for benchmarking, I suppose, but then who cares about MS if they are only benchmarking?

Exactly. If you see that a setup can support an average above 60fps, or 45fps for single player games, you know you can use a frame limiter and experience very smooth gameplay. If you're enough of an enthusiast to have dual video cards, you can download Radeon Pro.

And next time, I'll test more games!

 

[bystander36]

Exactly. If you see that a setup can support an average above 60fps, or 45fps for single player games, you know you can use a frame limiter and experience very smooth gameplay. If you're enough of an enthusiast to have dual video cards, you can download Radeon Pro.

And next time, I'll test more games!

RadeonPro isn't a cure all, but it is at least a solution to use. RadeonPro is used as a FPS limiter, and requires you to set it differently for every game, and you have to limit the FPS to a number below your average for it to really work.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that unless you use v-sync anyways, you are better off going for SLI before crossfire, or stick with a single card. If I still used my 6950's, I'd just use v-sync most likely, or RadeoPro to FPS limit (I use v-sync when I had them), but I probably wouldn't have gone that route had I known ahead of time.

 

[SlowSpyder]

So ATI is better

Who cares if AMD/ATI or Nvidia is better, it is a race to second place. Everyone knows, Matrox FTMFW!


And nice job everyone, no one has bitten on this troll's bait! I'm proud of us for a change.

 

[Arkaign]

Good info I am always on the fence about multiple cards. I had a 6950 2GB that I felt was holding me back, but didn't feel like CF as I was afraid the experience would be less than ideal. My brother already had the same card and needed moar powa for his new 1440p screen, so I gave my card to him and bought a new 670FTW. He is mostly really happy. BF3 on 6950CF isn't especially smooth, but we dialed back enough settings for him to have fun with it. Single 6950 @ 1440p is crushed, but CF 6950 is totally playable, but I think latency is an issue for him (P67 w/2500k 4.5Ghz FWIW, maybe PCI Express 2.0 16X is hurting him?). It doesn't feel half as smooth in MP as my single 670 @ 1200p.

Maybe I'll add a matching 670 to mine, but I think even SLI is less than perfect. Probably when the new cards come out I'll try to pick one up for cheapish. $300+ to get another one right now is hard to justify. Babies are expensive It's okay though, I've got the little guy for at least 17+ more years, my 670 will probably be out the door in less than a year.