Is microstutter in SLI/Crossfire still an issue with latest GPUs?

[poohbear]

Hey all, so debating going SLI later this year if i upgrade my monitor to a higher resolution, so was wondering about the issue of micro-stutter and if its been resolved with the current gen of GTX 6xx & Radeon 7xxx cards? I have a GTX 670, would 2 in SLI cause micro stuttering, or is that a thing of the past?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

[Goatsecks]

I have gtx670 in sli.

The only game I play that could have its experience degraded by micro-stutter if BF3. I do notice it (albeit not very often) in certain scenarios, it is not a dramatic effect nor does it last that long. So it really does not bother me. I would say go for it! =]

 

[Broheim]

yes microstutter is still an issue (albeit imo a very small one), but it really depends on the game.
the general consensus is that SLI has less microstutter than crossfire, but again, it's game dependent (and also very different from person to person how much microstutter it takes to be noticable).

if you feel comfortable spending the money I'd say go for it, worst case scenario is that in some games you may have to disable SLI/crossfire until a driver update hopefully sorts it out.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

It is still there and different people perceive it differently. I would rather buy a single titan than 2 7970ghz if money wasn't an issue, for the exact same ms reason.

For sub $500, stick to 7970 ghz oc. For $800+ might as well buy a titan which is in the $800-1000 bracket, rumored.

 

[imaheadcase]

Never had a issue with microstutter on SLI 580

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Microstutter is something one can get used to, but then you go back to single GPU and you're like, "how did I ever put up with that?"

basically I'd only ever recommend multiGPU if the scaling is great for the games one intends to play and the alternative is abysmal framerates even with lowered settings

 

[Pandora's Box]

Never had an issue here with Crossfire 7970's.

 

[tweakboy]

You shouldn't get any micro stutter with ATI and nVidias latest WHQL .

If you experience it in SLI or Xfire its your config, the pc, or the motherboard. gl

 

[poohbear]

ok thanks. so basically, it still exists yea?

 

[Black Octagon]

I recently bought a second 7970. It is my first experience with Crossfire (or any other multi-GPU setup) so can't compare it to previous generations.

Yes, I noticed microstutter and it drove me nuts.

There are various 'fixes' out there but they only mitigate the problem and do not solve it entirely. They certainly don't improve things to anything near a single card's level of smoothness, and certainly not to a level where I feel justified by the hardcore dollars that went in to buying 2 7970s.

Eveyone's eyes/setups/destinies/whatever are different, so YMMV. But yes, it is still an issue.

I hear from some people whose opinions I trust that NVIDIA's SLI is far less problematic, albeit still not entirely stutter-free

 

[Lonbjerg]

Never noticed microstutter on SLI 580

FYP....that you don't notice it...dosn't mean it isn't there.

 

[BrightCandle]

The 7970's definitely microstutter, its actually pretty severe and compares very poorly to AMD's prior crossfire solutions in the 5000 and 4000 series cards (never crossfired 6000 so can't comment on those).

The NVidia 680's on the other hand run relatively smoothly. In games that don't inherently have problems I can run a single 680 and get decent motion down to 30 fps but on dual cards my brain isn't fooled until around 45 fps. So clearly there is some amount of uneven display of frames going on and it shows up in the fraps frame time trace. What that means is that if you can't get 50% extra performance from the second card its not actually worth having because some amount of performance needs to go into compensating for the second card with AFR. One game I know is problematic right now is Battle Field 3, that stutters on NVidia regardless of SLI or not.

But in general games don't seem to stutter on the 680's, whereas I couldn't find a single game that didn't stutter on the 7970's. Others have had the opposite experience and many don't notice the effect, don't mind it or never had the problem. Seems to me there is likely something else related to microstuttering as well as the cards. But we haven't worked out what yet. Alternatively the threshold for where people see it is different quite dramatically and only a small part of the population have issues with it.

 

[Tweak155]

FYP....that you don't notice it...dosn't mean it isn't there.

Or it wasn't there... I suppose you were over his shoulder watching everything he did with his SLI config?

 

[Lonbjerg]

Or it wasn't there... I suppose you were over his shoulder watching everything he did with his SLI config?

You might want to read up on microstutter, GTX580 and SLI...

 

[imaheadcase]

You might want to read up on microstutter, GTX580 and SLI...

I notice NO difference between a single GPU and it in SLI, i've used 3 difference monitors since i've had it and no complaints from me or the half dozen people who use computer.

It is not a issue for majority of people.

 

[jackstar7]

Microstutter will likely always be an issue, and at best it will be mitigated by driver refinements. But it is the cost of multi-gpu setups that by their nature introduce another place for latency/lag.

Whether you perceive it is something else entirely, but it does and will exist.

 

[Tweak155]

You might want to read up on microstutter, GTX580 and SLI...

I don't need to read up on anything since I have no idea what he does with his setup, and I'm not arrogant enough to assume I do know. If he never played a game would he notice microstutter? If he never turned the PC on? Yeah, extreme scenarios but it makes the point. YOU don't know what HE plays or DOES or EXPERIENCES with HIS computer. So shove it.

 

[kami]

I've tried SLI twice in the past and I always ended up going back to a single card because of a combination of microstutter and general compatibility issues.

 

[Jhatfie]

A long ways back I had run 6870's in crossfire, the stuttering was painful. 6950's in crossfire on the other hand, very rarely had any noticeable stuttering. However I did grow tired of other issues related to multi GPU gaming such as crossfire not scaling properly. Eventually switched over to a single 7950 and OC'd it and have been happier overall. I have debated going crossfire again as at 2560x1600 I sometimes wish I had a little more muscle, but so far I have held off.

 

[Fx1]

If you have anything bigger than 1900x1200 then basically you have microstutter or you turn down the graphics.

Its that simple

 

[Carfax83]

I've had 470, 480 and now 580 SLI rigs, and I've never noticed microstuttering on any of them.

I think SLI is pretty smooth as you have a fast enough CPU and enough system memory..

 

[FalseChristian]

I've had 470, 480 and now 580 SLI rigs, and I've never noticed microstuttering on any of them.

I think SLI is pretty smooth as you have a fast enough CPU and enough system memory..

I agree. You've hit the nail on the head. I have 2 GTX 460 1GB SLI and I don't notice any microstuttering at all and, believe me, I am looking for it.

The drivers for the GTX 460 1GB are pretty mature so SLI scales well and is relatively free of microstuttering.