Lynfield LGA1156 multi-GPU performance

[thilanliyan]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...s-gaming-performance/1

Looks like the x8/x8 does affect performance somewhat.

 

[nitromullet]

Yeah, Anand mentioned this as well.

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipse...howdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=9

 

[imported_Shaq]

Mostly just in Crysis with SLI. But those tests only did 1680x1050. They should have done some at 2560 as that is where it will show the performance hit more clearly. PCI-E on die does nothing for performance so it is more of a cost saving measure. If someone wants to save $75-$100 then get a Lynnfield, but if you keep it for 2-3 years you are losing money in the long run if you ever use SLI/Xfire. Single card setups will show a performance hit with a G300 X2/5870 x2 on Lynnfield as well as Bloomfield compared to PCIE 3.0.

 

[Lonyo]

The STALKER results confuse me somewhat.
The initial single GTX tests indicate that the game is CPU limited on the C2Q as performance is pretty poor vs the i7. If it was GPU limited, then you would see approx equal performance, I would assume.
Then there is great scaling with SLI cards, which implies it's GPU limited, and the Crossfire results show the C2Q being up there not too far behind the i7/i5.

The C2Q results with single GTX280 just look out of place compared to the rest of the results, or am I missing something obvious?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Shaq
Mostly just in Crysis with SLI. But those tests only did 1680x1050. They should have done some at 2560 as that is where it will show the performance hit more clearly. PCI-E on die does nothing for performance so it is more of a cost saving measure. If someone wants to save $75-$100 then get a Lynnfield, but if you keep it for 2-3 years you are losing money in the long run if you ever use SLI/Xfire. Single card setups will show a performance hit with a G300 X2/5870 x2 on Lynnfield as well as Bloomfield compared to PCIE 3.0.

At the end of the day, there's no real need (IMO) to bother doing too much testing with SLI/Crossfire right now with new cards just around the corner (from ATI at least).

I mean in a way it will be useful to see bandwidth hits, but when single next gen cards can (hopefully) match SLI/X, current gen SLI/X tests will become meaningless.
Might as well wait for the HD58xx cards and then do extensive testing with that to give an indication of what the issues may be going forwards with those cards and the GT300, and also have the opportunity to really push bandwidth by doing super high res setups with triple or more monitors to really push bandwidth requirements.

IMO SLI/X with current gen cards will be obsolete within a month, and if you can afford a (still fairly expensive) P55 or an X58 setup, you will likely consider a new graphics card as well.

The true test of x8/x8 vs x16/x16 will appear with triple or more displays and new high end graphics cards.