Multi-card poll: Do you or have you ever used Crossfire or SLI?

[Lonyo]

Unscientific poll of Anandtech forum users to see how many people have, or have used SLI/Crossfire. (NV SLI, not 3DFX SLI)
Just to see how popular it is amongst forum users here.
If you want to, post what you use/have used in the thread.

Inspired by:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29930918&postcount=79
To give credit where credit is due. Although he cared about HD5870 and GTX480 in multi-card more than anything else.

 

[KeithTalent]

I had 2900XTs cross-fired for several months when those cards first came out. I liked it enough I guess, but would never bother again. I'm single card all the way now.

KT

 

[slayernine]

I bought a second ATI 4870 to see how the performance felt with two cards versus one. In my opinion it is far simpler to stick with one card and buy a new one every year or second year. More parts = more things to go wrong and more heat/power.

 

[tincart]

Shouldn't you just relabel "Never used with SLI or Crossfire" as "Sorry, I'm not an enthusiast" ?

 

[v8envy]

What about having used both in the past?

 

[Itchrelief]

Shouldn't you just relabel "Never used with SLI or Crossfire" as "Sorry, I'm not an enthusiast" ?

Agenda?

 

[Munky]

Never have, and never had the interest to do so.

 

[faxon]

taking it a step further. i have 2 5870 crossfire setups going now, which will eventually be migrated to a 3 or 4 way crossfire at a later date

 

[Daedalus685]

I am currently running 4890s in crossfire.

I have used 4870 512s as well.

 

[NoQuarter]

Shouldn't you just relabel "Never used with SLI or Crossfire" as "Sorry, I'm not an enthusiast" ?

Does that mean Hybrid Crossfire with a 785G Radeon 4200 IGP w/Radeon 3450 makes you an enthusiast and using a GTX 480 with PhysX dedicated GTX 285 makes you not?

Cuz.. one of those solutions is $70 and the other is $700.

 

[tincart]

Does that mean Hybrid Crossfire with a 785G Radeon 4200 IGP w/Radeon 3450 makes you an enthusiast and using a GTX 480 with PhysX dedicated GTX 285 makes you not?

Cuz.. one of those solutions is $70 and the other is $700.

Don't blame me. I don't make the rules.

 

[luv2increase]

Unscientific poll of Anandtech forum users to see how many people have, or have used SLI/Crossfire. (NV SLI, not 3DFX SLI)
Just to see how popular it is amongst forum users here.
If you want to, post what you use/have used in the thread.

Inspired by:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=29930918&postcount=79
To give credit where credit is due. Although he cared about HD5870 and GTX480 in multi-card more than anything else.

If it were "truly" inspired by that thread, the real question should be who all with the 280, 285, 480, 4870, 4890 and 5870 have or have had more than just 1. Those are the cream of crop single-GPU cards over the last two generations for both ATI and nvidia.

 

[MagickMan]

I had Voodoo II SLI long ago, does that count?

 

[Hauk]

Voted SLI as it's what I have now; but I've run 4870's & 5870's in CF too.

Multi-gpu is not widely used according to Steam, this survey, and others. I don't consider it an enthusiast only solution; but I do think the beefier system hardware needed to avoid bottlenecks comes in to play. It takes some cash to drive multi-gpu flagships properly!

Me likes..

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Never have and probably never will, its just bad value (talking about high end cards)

 

[NoQuarter]

If it were "truly" inspired by that thread, the real question should be who all with the 280, 285, 480, 4870, 4890 and 5870 have or have had more than just 1. Those are the cream of crop single-GPU cards over the last two generations for both ATI and nvidia.

I didn't read those posts thoroughly but was your argument in that thread that only top-end SLI/CFX users are enthusiasts, or was it that only enthusiasts use top-end SLI/CFX?

 

[luv2increase]

Voted SLI as it's what I have now; but I've run 4870's & 5870's in CF too.

Multi-gpu is not widely used according to Steam, this survey, and others. I don't consider it an enthusiast only solution; but I do think the beefier system hardware needed to avoid bottlenecks comes in to play. It takes some cash to drive multi-gpu flagships properly!

Me likes..

Steam is taking into account "all" GPU setups which even include integrated GPU laptops. If a poll was setup to see how many people with the cards I mentioned have more than 1 of those cards, I bet it would be a pretty high margin.

I'm actually surprised that it is about 50% almost with this poll thus far, and we aren't even solely doing a cream of the crop poll. That just furthers my point OP about what I was stating in that thread you referenced.

And that is exactly right Hauk that it takes money. My point is that if you have the money to buy a flagship card, then the chances are that you have money to buy more than one flagship card and ultimately the chances that you will actually do so is very high.

 

[Sylvanas]

Had 3850 Crossfire and a 4870X2. I didn't notice it at the time, but when I switched back to single GPU the lack of micro stuttering was evident. I won't be going multi-GPU again anytime soon, just the fastest single GPU.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Going to sell my 9800 GX2 if I can replace the TIM and get it running again. Only SLI I've used. Haven't CF'ed before.

 

[Hauk]

Steam is taking into account "all" GPU setups which even include integrated GPU laptops. If a poll was setup to see how many people with the cards I mentioned have more than 1 of those cards, I bet it would be a pretty high margin.

I'm actually surprised that it is about 50% almost with this poll thus far, and we aren't even solely doing a cream of the crop poll. That just furthers my point OP about what I was stating in that thread you referenced.

And that is exactly right Hauk that it takes money. My point is that if you have the money to buy a flagship card, then the chances are that you have money to buy more than one flagship card and ultimately the chances that you will actually do so is very high.

I just smoked a bowl and your point makes sense now.
Just kidding.. I understand.

Nice EVGA hardware there. Now there's a place to hold a multi-gpu poll, EVGA forums..

 

[Qbah]

I had 2xVooDoo2 in SLI - those things did cost an arm and a leg back in the days

Also had a thought of going with HD3870s in CrossFire. Ended up waiting for the HD4870 (which was totally worth it! ).

EDIT: Voted 'no', obviously.

 

[mmntech]

I've never used it. The theoretical maximum boost you can get is 50%. Usually much lower than that. The way SLI and Crossfire works, it's impossible to truly double performance. A lot of games don't support dual GPUs properly either. IMO, it's not worth the money. Like the other said, you should buy the best single GPU card you can afford.

 

[luv2increase]

I've never used it. The theoretical maximum boost you can get is 50%. Usually much lower than that. The way SLI and Crossfire works, it's impossible to truly double performance. A lot of games don't support dual GPUs properly either. IMO, it's not worth the money. Like the other said, you should buy the best single GPU card you can afford.

You must not have seen the results with 480s in SLI. They have literally been able to double the FPS in games in some instances. It is the best multi-GPU scaling ever in PC gaming history. No joke.

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

20% boost for 100% rise in cost. No thanks. Besides, I buy a $200 card once every 3 or 4 years.

 

[luv2increase]

20% boost for 100% rise in cost. No thanks. Besides, I buy a $200 card once every 3 or 4 years.

Nope! You want proof that 2 x 480s give almost 100% FPS increases over 1 x 480? Here it is. It is PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!!!

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-480-3way-sli-review/5