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

[Will Robinson]

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

Nice...:sneaky:

 

[f4phantom2500]

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.

This and poor scaling...which I know it's been pointed out that the GTX 480 scales very well, but to me it's just not worth the cost or extra heat/power requirements. I'm perfectly content with my single 4870. I have a 22" 1680x1050 monitor and I personally don't see any need for more power. And by the time I do, even though a second 4870 wouldn't be very expensive, provided I could find one, for me, it's not worth the cost, effort, and added heat/power requirements of buying a 2nd 4870 along with a CrossFire motherboard and new power supply. Heck, that's halfway toward a new computer. Also, in such a case, I would have to buy a CrossFire motherboard and PSU ahead of time just planning to do CF down the road. I'd rather spend the money on a single newer graphics card that'll perform as well if not better than CF 4870's and will be quieter and produce less heat. Not to mention the variable results of CrossFire and potential complications of adding additional hardware. Why spend more money initially for an upgrade that, by the time I were to do it, would just be hot, noisy, and old tech? That's the beauty of computer tech; by the time the average user, even the average power user, is dissatisfied with his hardware, the technology will have progressed enough that it is actually just as cost effective, if not moreso, to buy a totally new GPU instead of a 2nd one.

There are only 2 instances in which I could justify CrossFire/SLI:

1. You're hell bent on getting a very high end rig, and the caliber of GPU muscle that you're looking to get can only be found in the form of 2 high end GPUs in SLI/CF (or a dual GPU card, which for simplicity's sake, is the same thing). Keeping in mind that this would cost on the order of $600 on GPUs alone (assuming 2x5870s today), I don't think I will ever be in a situation to do this myself. Not to mention the heat generated by 2 high end cards would kill me (I live in Texas and my room is already the hottest in the house).


2. You're hell bent on getting a high end rig, and the caliber of GPU muscle that you're looking to get is most cost-effectively found in the form of 2 (relatively) lower-end cards, such as could be said about 2 5750's or 5770's today. This is a much more viable situation in my mind, especially if you buy one of the GPUs today with the intention of buying the second one relatively soon. The problem is, if you get content with the 1 GPU, you end up with the same situation that I described in the last half of my first paragraph. Beyond that, I personally don't spend most of my time gaming, rather I do spend a lot of my computing time just doing general stuff like browsing the net, listening to music, watching movies, etc. It's during these times that a multi-GPU setup would be needlessly guzzling energy and heating up my room. Granted the newer generation of cards (from ATI, at least) is very efficient at idle states, it's still extra heat that doesn't need to be there, when you consider that, at this performance/price point, you could just as easily get a single-GPU card that is of approximately the same caliber as the multi-GPU setups for about the same cost, when you consider the savings in PSU and motherboard costs.

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

I could simply try to insult you or make a sly remark regarding a correlation between SLI/Crossfire and having a small penis, but instead I'll write a (fairly) serious rhetorical response.

This is simply not true. Firstly, this assumes that you have a high-end multi-GPU setup, as any multi-GPU setup that can be matched in performance by a single-GPU setup would negate the status of the former as an 'enthusiast' solution, as an inherently 'non-enthusiast' solution could offer the same caliber of performance (again, regarding multi-GPU cards as multi-GPU solutions). So labeling any SLI/Crossfire setup as an enthusiast setup actually contradicts the label itself. Further, the situation of having a single card then adding another one months later would not make you any more of an enthusiast than someone who will simply keep a single high-end card. The only situation left is someone who spends a lot of money on multiple high-end cards, in which case you simply have a lot of money and/or a lot of time to put towards playing games. This doesn't necessarily make you more or less of an enthusiast than someone who doesn't have copious amounts of time and/or money, but, then again, if your life revolves solely around your computer, then I suppose it does. So yes, if you consistently have a multi-GPU setup consisting of high-end GPUs, I suppose you would be more of an enthusiast than people who would be running a multi-GPU setup based on older tech or, god forbid, has "only" a single high-end GPU.

 

[Powermoloch]

I'm using 5770 CF, coming from a gamer who played 1440x900 w/ a 4650 to 1920x1080. I'm one happy chap atm.

 

[zerocool84]

Never have and probably never will use multi-card/multi-gpu. I guess that means I'm not an enthusiast cus I've never had multiple gpu's in my systems.

 

[Jacky60]

I had 2 Voodoo2's (didn't pay for them) back in the day and a 4890 xfire setup before current tri-fire (5970/5870 @850/1200).

I'm not enthusiastic about being labelled an enthusiast.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Never used SLI or CF. Might do it if or when 5870 come down a little and thats... yeah thats gonna make me an enthusiast

 

[lavaheadache]

I have had lots of sli setups and a few crossfire setups. I have loved them all.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I suppose I'm not an "enthusiast" since I've never xfired or sli. I guess the guys claiming you need dual cards to be an enthusiast have me trumped with their budget box with a core 2 duo and xfired 5770's.

 

[Genx87]

I had this idea of using it as a cheap upgrade to current systems. Since it adds a nice boost in performance. But the micro-stuttering issue sounds annoying. So I have stayed away.

 

[luv2increase]

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

How in the world could you say such a thing?


On a more serious note, the whole poll is flawed because what if a person can choose more than one, but they aren't allowed to because it isn't set up that way? Epic fail..

 

[Qbah]

How in the world could you say such a thing?


On a more serious note, the whole poll is flawed because what if a person can choose more than one, but they aren't allowed to because it isn't set up that way? Epic fail..

How is it flawed? You either:

- have a multi-GPU setup now (1+2)
- had a multi-GPU setup in the past but are using a single card now (3+4)
- never had a multi-GPU setup

1+2 already cover 3+4 (you had and still have). So, again, what's wrong with it?

 

[crisium]

I guess someone could have had both SLI and Crossfire in the past and are now in a huge dilemma between options 3 and 4.=\

I had Radeon 3850 Crossfire back in the day, but my single 4850 is far faster and I intend to stick with a single card for the indefinite future.

 

[sandorski]

Closest thing to it was a Voodoo 5 5500.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

He's just mad he has been proven wrong. Sure we love our computer parts but for 100% price increase most people would expect 100% performance increase. Add to that the fact that another gpu increases heat and power consumption it's obviously not that appealing to even tech enthusiasts. I don't care what his other troll thread says they aren't scaling 100% all the time in every scenario.

 

[luv2increase]

How is it flawed? You either:

- have a multi-GPU setup now (1+2)
- had a multi-GPU setup in the past but are using a single card now (3+4)
- never had a multi-GPU setup

1+2 already cover 3+4 (you had and still have). So, again, what's wrong with it?

Are you serious? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Go over "your own post" and study it to see if what you are saying makes sense.

 

[Qbah]

Are you serious? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Go over "your own post" and study it to see if what you are saying makes sense.

No, really, how is it flawed? There can be people that had both CF and SLi but that doesn't mean they should vote twice. They are one person in the end and fall under one of the three categories: do have, did have, never had.

The poll is "do you or have you ever used CF / SLi" and not how many setups your run or ran. Nobody cares if someone had 2xHD3850, then went to 2xHD4850 and now is on a single HD5870. What matters is that this person used a CF setup.

 

[luv2increase]

No, really, how is it flawed? There can be people that had both CF and SLi but that doesn't mean they should vote twice. They are one person in the end and fall under one of the three categories: do have, did have, never had.

The poll is "do you or have you ever used CF / SLi" and not how many setups your run or ran. Nobody cares if someone had 2xHD3850, then went to 2xHD4850 and now is on a single HD5870. What matters is that this person used a CF setup.

If we were to go by your thinking, there would only be a need for 3 choices:

1. Have used a mutli-GPU config
2. Currently use a multi-GPU config
3. Have never used a multi-GPU config


You can't have one without the other


It really doesn't matter since the OP did the wrong poll in the first place. It isn't testing that which I proposed in the thread he referenced. It still is an interesting poll nonetheless.

 

[Daedalus685]

If we were to go by your thinking, there would only be a need for 3 choices:

1. Have used a mutli-GPU config
2. Currently use a multi-GPU config
3. Have never used a multi-GPU config


You can't have one without the other


It really doesn't matter since the OP did the wrong poll in the first place. It isn't testing that which I proposed in the thread he referenced. It still is an interesting poll nonetheless.

/facepalm

 

[luv2increase]

/facepalm

wOw... Do you mind explaining yourself. Obviously, you disagree with something.

Lay it all out bub

 

[Daedalus685]

wOw... Do you mind explaining yourself. Obviously, you disagree with something.

Lay it all out bub

There is no poll that would satisfy your wants....

You wanted to see how many use CF/SLI... we now have a poll and it is lacking in some way. You claim the need for the 3 choices... which astoundingly are EXACTLY THE SAME as those in the actual poll.... WE just have 2 extra options to make up for brand.

What exactly should the poll be asking, from the results we can now gauge how many folks use SLI/CF now, how many used to, and how many never have/don't want to.

It was hard to type with my head so far in my hands.

 

[luv2increase]

There is no poll that would satisfy your wants....

You wanted to see how many use CF/SLI... we now have a poll and it is lacking in some way. You claim the need for the 3 choices... which astoundingly are EXACTLY THE SAME as those in the actual poll.... WE just have 2 extra options to make up for brand.

What exactly should the poll be asking, from the results we can now gauge how many folks use SLI/CF now, how many used to, and how many never have/don't want to.

It was hard to type with my head so far in my hands.

No I did not want to see how many CF/SLI folks there are out there. You must not have read the thread referenced by the OP! You don't know what you are talking about.

I could care less how many folks there are using CF/SLI. That had absolutely not a thing to do with the point I made in that thread. Nothing. Zilch.

 

[busydude]

If we were to go by your thinking, there would only be a need for 3 choices:

1. Have used a mutli-GPU config
2. Currently use a multi-GPU config
3. Have never used a multi-GPU config


You can't have one without the other


It really doesn't matter since the OP did the wrong poll in the first place. It isn't testing that which I proposed in the thread he referenced. It still is an interesting poll nonetheless.

Even if the poll was using your specified choices the outcome will be no different than what it is now.

Let me make it a little bit easier for you to understand:

1. Have used a mutli-GPU config=> 3+4= 20.59%
2. Currently use a multi-GPU config => 1+2= 17.64%
3. Have never used a multi-GPU config => 5 = 61.76%

According to the new poll, only 17.64% currently have multi-GPU's.

Now, stop nitpicking and start interpreting the results.

 

[NoQuarter]

I didn't read the original posts that started this cuz it was uninteresting but what he wants is a poll to find out how many top end GPU owners own SLi/CFX setups. The premise is that people who buy a GTX 480 buy 2.

This poll does nothing to address that because we're counting all the people who only own 1 5770, which is irrelevant.

 

[luv2increase]

Even if the poll was using your specified choices the outcome will be no different than what it is now.

Let me make it a little bit easier for you to understand:

1. Have used a mutli-GPU config=> 3+4= 20.59%
2. Currently use a multi-GPU config => 1+2= 17.64%
3. Have never used a multi-GPU config => 5 = 61.76%

According to the new poll, only 17.64% currently have multi-GPU's.

Now, stop nitpicking and start interpreting the results.

Are you serious. I didn't say to do that. I said "by the thinking of the poster I was responding to", that would be what "he" would do it!

The only thing that matters to me and the POINT I MADE was how many people with GTX280, GTX285, GTX480, 4870, 4890 and 5870 have more than just 1. The sampling in this poll includes GPUs outside of the "relevant" point I was making.

I wouldn't even have brought it up if the OP didn't specifically say the poll was to prove a point from the thread he referenced. I don't think all of you read that thread nor understand what is going on here. Therefore, you are ignorantly being malicious and are completely in the wrong.

For goodness sake people, please read the whole thread (this one) before posting.

 

[busydude]

Are you serious. I didn't say to do that. I said "by the thinking of the poster I was responding to", that would be what "he" would do it! The only thing that matters to me and the POINT I MADE was how many people with GTX280, GTX285, GTX480, 4870, 4890 and 5870 have more than just 1. The sampling in this poll includes GPUs outside of the "relevant" point I was making. I wouldn't even have brought it up if the OP didn't specifically say the poll was to prove a point from the thread he referenced. I don't think all of you read that thread nor understand what is going on here. Therefore, you are ignorantly being malicious and are completely in the wrong. For goodness sake people, please read the whole thread (this one) before posting.

Fine, as you wish. Create a poll that makes your point as, only you can do that. This is an open forum, create a poll and prove me wrong. Many folks, including me, are actually eagerly waiting for you to prove your point. All this trash talking can be put to rest if you show us some real numbers.