SLI/Crossfire @ 2560*1440 and 3240*1920 (XBit Labs)

[SolMiester]

Hey Sol, you still gaming on a 9600GT? Or is that just a place holder in your signature?

Hi RS, well, thats the card I have, hardly play anymore, after work all day with PCs, dont really feel like playing, besides which the wife has commandeered my machine for Farmville..LOL...The friend kids play a bit of MOD4 on it when they come over, but mostly when I have time, Im on the golf course!..I have young kids, so I guess Ill have to wait for extra cash to get a new card...Would like to get this 660 Ti.....mut then again, Ill need some new games....

 

[3DVagabond]

After 8mths, you would hope it wasn't still broken..!

Seems like crossfire and SLI are quite similar from day one. Both of these are from Techpowerup who use a large selection of benches. Stops outliers from making too much of an impact one way or the other.

HD 7970 on release drivers;

gtx 680 on release drivers;

 

[digitaldurandal]

Just throwing out there, there was a test done previously that showed that NV cards scaled worse at 3600x1920 than 5760x1200 for some reason. Likely driver issue, no idea if it was ever fixed but the different was pretty significant - like over 10 percent

 

[SirPauly]

Curious to compare!

 

[RussianSensation]

It's pretty interseting that it took more than a month for people to notice that HD7970 series drivers made such a huge improvement. I wonder if people even read any HD7970 GE reviews on Cats 12.7 on June 22, or did they just stop at AnandTech's review?

SKYRIM, Batman AC, Dirt 3, NV lost the lead in all of those games. BF3 gap is smaller than ever.

Here is HD7970 on old drivers (Catalyst 8.950.5.0) vs. HD7970 GE on new Catalyst 12.7 Beta drivers in a game where GTX680 completely dominated before. HD7970 GE on Cats 12.7 is faster than HD7970 CF on old drivers in Batman AC with AA:

Source

2560x1600 8AA:
HD7970 Old drivers = 31 fps
GTX680 = 42 fps
HD7970 GE New drivers = 56 fps

Computerbase - 1920x1080 8AA
GTX680 = 57.7
HD7970 GE = 71.4

This isn't a problem with NV drivers. GTX680 was beating HD7970 in Batman, Dirt, SKYRIM, etc. - it's AMD's driver team pulled a rabbit out of a hat with Catalyst 12.7 betas.

Same with BF3.

 

[SirPauly]

From what I did gauge is the HD 7970 closed the gap and started to separate some-what with 1600p and multi-monitor resolutions -- and much more separation with x8aa.

The 7970 ghz edition extended on this and did take clear leadership at 1600p and multi-monitor resolutions.

If performance/value is the most important metric -- AMD offers compelling choice. This isn't new -- and AMD has offered strong performance/value when compared to nVidia --even as far back as the 4XXX and 3XXX series.

 

[Silverforce11]

There's a difference this gen though, AMD not only offers better perf/$ but now simply offers the best performance, flat out.

Prior to this, several previous gen they lagged in raw perf, but had better perf/$.

 

[SirPauly]

They have before with the 4870x2, 5870, 5970, 6990.

 

[RussianSensation]

Right, but it's not just that. AMD closed the gap specifically where NV was dominating/leading. In the games where AMD was leading, NV has done little to fix their issues. Look at Dirt Showdown, Alan Wake, Sniper Elite V2, Serious Sam 3, BulletStorm, Anno 2070, Metro 2033, Crysis 1/Warhead. So it's more like GTX680 and HD7970 GE are very close, but when AMD is leading, that lead is a is more like 10-30%. There is now a growing list of games where GTX680 is far behind. Games such as BF3, SKYRIM, Batman AC, Dirt 3 balanced it out before so the 680 looked great. I am having a very hard time now finding games where GTX680 is even faster. What's remarkable is I haven't seen NV concede the performance crown since 2006 when X1950XTX was the fastest GPU. That's a big deal for NV since GTX280/285/480/580 were about 10-20% faster than 4870/4890/5870/6970, while 8800GTX left 2900XT/3870 for dead.

Off the top of my head GTX680 still has Blizzard games, Guild Wars 2 Beta, World of Planes, HAWX 2, Shogun 2, Medal of Honor Warfighter: Beta and Lost Planet 2 and depending on the review Max Payne 3.

Blizzard games aren't demanding at all so 130 vs. 170 fps is irrelevant. That list is looking awfully small now for a card that costs $500. Even $420-430 GTX670 cards are under threat. For $450 a Vapor-X 7970 will beat all of them. NV still has no response to the 7750/7770/7850/7870/7950, and yet they seem to be doing really well.

Even checking the prices in the UK shows how much more expensive NV cards are:

HD7950 vs. 670 pricing in the UK:
ScanFX X-Edition Radeon HD 7950 880mhz - £239.75
Asus DirectCU II TOP Radeon HD 7950 - £268.55
MSI Overclocked Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr - £269.75

vs.

MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition OC - £311.60
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X - £323.60
Asus 2GB GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II - £340.40

HD7970 1000-1050mhz versions vs. GTX680
ScanFX Radeon HD 7970 X-Edition 1050mhz - £323.75 <This is incredible. This card costs less than some 670s!>
Gigabyte Overclocked Radeon HD 7970 - £339.94
Sapphire Overclocked Radeon HD 7970 - £359.75

vs.

Palit 2GB GeForce GTX 680 JetStream - £399.94 <The cheapest after market 680 is way more expensive than almost any after market 7970.
Gigabyte 2GB GeForce GTX 680 3X OC Windforce - £407.62

At Xbitlabs, this Asus Direct CUII Top 680 lost to the 1050mhz GE 7970, but it costs £478.42

The 4GB GTX680 versions are reaching laughable prices - Palit 4GB GeForce GTX 680 JetStream - £479.62

So it seems in other countries, the price difference between the GTX670/680s and 7950/7970s is even more than in the US/Canada. Is the typical NV consumer that loyal to the brand that they'd pay £80-150 for a card that's actually slower?

 

[SirPauly]

With AMD momentum and separation -- nVidia may have to offer the monolith to GeForce!

 

[notty22]

They have before with the 4870x2, 5870, 5970, 6990.

Except AMD can't even build a dual gpu card now, which according to the forums PR team was always AMD'd strategy. They weren't interested in the in the single gpu crown, just the fastest card. You don't hear that mantra anymore, now that they can't build one.

 

[RussianSensation]

I never read that AMD wasn't launching the 7990? Doesn't matter though since GTX690 is crippled by 2GB of VRAM. It doesn't have the fire-power necessary to drive 3 screens or beat HD7970 CF 3GB at 2560x1600, which is the whole point of a $1000 flagship. GTX690 won that round though by virtue of being of at least 6 months ahead.

But at the same time that means GTX650/660/660Ti all "lost" this generation as well since all of them are 5-6 months behind 7850/7870/7950 line.

Newegg added 2 more Ghz edition cards, well below the original $499 MSRP for 7970 GE:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&amp;SID=u00000687

I think the tables have turned. NV's high-end is looking overpriced. For $20-50 more over 670s, HD7970 GE is nearly 19% faster than a GTX670 and 10% over the 680 at 2560x1600, and still faster than both at 1080P.

 

[Silverforce11]

I don't think NV leads in shogun 2 anymore, putting MSAA on will crash cards with less than 2gb vram at 1600p.

 

[RussianSensation]

In fairness most people are still using 1080p/1200p panels, so I'll give Shogun 2 to NV. At 2560x1440/1600P, NV has lost the single-GPU crown for sure (except for 680 MSI Lighting with a volt mod to 1350-1390 mhz). GE is also $50 less than the cheapest 680 now.

I am starting to see price drops on 670 series - PE edition has dropped 35 with a new $25 rebate. Reference 670 for $370 after $30 gift card. Here is another 670 for $375. That means 660Ti can't possibly cost more than $299.

NV knows 670s at $420-430 don't make any sense anymore. GTX680 is still holding at $500+ though.

 

[SolMiester]

Seems like crossfire and SLI are quite similar from day one. Both of these are from Techpowerup who use a large selection of benches. Stops outliers from making too much of an impact one way or the other.

HD 7970 on release drivers;

gtx 680 on release drivers;

I was actually referring to CF on multiple screens...!, you hardly need CF with single LCD

 

[3DVagabond]

I didn't notice that you were specifically referencing Eyefinity. I must have missed where you did.

This is from Hardware info done on Jan 9th. I didn't pick this review out. It's just the first one I could find when I Googled it. Scaling was actually better in eyefinity than single monitor. Only one benchmark had poor scaling, Batman AC. Not too bad for release drivers, IMO.

• 
  Heaven 2.5 - 16x AF - 5760x1080 - Extreme 199%
  Metro 2033 - Very High - 5760x1080 192%
  Aliens vs. Predator - High 4x AA - 5760x1080 197%
  Dirt 3 - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 188%
  Hard Reset - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 193%
  The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - High 4x AA - 5760x1080 185%
  Batman Arkham City - Very High 4xAA - 5760x1080 128%
  Total War Shogun 2 DX11 - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 170%
  Battlefield 3 - Ultra 4xAA - DoF 90 - 5760x1080 188%
  
  Average (5760x1080) 179%
  Average (5760x1080 Ultra) 184%

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Where multi-gpu is concerned, fps isn't the most important factor.

Looking at the scaling I wonder if the nvidia cards were operating in PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 mode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0-xcxAvu54&feature=plcp

PCI-E 3 has been proven over and over to have no real tangible effect negative or positive on framerate mate LOL.

Any time someone starts a conversation with words like "Believe me" sorry but I tend to also require some facts to back up your opinion of why I should believe you at that point unless you're name is say Bill Gates and you are talking about Microsoft Windows at which point I would start taking some notes without further ado.

 

[SolMiester]

I didn't notice that you were specifically referencing Eyefinity. I must have missed where you did.

This is from Hardware info done on Jan 9th. I didn't pick this review out. It's just the first one I could find when I Googled it. Scaling was actually better in eyefinity than single monitor. Only one benchmark had poor scaling, Batman AC. Not too bad for release drivers, IMO.

• 
  Heaven 2.5 - 16x AF - 5760x1080 - Extreme 199%
  Metro 2033 - Very High - 5760x1080 192%
  Aliens vs. Predator - High 4x AA - 5760x1080 197%
  Dirt 3 - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 188%
  Hard Reset - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 193%
  The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - High 4x AA - 5760x1080 185%
  Batman Arkham City - Very High 4xAA - 5760x1080 128%
  Total War Shogun 2 DX11 - Ultra 4xAA - 5760x1080 170%
  Battlefield 3 - Ultra 4xAA - DoF 90 - 5760x1080 188%
  
  Average (5760x1080) 179%
  Average (5760x1080 Ultra) 184%

I was referring to the HardOCP review which was later confirm by AT review....eyefinity was broken period...unless you used release drivers..?!..<shrug>

 

[3DVagabond]

I was referring to the HardOCP review which was later confirm by AT review....eyefinity was broken period...unless you used release drivers..?!..<shrug>

Ok. I've taken every post you've made and tried to respond. Seems like no matter what I post you come up with some other specific situation. I've done release drivers, because you said it took them 8mos to fix crossfire. Then you said you meant Eyefinity. So, I looked up an 8 month old Eyefinity review.

Now you are basing your statement on a couple of particular reviews on some drivers that came out between release and the current ones to say that Crossfire/Eyefinity has been broken for 8 months. I understand that because of those reviews you believed that what you said was accurate. It's obviously not, though.