Sli gtx460 1gb

[Daemas]

Currently I have only one GTX460 1GB OCed to 850/2000 (could probably go higher, but meh). When i build my sandy bridge or s2011 rig in the summer/fall I'm probably going to go with another GTX460 1GB as i only play at 1920x1080 and at that res SLIed 460s seem to equal a 580 +/- 5%. and because i already have one, i can do it for about half the price (I figure i could have gotten about $130-140 for my old card plus 180 that would be spent on the other 460(180), which equals about $330)

anywho... some questions about the nitty gritty of SLI

The card i currently have is this stock clock 715mhz

I was thinking about buying this guy 815mhz clock

Theoretically the higher binned card would be able to OC higher than the 715mhz card. But if I'm able to clock it to 900 (or whatever), is that extra 50mhz wasted because both cards are going to run at the lowest common denominator in SLI? Does SLI have any problems when both cards are not the exact same card?

Thanks in advance guys

 

[mnewsham]

i never recommend SLI unless you are driving two or three displays or you have a 30" 2560x1600 and are going SLI 570 or SLI 580's For the average user SLI profiles negative scaling, and microstutter are just too big of an issue to put up with. As you said two 460's = a 580, why not just get a 580 for a little bit more that way you use less power and dont have the hassle of all the other issues.

 

[happy medium]

You will be fine , you don't need the same exact card or clocks, just overclock them both as high as you can. Even if one of the cards did waste 50mhz, you would be missing out on a whole 2 fps in games.

Don't worry about microstutter thats a thing of the past. Both the hd6000 series and the gtx4oo/500 series are just fine.

Just grab the second card and enjoy.

 

[Daemas]

i never recommend SLI unless you are driving two or three displays or you have a 30" 2560x1600 and are going SLI 570 or SLI 580's For the average user SLI profiles negative scaling, and microstutter are just too big of an issue to put up with. As you said two 460's = a 580, why not just get a 580 for a little bit more that way you use less power and dont have the hassle of all the other issues.

the only problem is that it's not just a 'little bit' more.

$500 total for GTX580, spend extra $360 (minus 140 for value of old card)
or
$310 total for SLI 460(140 for old card + 170), spend extra $170

How relevant is microstuttering these days? I haven't heard much about it in the GTX400/500 and 5000/6000 series'

 

[mnewsham]

the only problem is that it's not just a 'little bit' more.

$500 total for GTX580, spend extra $360 (minus 140 for value of old card)
or
$310 total for SLI 460(140 for old card + 170), spend extra $170

How relevant is microstuttering these days? I haven't heard much about it in the GTX400/500 and 5000/6000 series'

It's still an issue, i haven't really noticed any change going from SLI GTX 9800 to CrossfireX 5770's both had some microstutter, i got tired of it and have decided on single card only (for now anyway). The extra power requirements are a hassle, some games wont support SLI, drivers can be more wonky, and you have to setup SLI profiles (not too hard but can be annoying) and then microstutter, maybe just get a GTX 570 as it runs almost any game at 1920x1080 at 60fps, if you need better down the line, sell that for the 670 or 770 or w/e is out at the time.

 

[lavaheadache]

microstutter is as relevant now as it was in the past. I've had geforce 6 series sli, 7 series, 8 series, triple crossfired 4870's and crossfired 5870's. All have had microstuttering. It is only a bad thing if you notice it, I for one notice it and absolutley hate it. I would only recommend trying Sli if you have some extra bones to blow and don't mind potentially dealing with some issues. I'm not saying sli is a bad thing, not by a long shot but a single powerful card is ALWAYS better than 2 weaker ones

*** edit ... mnewsham beat me to it by mere seconds, lol ***

 

[happy medium]

microstutter is as relevant now as it was in the past. I've had geforce 6 series sli, 7 series, 8 series, triple crossfired 4870's and crossfired 5870's. All have had microstuttering.

Yea, it was relevent to those series of cards not the gtx400/500 and the hd6000 series.

We have been through this arguement before a few months back. I would love to go google searching for you guys but I remember the thread and it wasn't that long ago.

Sli and xfire are supported out of the box in allmost every major game release, thats also a non issue now. If its not supported usually the game will run just fine on one card because it is so old.

 

[mnewsham]

Yea, it was relevent to those series of cards not the gtx400/500 and the hd6000 series.

We have been through this arguement before a few months back. I would love to go google searching for you guys but I remember the thread and it wasn't that long ago.

Oh, well in that case i'l just take your word for it. Thanks!


Edit: odd how lava and i covered 6,7,8,9 series and 4xxx/5xxx series but the 400/500 and the 6xxx are all fine...

 

[happy medium]

Oh, well in that case i'l just take your word for it. Thanks!


Edit: odd how lava and i covered 6,7,8,9 series and 4xxx/5xxx series but the 400/500 and the 6xxx are all fine...

post #1

quote:
"Micro-stutter: I do not notice any micro stutter if I am averaging 40+ fps with my crossfire setup, however, if i kick up the settings in crysis where it taxes the system with average fps below that I notice the stutter. However, it is important to note that the stutter I notice is nowhere near as bad as it was with my 5870 toxic 2gb cards."

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1570920

Notice he did not notice any microstutter if he had a avg of 40 fps?

That tells me he dropped below 30 and it stuttered at higher settings.
This is from a guy who had a 5000 series xfire setup and now has a 6000 series setup. Microstutter is irrelevent now.

 

[mnewsham]

post #1

quote:
"Micro-stutter: I do not notice any micro stutter if I am averaging 40+ fps with my crossfire setup, however, if i kick up the settings in crysis where it taxes the system with average fps below that I notice the stutter. However, it is important to note that the stutter I notice is nowhere near as bad as it was with my 5870 toxic 2gb cards."

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1570920

Notice he did not notice any microstutter if he had a avg of 40 fps?

That tells me he dropped below 30 and it stuttered at higher settings.
This is from a guy who had a 5000 series xfire setup and now has a 6000 series setup. Microstutter is irrelevent now.

"not as bad" and that tells you it is irrelevant?

Sorry i wont take one man's testimony as proof, not to mention you failed to provide evidence stating the 400/500 series didn't have microstutter.

 

[happy medium]

"not as bad" and that tells you it is irrelevant?

Sorry i wont take one man's testimony as proof, not to mention you failed to provide evidence stating the 400/500 series didn't have microstutter.

Post # 17

"I've tried HD4870X2 before and Micro stuttering was there for sure

Then tried HD5800 CF and there was less Microstuttering

I have HD6970 CF now and been playing Metro 2033 Max @ 1920x1080 AAA (4XAA gives texture bug!) and I didn't notice microstuttering""

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1336474043


better?

Now put it to rest guys. I'm getting tired, goodnight. You can google gtx500 series for yourself. I allready know the answer, as do many others on this forum that have been around for a while.

 

[Skurge]

Do you even know what microstuttering is? It doesn't matter what the card is, if it uses AFR there is a large chance of there being microstutter.

 

[happy medium]

Do you even know what microstuttering is? It doesn't matter what the card is, if it uses AFR there is a large chance of there being microstutter.

Mabe you can asks the Op's in the links i posted.
I'm sure they do, they have had numerous xfire systems.

Do you blink? well then your eyes have microstutter. Is it relevent?

 

[digitaldurandal]

Mabe you can asks the Op's in the links i posted.
I'm sure they do, they have had numerous xfire systems.

Do you blink? well then your eyes have microstutter. Is it relevent?

that is NOT what microstutter is.

Also saying microstutter is irrelevant based on a single post?

Please look up what microstutter is, and when you can come back and understand why your eyes blinking and microstutter have nothing in common then you can give people advice regarding the issue.... maybe.

 

[happy medium]

that is NOT what microstutter is.

Also saying microstutter is irrelevant based on a single post?

Please look up what microstutter is, and when you can come back and understand why your eyes blinking and microstutter have nothing in common then you can give people advice regarding the issue.... maybe.

I was kidding. Yes I know what microstutter is and I not gonna link you with the other 60,000,000 hits google gave me to prove I'm right.

If you think I'm spreading fud then don't derail the thread, report my post.

 

[lavaheadache]

AFR is what causes microstuttering. If the cards are using AFR, which they are, there is microstutter... This is a fact. It's amazing how one guy doesn't notice microstuttering and all of a sudden microstuttering has been cured.



Here's a thread for ya

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035987066

 

[notty22]

I have sli gtx 460's and my games play VERY smooth. In fact I noticed more stutter from my o/c 4770 single card before this.
This is games supported by sli, any kind of brute force sli (which never really works) might give you blinking, stuttering.
My advice is to read the many gtx 460 sli reviews.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-sli-review/18

[FONT=verdana,geneva]In the end though it's all about your bucks and preference, all we can say is that we enjoyed testing these two cards in SLI. We have not seen any driver issues, no weird stuff and neither did we had to configure anything. Everything worked straight out of the box with near perfect scaling. As such if you are interested in admirable SLI scaling performance and are gaming with a limited budget, then look no further .. for 400 USD you get to have a grand amount of DX11 compatible gaming performance that will last you a long time. We'll have SLI results with the GTX 460 1024MB models up soon as well. [/FONT]

 

[Rifter]

I have sli gtx 460's and my games play VERY smooth. In fact I noticed more stutter from my o/c 4770 single card before this.
This is games supported by sli, any kind of brute force sli (which never really works) might give you blinking, stuttering.
My advice is to read the many gtx 460 sli reviews.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-sli-review/18

I also run SLI 460's and agree with this. I dont notice any microstutter and games run smoother than my old single 4890.

But i hear microstutter is either something you notice and it bothers you or you dont notice at all and dont even know it exists, personally i have seen microstutter on older SLI setups such as 8800 series but not on the newer gen hardware. Forcing Vsync and triple buffering helps, alot IMO.

 

[digitaldurandal]

I was kidding. Yes I know what microstutter is and I not gonna link you with the other 60,000,000 hits google gave me to prove I'm right.

If you think I'm spreading fud then don't derail the thread, report my post.

So it is okay for you to start talking about microstuttering in reply to someone, that is not derailing. But ensuring that the OP doesn't read your nonsense post and believe microstutter is a thing of the past based on one users impression and some crazy analogy then I am derailing the thread?

What a joke.

Any solution using AFR is going to be prone to microstutter. It is not going to go away any time soon. Currently that I know of there is not a technology that is going to fix it. The best you can hope for is that you get a steady rate of frames to help avoid the issue. But prevention is not 100% possible.

If you do not want people to call you out - do not spread FUD.

 

[digitaldurandal]

I also run SLI 460's and agree with this. I dont notice any microstutter and games run smoother than my old single 4890.

But i hear microstutter is either something you notice and it bothers you or you dont notice at all and dont even know it exists, personally i have seen microstutter on older SLI setups such as 8800 series but not on the newer gen hardware. Forcing Vsync and triple buffering helps, alot IMO.

This is true.

Some games you notice more - especially games where the demand shifts quickly like STALKER or Crysis.

 

[notty22]

I can't speak for AMD crossfire, but my sli performance is not any less smooth than my single card experiences.
Its disingenuous to insist your going to be suffering some negative experience.
I find this definition more accurate.
The Unofficial NVIDIA SLI Technology User Reference Guide

yIIDENTIFYING MICROSTUTTERING
"Microstuttering" is a term used to describe a general inconsistency regarding the time between two frames being displayed, and could be best described as a rapid, noticeable shift between a high frame rate and a low one. In an ideal situation each frame is output at equal or very similar intervals, producing smooth and even gameplay, but this isn't always the case even with a single video processor. Microstuttering is a compound issue caused by an improper frame output synchronization between multiple GPUs and a lack of compensation mechanism to assist in normalizing frame delays. This phenomenon becomes progressively easier to see at low frame rates since there is greater time between frame output, but can reduce the subjective frame rate at higher numbers. As previously mentioned, this problem is found on any multi-GPU scaling system drawing frames that require multiple rendering passes. The use of vertical synchronization (and, if possible, triple buffering) can reduce the prevalence of this to some degree.

 

[happy medium]

and microstutter are just too big of an issue to put up with.

SO I guess no one should recommend x-fire or sli anymore?

 

[lavaheadache]

I'm going to put for a challenge here, Anybody with their so called "microstutter less sli setups" Do whatever it takes to get your systems to sustain 40-50 fps for a decent amount of time and tell me what you see. Microstutter to me was only unbearable in the 40-50 fps range when a single card would have been much smoother. I have had sli / crossfire setups since they have been out in almost every generation of gpu's and the problem has always existed. There has always been people who either don't notice it or are reluctant to notice it.

If anyone bothered to read that link that I posted there was some pretty convincing evidence with well made graphs documenting the issue quite clearly.

It's not a matter of whether it exist or not, It's whether or not it affects YOU. I for one am affected. I will however keep trying out multigpu setups to educate myself and witness firsthand progress in the technology, which there has been much of.

 

[badb0y]

It's pointless to argue about microstuttering because it varies from person to person.

 

[digitaldurandal]

SO I guess no one should recommend x-fire or sli anymore?

No it is an issue with will it bother you or not