Tempted to try Crossfire - what are the downsides?

[SolMiester]

Crossfire is going to become much more viable as an SLI-solution than it has been.
Remember, Nvidia does framepacing too, so AMD is basically just doing what Nvidia does.

The reason why they didn't is because framepacing introduces small delays(it gives more ms before what happens shows up on screen), this is deliberate in order to give a smoother experience. Of course, most people will not notice this, but between microstutterings, an AMD crossfire solution would give you what was happening with smaller delays, but that would then be ruined by said stuttering with the intervals.

As have been pointed out, AMD is already fixing this and the coming drivers will more or less eliminate this as a problem(so don't worry it's a software thing, not a hardware thing).

My bottomline is: going forward, Crossfire will be basically on par with Nvidia's SLI solution as new drivers get released. I would still not recommend going SLI because you usually don't get 2x the performance but around 70% and sometimes even less than for a single card. A single card is far more consistent.

LOL

 

[SPBHM]

currently the biggest downside compared to SLI is no support for frame pacing with eyefinity on, and with DX9 titles (like Witcher 2, Skyrim)

 

[chimaxi83]

LOL

Helpful post from someone with a 5 year old card, and who's only experience with current GPUs is by reading forums. Keep it up :thumbsup:

My main issue with Crossfire and SLI has really only been heat, but this depends on where you keep your rig, and what cards you're using. My 7970s dump off more heat than my 680s did, both used to warm up the room though. Got it set up in my new place to dump the heat outside though.

As for games, I've really only had issues with my main game, World of Tanks, not supporting multi GPU. No fault of either GPU company, as the game developers just recently added in SLI support (don't know how well it works). This will obviously depend on what games you play.

I have noticed a little stuttering when I had completely maxed settings, but for me, lowering AA a notch or two resolved that. I don't remember experiencing this with my 680s, only my 7970s, and only now with two cards (had three and had little to no stuttering).

All in all, I agree with the posters who advise you to get a more powerful single card. I would, but 2560x1440, recent games with high settings, and a single card currently do not mix

 

[SolMiester]

Helpful post from someone with a 5 year old card, and who's only experience with current GPUs is by reading forums. Keep it up :thumbsup:

My main issue with Crossfire and SLI has really only been heat, but this depends on where you keep your rig, and what cards you're using. My 7970s dump off more heat than my 680s did, both used to warm up the room though. Got it set up in my new place to dump the heat outside though.

As for games, I've really only had issues with my main game, World of Tanks, not supporting multi GPU. No fault of either GPU company, as the game developers just recently added in SLI support (don't know how well it works). This will obviously depend on what games you play.

I have noticed a little stuttering when I had completely maxed settings, but for me, lowering AA a notch or two resolved that. I don't remember experiencing this with my 680s, only my 7970s, and only now with two cards (had three and had little to no stuttering).

All in all, I agree with the posters who advise you to get a more powerful single card. I would, but 2560x1440, recent games with high settings, and a single card currently do not mix

No idea why you think having a old card invalidate my knowledge, as quite obliviously the poster I was replying to had none at all with such a silly comment.
And while I dont own current dGPU in my own home PC, that doesn't mean I dont use them at work or support friends PCs in my role as a technician. You want to make stories up?, fine, just leave me out of it okay!

 

[bononos]

Any advantages in getting the 2GB 7850 for $20 over the 1GB version?

Good idea getting a new cards instead of xfiring. Its generally not worth the related hassles unless you are looking for better performance over what a single card can deliver.

I asked this same question before. The 1Gb is ok since only very few games run at ultra settings at 1080 (or even higher) at high AA can break the 1Gb barrier. The extra memory would just be wasted if you prefer higher framerates over high AA. 2Gb would be helpful if you are gaming at higher than 1080 res however.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/crysis_3_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,8.html

 

[AnitaPeterson]

"Better late than never" update:

Gave up on the 7770 Crossfire idea, got a 7950 on sale. You guys convinced me!

 

[Elfear]

"Better late than never" update:

Gave up on the 7770 Crossfire idea, got a 7950 on sale. You guys convinced me!

Good choice. Let us know how she overclocks.

 

[crashtech]

"Better late than never" update:

Gave up on the 7770 Crossfire idea, got a 7950 on sale. You guys convinced me!

Hey, as the Crossfire driver matures, you can revisit the issue in half a year or so with your 7950! The new frame pacing driver has helped immensely, and the expectation is that there will be more incremental improvements moving forward.

 

[bystander36]

The reason why they didn't is because framepacing introduces small delays(it gives more ms before what happens shows up on screen), this is deliberate in order to give a smoother experience. Of course, most people will not notice this, but between microstutterings, an AMD crossfire solution would give you what was happening with smaller delays, but that would then be ruined by said stuttering with the intervals.

Nvidia, in an interview, showed some nice slides to show how frame pacing actually improves latency. While what you said is what intuition would suggest, the reality is that it actually is quite the opposite.

The problem happens on the worst case latency. When you have two frames being generated and displayed very close to each other, the input between two frames will allow for very quick and low latency, but after the 2nd frame is generated, you end up with a very long time between it and the next frame, where latency is much larger than average. Where an action cannot be updated to the screen for a much longer than average time. Using frame pacing, the average latency is much more consistent without the worst case latency issues.

 

[bystander36]

"Better late than never" update:

Gave up on the 7770 Crossfire idea, got a 7950 on sale. You guys convinced me!

Good call!