Debunking the "PhII sucks at Crossfire/Trifire" myth

[Final8y]

We've all seen the reviewers who have done some comparisons based on "bottlenecks" and come to the conclusion that the i7 is much better than the PhII with multiple video cards. They didn't actually prove it, but they did come to that conclusion.

Let's do our own little comparison using the Futuremark ORB and 3dMark Vantage GPU scores. I've tried to search for stock speeds on the CPU and GPU but it is not always obvious. Regardless it doesn't matter anyway... because the GPU scores appear to be more dependent on the GPU and how many of them exist versus the CPU frequency anyway. (Overclocking the GPU can get you a few hundred more points also; but again the ballpark figures are going to be about the same.)

SO other than my own results below, the other results are guesses based on what appears to be the "average" score for the GPU type and # of GPU. But even if you go to the orb and pick the highest and/or lowest it won't really affect my final results.

================================================
Lets looks at 4850 cards:

(Remember these are the GPU scores.)
With a Phenom II at 3.0Ghz and 4850 video cards at stock I myself have the following results:
1x4850 = 6652
2x4850 = 11771 Gain of 77% over single
3x4850 = 15233 Gain of 29% over dual

-----------
Searching for i7 at stock on the Futuremark orb I can only find a 1x4850 and 2x4850:

1x4850 = 7136
2x4850 = 11577 Gain of 62% over single
(No 3x4850 results available for the i7 at this time.)

NOTE: The single card scores is higher for the i7 than for the Phenom II. But going to dual cards... the Phenom actually gains MORE than the i7 chip and actually pulls ahead of it.


=============================================
Just for fun lets look at 4870 cards.

(Remember these are the GPU scores.)
Phenom II 940 at 3.0Ghz
1x4870 = 8547
2x4870 = 15317 Gain of 79.2% over single
3x4870 = 21059 Gain of 37.49% over dual

i7 at around 2.8Ghz
1x4870 = 9044
2x4870 = 15005 Gain of 65.9% over single
3x4870 = 19812 Gain of 32.0% over dual

===========================================

RESULTS: Guess what? The Phenom II 940 does just fine at Crossfire and Trifire. In fact it does better than the i7.

Not only does it scale better... but it ends up with higher end scores at the top than the i7; even though the i7 chips start with higher single card GPU scores.

Based on this data... it appears that claiming that the i7 is better than the PhII with multiple video cards is not entirely accurate.

You might be able to find a few scores that change the "who gets the highest at the top" but it won't really change the percentages by much. And thus even if someone went to the trouble to do that... the only thing they could show is that both chips are more equal and not that the i7 is better. But with the size of the percentage gains, I'm going to guess it would be hard to do that anyway.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=219252

 

[Nick1881]

I want to see an SLi comparison.

 

[Jokester]

Aye, again it's likely due to better compatibilty between ATI + AMD, since they put a lot of effort into developing closer integration between their own components.

Plus lifting scores off the Orb introduces a whole heap of issues around about drivers used, user configuration and other non multi GPU related issues where the poster has no control over and indeed might cherry pick results to fit his arguement.

 

[Rapido!]

It's a forum post from an AMD fanboy.

It's a meaningless, irrelevant bag of wishful thinking, confirmation bias and lies.

 

[steve258]

interesting. have you tried it in any games?

 

[mmj_uk]

I think he's missing the point that most i7 will do 3.8-4ghz easily and the GPU becomes a bottleneck, your average off the shelf PII can't match that most struggle for 3.5ghz 100% stable.

Also, am I reading it right that he handpicked results off the ORB for his i7 results?

Additionally, I agree it would be interesting to see some SLI results instead, ATI cards/drivers don't seem to play as nicely with Intel chipsets as they do AMD chipsets.

 

[gt_junkie]

Additionally, I agree it would be interesting to see some SLI results instead, ATI cards/drivers don't seem to play as nicely with Intel chipsets as they do AMD chipsets.

I'd like to see SLi results too - hopefully i'll have dual and possibly even tri to try soon for a review.

Not sure how far my 720 can clock but as soon as my block for watercooling the northbridge of this board arrives i'll get right on it.

TBH i'd be surprised if it matched or even came close to a highly clocked i7 - in fact i only went PII because i couldn't afford i7 and didn't trust NV's s775 chipsetted mobo's - i hate you 680i.

gt

 

[gareth170]

Aye, again it's likely due to better compatibilty between ATI + AMD, since they put a lot of effort into developing closer integration between their own components.

i agree..

i've said this all along. if your gonna have a amd system it'll be better to have amd + ati hardware together because they are optimized to be ran together..

people say oh its just a hype, but it clearly shows it not.

 

[mrthingyx]

It's a forum post from an AMD fanboy.

It's a meaningless, irrelevant bag of wishful thinking, confirmation bias and lies.

Ouch.

I don't think the argument is about whether i7 or Phenom II is better/worse, merely that a rumour going round about Phenom II and Crossfire is not based on very much at all.

 

[gurusan]

So he handpicked scores from orb.....what a noobish post.

(Overclocking the GPU can get you a few hundred more points also; but again the ballpark figures are going to be about the same.)

....and wtf? Sorry but this is absolute BS.

 

[cavemanoc]

Wow - that's a lot of aggression in one place. I think the interesting point here is that very few games are CPU limited at resolutions where Crossfire/SLi (x2 and x3) are relevant - ie above 1080p.

The point is that where you are gaming using things like 30" monitors and/or TH2Go setups your CPU is far less important than your GPU setup, and to that end - in most cases - your PHII will NOT bottleneck your setup.

I don't know why this is so contentious - or has lead to such criticism - we have all accepted for years that most of our CPU power is wasted in a gaming environment - Supreme Commander seems to be almost alone in benefiting from Quad in a meaningful way - all the OP is doing is pointing out that you CPU dollars are largely wasted in a gaming environment at high resolution - surely we've all know that for years?

It's only the fact that he's dared to suggest that the beloved i7 doesn't necessarily make the world a brighter place just by being in it that seems to have brought down all the, quite frankly, unnecessary vitriol on his head.