2x GTX 570 on ASUS CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA ?

[appletree]

Hello, friend of mine has following setup: ASUS CROSSHAIR IV FORMULA / Phenom II 1090T X6 / GTX 570

As he would like the best possible Crysis 2 experience he wants to add a second 570. Since there is no official SLI support in this mobo - will flollowing hack http://xdevs.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.30 work also with 570 cards as they are pretty new atm ? And how much trouble can be expected overtime with new nvidia drivers etc. ? (my friend is a PC newb)

Would you recommend a pair of 6970s/CF and selling GTX 570 over it ? (for a PC newb). Only regrets here is that 570 seems to be a better card of the two and Crysis 2 is expected to be "optimized" for nvidia. So which options would you say is the lesser of two evils ?

 

[NathWraith]

To be honest any sort of "hack" is only going to cause issues and not officially supporting SLI will not help the matter.

You are better off going Crossfire on that board or getting the Crosshair 4 Extreme and using the Lucid hydra chip to utilise both 570's, not ideal but better than a "hack".

 

[appletree]

Yes, but my concern about Hydra is that it doesn't scale as well as SLI. I could also get a true SLI board with nForce 980a, but the only one I could find in local shops is ASUS M4N98TD EVO which looks like a downgrade - except that it supports SLI. It looks like whatever best option there is it will be just lesser of two evils with the AMD platform. Sadly.

 

[MichaelM]

Toms hardware has a review of 6970 vs 570 multi GPU scaling and the 6970 CF beat the 570 SLI in 4 out of 5 tests, DIRT 2 being the one played best on Nvidia. The 6950 CF are close to the 570 SLI in most tests and beats it with higher resolutions sometimes. Don't remember exactly but i'm pretty sure 6970 CF also offers much better minimum frames aswell.

As I have that motherboard and 6970 CF I can say its a perfect match with the first card in the first x16 pci-e slot and the second card in the third x16 pci-e slot they have loads of room to breathe and they offer amazingly smooth gameplay with maxed out graphic settings. You would have to be silly to spend more money on getting another 570 in SLI when the CF system seems to be better on paper.

Bottom line is that the 6970 CF is just as capable if not better then 570 SLI and if you look at OC3D videos of them playing warhead on different setups you will be unlikely to tell the difference but his wallet will of course know the difference.

edit - I forgot to mention that AMD's 2 GB cards can't hurt when playing very demanding games which are yet to be released.

 

[appletree]

As I have that motherboard and 6970 CF I can say its a perfect match with the first card in the first x16 pci-e slot and the second card in the third x16 pci-e slot they have loads of room to breathe and they offer amazingly smooth gameplay with maxed out graphic settings.

Cool I was wondering if using slots 1 and 3 would help getting good temps as there can be found a lot's of stuff about poor temp / noise characteristics if 6970s sit next to each other. Can you provide some more info about the temp / noise levels CF versus single card ? One of the things why I think 570 is better is because of the better temp / noise levels vs. 6970 and also because I expect 570 SLI to be better in Crysis 2 (which is the main concern). However a pair of 6970s seems like a most reasonable option atm as long as the noise and temps remain reasonable. Btw any recommendations on which 6970s to get ?

 

[MichaelM]

Cool I was wondering if using slots 1 and 3 would help getting good temps as there can be found a lot's of stuff about poor temp / noise characteristics if 6970s sit next to each other. Can you provide some more info about the temp / noise levels CF versus single card ? One of the things why I think 570 is better is because of the better temp / noise levels vs. 6970 and also because I expect 570 SLI to be better in Crysis 2 (which is the main concern). However a pair of 6970s seems like a most reasonable option atm as long as the noise and temps remain reasonable. Btw any recommendations on which 6970s to get ?

Just ran Heaven with all settings maxed (Tessellation - extreme, AF - 16, AA - 8x) at 1920x1080 over 4 loops and according to the latest gpu-z beta which supports the 6900 series, I got temperatures of 85C and 76C with an ambient room temp of 13.5C. Max fan speed was 37%.

Reviews vary on how their noise levels compare but one site did have videos of single cards during 3dmark cycles and the 570 does seem to be a bit quieter then the 6970.
I doubt there is much difference in noise levels when your concentration is on a game with audio and your case is a closed unit with dampening effects, I personally don't hear my system when focusing on killing people
In the end it's all very subjective and is highly influenced by your case and setup.

 

[appletree]

Thanks, seems like even with one empty slot in between them, the upper card is considerably affected (10C higher is nothing spectacular imo) And you are right - noise is subjective, me personally - I would never consider it for my quiet setup - not even the single GTX 570 (with stock cooler) though I would like the level of performance. Hopefully my friend who is upgrading won't be too disturbed by the noise.