Quadfire that much worse than crossfire?

[pgi947]

Evening all!

This is (for now) out of curiosity and I've read some conflicting reports on the truth of this.

Hear quite often that Quadfire AMD cards are incredibly problematic, but are they much worse than the woes of crossfire (2 card) ?

I've had my fair share of problems with crossfire, but for the last few months its been fantastic in fairness. Finally have a grip of what I'm doing with the drivers etc...(first AMD cards).

I said 'for now' above as at some point I may want to move to eyefinity, a 6990 with waterblock are currently going for £250-300 a pop, so best case scenario thats £500, not a great deal more than a 7970/680, for presumably better performance?

 

[ALXAndy]

It's awful.

Most games only see two GPUs, so adding any more hurts performance.

I would just leave it at two mate.

 

[pgi947]

It's awful.

Most games only see two GPUs, so adding any more hurts performance.

I would just leave it at two mate.

Cheers, looks like I'll be waiting for the HD89xx cards before I go eyefinity then

 

[arc@css]

Two or three gpu's yes, but I wouldn't entertain four atm.

 

[pgi947]

I also stumbled across a few comments elsewhere that 3 cards is a kind of 'sweet spot' for amd cards? any truth to that?

 

[arc@css]

I also stumbled across a few comments elsewhere that 3 cards is a kind of 'sweet spot' for amd cards? any truth to that?

When playing at very high resolutions, and particularly if you are someone that wants to hit that 60fps as often as possible, then three gpu's will be required quite often to maintain high standards. One other apparent advantage with three gpu's is that stuttering is very nearly, or in some cases completely resolved.

 

[pgi947]

One other apparent advantage with three gpu's is that stuttering is very nearly, or in some cases completely resolved.

This is what I was reading about, though I can't say I've experienced much stuttering with two cards that wasn't resolved with a driver or game update.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Final8y]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/ARES_CrossFire/

I don't know when the last time that ALXAndy used Quadfire, but saying most games only see 2 GPUs is false, as its down to the driver.

95% of my games use Quadfire, i would not have gone for a second round of quadfire otherwise, scaling is another matter, Tri fire is the best balance tho.

 

[Surveyor]

I also stumbled across a few comments elsewhere that 3 cards is a kind of 'sweet spot' for amd cards? any truth to that?

Triple-GPU Scaling: AMD CrossFire Vs. Nvidia SLI

Micro-Stuttering And GPU Scaling In CrossFire And SLI

 

[Razargh]

Dual GPU's should run Eyefinity perfect for nearly all games and personally I wouldn't buy more than 2 GPU's unless you're rich, want e-peen or have a physical requirement just seems a waste imho.

 

[ALXAndy]

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/overkill-3d_asus_hd7970_quadfire_madness/1

That may help you. Note that in a lot of games nothing extra happens with four over two.

But yes, I'm on the "Don't do it" side of the fence.

 

[Final8y]

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/overkill-3d_asus_hd7970_quadfire_madness/1

That may help you. Note that in a lot of games nothing extra happens with four over two.

But yes, I'm on the "Don't do it" side of the fence.

Yes that tends to happen when new cards come out that quad driver support is lacking at first.

 

[Yaayuh!]

When the drivers mature the performance with 3-4 cards will increase no doubt about it. But to be honest, the 4th card usually is wasting money.

 

[gareth170]

trifire is the best option tbh.

quad fire is fine if your running very high res with max settings ect. but may have to wait a little longer for drivers, CAP's to be updated for new games