Single monitor 2560x1600. Which GPU ....

[Abz Hussain]

Rusty, your iceQ 7950, is that on a 7970 pcb?
My twin frozr is 7970 pcb but i read somwhere msi stopped shipping those?

 

[LtMatt]

Of course. General rules of thumb like that rarely hold true in ALL cases. What makes them general rules of thumb is that they do in MOST cases . An uber Lightning could for example surpass my GB WF by a comfortable 10% but if the Lightning is getting 90 FPS my GB WF is still getting ~80 FPS.

If the Lightning is getting 60 FPS my GB WF is still getting 54 FPS and this is towards the very top end of the differences you can see.

More realistically it'll be:

7970: 90 FPS
7950: 85 FPS

7970: 60 FPS
7950: 57 FPS

It doesn't automatically make a 7970 not worth it but it does, in my eyes, not make it worth it for somebody to upgrade from a 7950 to a 7970.

Agreed.

 

[Rusty0611]

Rusty, your iceQ 7950, is that on a 7970 pcb?
My twin frozr is 7970 pcb but i read somwhere msi stopped shipping those?

No mate.

Both mine are on the 7950 PCB but I'm a 1920*1080 user so I don't need the extra from the better memory that the 7970 PCB versions give as my performance is way, way overkill for the resolution.

 

[Abz Hussain]

No mate.

Both mine are on the 7950 PCB but I'm a 1920*1080 user so I don't need the extra from the better memory that the 7970 PCB versions give as my performance is way, way overkill for the resolution.

Ok.
As someone who has never crossfired, how does it work with clocks on the cards? Do both cards need to on the same clocks or can they differ?

At crossfired 1080, what sort of fps do get, id be interested to know.
One option im considering is to downgrade my dell u3011. Just considering for now.

 

[bemaniac]

This at 2560x1600 yeh?

Yes

 

[bemaniac]

Ok.
As someone who has never crossfired, how does it work with clocks on the cards? Do both cards need to on the same clocks or can they differ?

At crossfired 1080, what sort of fps do get, id be interested to know.
One option im considering is to downgrade my dell u3011. Just considering for now.

Whatever the lowest clocked card, all cards will run at that speed. When you adjust one clock with some software it adjusts all cards clocks.

 

[Rusty0611]

Whatever the lowest clocked card, all cards will run at that speed. When you adjust one clock with some software it adjusts all cards clocks.

Not true anymore. They can run at different clock speeds although it is slightly more beneficial to run them at the highest common clock speed.

Ok.
As someone who has never crossfired, how does it work with clocks on the cards? Do both cards need to on the same clocks or can they differ?

At crossfired 1080, what sort of fps do get, id be interested to know.
One option im considering is to downgrade my dell u3011. Just considering for now.

As above.

I've not benched 7950 crossfire but let's just say it's more than fast enough for 1920*1080. So much so that I downlock my cards from 1200/1600 which they're both 24/7 stable down to 1100/1500 for slightly less noise.

 

[Havana_UK]

A single 7950 should cope admirably at 1920x1080 except in a few titles (Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 probably), so CF 7950 should monster it.

I run a GTX680 at stock clocks on 1920x1200. BF3 is a most demanding game I play, but I get a pretty solid 60-70FPS on that with all settings on Ultra + 4xMSAA. Min FPS rarely dips below 50 (although there's the very rare drop to the high 30s), and peak is around 80-90FPS.

Admittedly some of the more recent titles are a bit more taxing (or maybe poorly coded), but I'd have thought that 7950 CF would be enough for single monitor 1080p gaming for the next little while.

 

[bemaniac]

A single 7950 should cope admirably at 1920x1080 except in a few titles (Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 probably), so CF 7950 should monster it.

I run a GTX680 at stock clocks on 1920x1200. BF3 is a most demanding game I play, but I get a pretty solid 60-70FPS on that with all settings on Ultra + 4xMSAA. Min FPS rarely dips below 50 (although there's the very rare drop to the high 30s), and peak is around 80-90FPS.

Admittedly some of the more recent titles are a bit more taxing (or maybe poorly coded), but I'd have thought that 7950 CF would be enough for single monitor 1080p gaming for the next little while.

It's for 1600p though which is quite a few more pixels.

 

[Abz Hussain]

No mate.

Both mine are on the 7950 PCB but I'm a 1920*1080 user so I don't need the extra from the better memory that the 7970 PCB versions give as my performance is way, way overkill for the resolution.

Not true anymore. They can run at different clock speeds although it is slightly more beneficial to run them at the highest common clock speed.



As above.

I've not benched 7950 crossfire but let's just say it's more than fast enough for 1920*1080. So much so that I downlock my cards from 1200/1600 which they're both 24/7 stable down to 1100/1500 for slightly less noise.

Great. I have had that twin frozr of mine at 1200/1650. On air the temps get quite high. Hoping water will bring those temps down significantly and more importantly get rid of the horrendous fan noise.

 

[Abz Hussain]

A single 7950 should cope admirably at 1920x1080 except in a few titles (Far Cry 3, Tomb Raider and Crysis 3 probably), so CF 7950 should monster it.

I run a GTX680 at stock clocks on 1920x1200. BF3 is a most demanding game I play, but I get a pretty solid 60-70FPS on that with all settings on Ultra + 4xMSAA. Min FPS rarely dips below 50 (although there's the very rare drop to the high 30s), and peak is around 80-90FPS.

Admittedly some of the more recent titles are a bit more taxing (or maybe poorly coded), but I'd have thought that 7950 CF would be enough for single monitor 1080p gaming for the next little while.

Its a 2560x1600 res i have havana.

 

[oldestgregg]

No idea. Looking towards the end of year by the looks of it. I know as much as the next guy on this.



It's only 7970 owners who try and over-egg the difference . Rather than have another pointless debate of percentages which equate to 1-2 FPS either way, the point was more that if it isn't playable on an overclocked 7950 it isn't playable on an overclocked 7970 either. Three of my 7950s out of 5 went to 1250/1750 comfortably anyway. I didn't go any higher on the memory because I couldn't be bothered to test if correction was kicking in but it is probable that they could have gone higher.

Edit: 7970 PCB versions which are still readily available

And its usually 7950 owners who say the 7970 isnt worth it

I have had both and for me at 1400p with crossfire,7970 gives me better performance. People say its nothing but the dif between say 40-47 is noticable. True if it was 90 or 85 then fair enuff but at the lower end i benefit from it. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I made the jump up and dont regret it

 

[Abz Hussain]

Whichever it maybe, im just trying to use this thread to get the right solution for me.
All opinions taken on board.

 

[Rusty0611]

And its usually 7950 owners who say the 7970 isnt worth it

I have had both and for me at 1400p with crossfire,7970 gives me better performance. People say its nothing but the dif between say 40-47 is noticable. True if it was 90 or 85 then fair enuff but at the lower end i benefit from it. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I made the jump up and dont regret it

Did you overclock them to the same clock speed? If you didn't it isn't a valid test. I used two 680x as well so your first point doesn't hold true

I won't imagine you did.

Sorry not being funny or anything but I don't really pay much attention to people's stories. I like numbers .

 

[Abz Hussain]

Can someone explain to me the pros and cons of dual card crossfire/sli versus single card dual gpu crossfire/sli?
i.e 2 x 7950's vs 7990/gtx 690

 

[arc@css]

Two single gpu cards :

+ve * Two cards can be purchased for less (usually)
* if one card goes pop, you have one as a back up while the other is rma'd
* tend to be a fraction faster than the dual gpu cards (though I'd say that only really comes into play if you want to benchmark)


-ve * Two cards can take up more room, since you're usually going to want at least one lane between them
* can be noisier (cooler or coolers dependent)



One dual gpu card :

+ve * something nice about having one card that is a power house
* (usually) less room required
* (imo) sometimes looks better in rigs - particularly if the manufacturer has done something a bit special aesthetically


-ve * if the card fails, you essentially have no graphics card (unless one gpu still manages to work)
* can cost more than two single gpu cards


There may well be other things that I haven't thought of, which other folk might add.

 

[Abz Hussain]

Two single gpu cards :

+ve * Two cards can be purchased for less (usually)
* if one card goes pop, you have one as a back up while the other is rma'd
* tend to be a fraction faster than the dual gpu cards (though I'd say that only really comes into play if you want to benchmark)


-ve * Two cards can take up more room, since you're usually going to want at least one lane between them
* can be noisier (cooler or coolers dependent)



One dual gpu card :

+ve * something nice about having one card that is a power house
* (usually) less room required
* (imo) sometimes looks better in rigs - particularly if the manufacturer has done something a bit special aesthetically


-ve * if the card fails, you essentially have no graphics card (unless one gpu still manages to work)
* can cost more than two single gpu cards


There may well be other things that I haven't thought of, which other folk might add.

Thanks for that, one thing i want to pick up there, on a single dual gpu card, if one of those two gpu's fails would the other still work?

 

[Diagro]

Thanks for that, one thing i want to pick up there, on a single dual gpu card, if one of those two gpu's fails would the other still work?

Thats a very good question.

if its was the master GPU then no.

if its the Slave GPU then yes

i had a 4870x2 back in the day, and the second GPU on it went bad and when ever crossfire was required i would get major issues in games, but with it off it was fine.
Turns out one of the GPU's had failed

 

[LtMatt]

One good thing about dual gpu cards is if you don't have a motherboard with two x8 pci-e lanes then you can still run xfire/sli off the main x16 slot.

 

[arc@css]

Thanks for that, one thing i want to pick up there, on a single dual gpu card, if one of those two gpu's fails would the other still work?

It's possible.