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Tom's Hardware - 7970 "stay away from multi-GPU configurations"

Aderes Devorah

Aderes Devorah

Aderes Devorah

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Joined
12 Jun 2011
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239
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Near Overclockers
Hi all

Two questions:

Would a 1x7970 + 1x7950 be better than a 2x7950? I know the obvious answer is "Yes" but I've already got a ASUS 7950 and it's a 3 slot card, so it would be easier for me to drop in a watercooled 7970. I can't find 7950s with a waterblock, so if I just put a 7970 with it for ease of installation will it perform like a 7970 or be limited by the 7950 and just perform like another 7950?

Secondly, I read the above quote on Tom's Website about Crossfiring 7970s. I thought they worked fine in Crossfire mode. Has anybody had any problems with this? I know Tom (different Tom) on Overclock3D has been using twin and treble 7970s for a while now and hasn't reported anything untoward.

Cheers guys!

Best
 
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Theres some low level latency problems with crossfire that means in extreme cases you can effectively lose most of the work one of the cards is doing as the framerate "feels" lower than its supposedly putting out. This is more easily seen in typical situations where your using high end cards.

AMD are supposedly putting out a driver in June with fixes for it plus control over the low level behavior of crossfire.
 
Aderes Devorah said:
Hi all

Two questions:

Would a 1x7970 + 1x7950 be better than a 2x7950? I know the obvious answer is "Yes" but I've already got a ASUS 7950 and it's a 3 slot card, so it would be easier for me to drop in a watercooled 7970. I can't find 7950s with a waterblock, so if I just put a 7970 with it for ease of installation will it perform like a 7970 or be limited by the 7950 and just perform like another 7950.

Secondly, a read the above quote on Tom's Website about Crossfiring 7970s. I thought they worked fine in Crossfire mode. Has anybody had any problems with this. I know Tom on Overclock3D has been using twin and treble 7970s for a while now and hasn't reported anything untoward.

Cheers guys!

Best
Click to expand...

7970+7950 would be slightly quicker than two 7950's yes, crossfire used to reduce the clock speed down to the slowest card (I believe sli does this?) but not any more, the cards will operate at there own individual speeds.
 
Been using cf7970's since December, love them.

Toms should know better then to put out such a bold statement, especially knowing AMD are aware of any frame pacing issues with fixes due for release in new drivers any time now.

You'd likely be able to run a 7970/50 cfx setup at 1100/1500 without issue, difference in card performance would be minimal at identical clocks
 
Aderes Devorah said:
Hi all

Two questions:

Would a 1x7970 + 1x7950 be better than a 2x7950? I know the obvious answer is "Yes" but I've already got a ASUS 7950 and it's a 3 slot card, so it would be easier for me to drop in a watercooled 7970. I can't find 7950s with a waterblock, so if I just put a 7970 with it for ease of installation will it perform like a 7970 or be limited by the 7950 and just perform like another 7950.

Secondly, a read the above quote on Tom's Website about Crossfiring 7970s. I thought they worked fine in Crossfire mode. Has anybody had any problems with this. I know Tom on Overclock3D has been using twin and treble 7970s for a while now and hasn't reported anything untoward.

Cheers guys!

Best
Click to expand...

Crossfire is working pretty damn well for me i must say. As long as you're prepared to use RadeonPro (if needed) to combat any possible micro stutter then you won't have any major issues at all as far as i can see. Despite what some review sites say crossfire is providing a fast fluid gaming experience for me and im definitely getting double or more the fps as i do on a single card. :)
 
SLI is smoother than Crossfire imho, but AMD are working on better drivers to fix any latency issues.

I find with my 7950's in crossfire as long as Vsync is enabled they feel nice and smooth. Lot's of power in dem 7950/70's. Some good prices around atm as well.

On a side note, I love AMD lol. They sent me more game codes. It worked out my Windforce 7950's cost £130 each :-D
 
Boomstick777 said:
SLI is smoother than Crossfire imho, but AMD are working on better drivers to fix any latency issues.

I find with my 7950's in crossfire as long as Vsync is enabled they feel nice and smooth. Lot's of power in dem 7950/70's. Some good prices around atm as well.
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Yep looking forward to the new drivers because i believe there is definitely room for improvement. The fact you will be able to choose between increased latency but smoother frame time or decreased latency but faster frame delivery is a great idea and i can't wait to try it out.
 
LtMatt said:
Yep looking forward to the new drivers because i believe there is definitely room for improvement. The fact you will be able to choose between increased latency but smoother frame time or decreased latency but faster frame delivery is a great idea and i can't wait to try it out.
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Yeah same here, I'm sure they will improve the latency thing.
 
Toms use multiple reviewers, some of them can be good, others show a clear bias toward AMD and others toward Nvidia, I get the feeling there are fanboys / shills from both sides there and that they have a lot of in fighting that spills out into the public front pages.

For an 'apparently' impartial reviewer to make such a blanket and aggressive statement stinks of shilling, mark the author and make a mental blacklist.
 
Smurfin said:
How come you got so much for the games? They're two to a penny on ebay so the codes aren't worth much from what I've seen. (not that I'm complaining!)
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Not sure if can talk about prices but easy to work out, I got 3 X Sim City codes, and 4 lots of Crysis 3, Bioshock and Far Cry 3 Blood dragon. Worked out about £130 per GPU after I got rid of them. I originally bought 3 cards but sent one back as was DOA, when the replacement arrived I sent it back because two cards was enough power tbh. Got to keep all the codes... Happy days :D;)
 
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breadturbo said:
7970+7950 would be slightly quicker than two 7950's yes, crossfire used to reduce the clock speed down to the slowest card (I believe sli does this?) but not any more, the cards will operate at there own individual speeds.
Click to expand...

Crossfire never reduced the clock speed down to the slowest card.

independentu.png
 
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