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3-way SLI or Crossfire?

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

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I know this is a question begging for a typical AMD vs Nvidia argument but I'm genuinely asking it so hopefully it won't!

Which is the best option for 4k, 3 x 290X (4GB) or 3 x 980?

Now let's assume you already owned both, so price isn't an issue.
Monitor is an Iiyama screen without GSync or Freesync.
PSU is a 1200W Super flower, so power should be fine for either.

What would you choose when going 3-way multi-GPU? And why?
 
I've ran 3 way xfire for the past 3 generations of AMD and have overall been pretty happy. Especially with my 290's. I play at 1440p but in a few of the games I downsample from 4k and it's awesome :D Espeeeecciiaallyyy BF4 and DA:I. Only as of recently have there been a couple games that just don't like multi-gpu. Outside of that my vote goes to AMD (a little bias I know).
 
What about two Titans for 4k?

But the 980's would be better than the 290's at 4k but in my opinion not worth double the cost over a 290x so I would go for neither in 3-Way whilst the Titans are available.
 
I have owned both (295x2 before my current setup) and I play at 4k.

I'm very very happy with my 980's, better software support :) AMD are pretty bad at the mo with their crossfire profiles/gameworks breaking stuff :(

AMD def have kickass hardware, but it doesn't matter if the software support isn't there...
 
Its not inadequate but you need to make some compromises on settings and its not helped by poorly optimised games.

Untill amd start doing regular drivers with crossfile profiles, I'd never consider them at all.
 
Depends how much money, but I'd got 295x2 (£499) and a 2090x (£220).... all in more power than Titan and cheaper... job done. Not sure what the equivalent nVidia would be for this kind of performance so can't comment.
 
OK, when I said let's assume you own both so price isn't an issue, I meant I currently own 3 x 290Xs and 3 x 980s.

So 3 x 980s would cost me £0 and 2 x Titan Xs would cost over £1600.

I'm just trying to decide what goes into my main rig and what's left for my 2nd rig (which will probably only use 2 cards).

I was just wondering if at 4K the 512-bit BUS on the 290Xs would make a difference over the 256-bit BUS of the 980s.

Also, the 980s (current setup) run ridiculously warm in 3-way (I don't think the backplates help) and was thinking the 290Xs might run cooler (partly due to no backplates). 1 run of Heaven is pretty much causing the 980s to throttle :(.
 
The 290Xs will be better IMO, but the crossfire profiles are hit and miss most of the time.

If a game has both good SLI and Crossfire profiles scaling will be better on the latter and the more VRAM and bit bus helps @ 4K.
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
OK, when I said let's assume you own both so price isn't an issue, I meant I currently own 3 x 290Xs and 3 x 980s.

So 3 x 980s would cost me £0 and 2 x Titan Xs would cost over £1600.

I'm just trying to decide what goes into my main rig and what's left for my 2nd rig (which will probably only use 2 cards).

I was just wondering if at 4K the 512-bit BUS on the 290Xs would make a difference over the 256-bit BUS of the 980s.
Click to expand...

Crazy suggestion, plug in the monitor and test for yourself, you have everything at your disposal already.

All the answers you'll get here is 'go for*insert preferred brand*'.
 
A bit of effort is a small price to pay than getting less possible performance due to X amount of people telling you to go with brand X if brand X is what's already on the 4K panel...
 
If you already have everything there why not do a testing review with your own added conclusion to help anyone who may be considering spending the money for a 3 way set up. You could use 3 way crossfire for a few weeks testing various titles (the more the merrier) and then you can spend a few weeks doing the same thing with 3 way SLI and then you can tell us how it went, if one was better than the other and why.
I'm sure it would be appreciated and considering that your in the rare position to be able to do such a test it would be a handy review to know off.
 
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