NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI Overclocked GPU Review

Gregster · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:17

SLI and CrossFire Smoothness

This is an important topic when talking about SLI and CrossFire. In the past, AMD was the one in the hot seat with terrible CrossFire scaling, performance and smoothness. A lot has changed over the last couple of years, AMD now has a frame pacing technology as well as its new XDMA technology. These technologies combined have turned the tables and now CrossFire feels smoother than SLI. It still feels smoother even when compared to NVIDIA's new GTX 980 cards in SLI. While overclocked GTX 980 SLI is faster in framerate, the actual feeling and smoothness in games feels better on AMD Radeon R9 290X. AMD currently has the upper hand in this arena.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...x_980_sli_overclocked_gpu_review#.VGNA5PmsV8F

Well, I don't hide the fact that I am an nVidia fan but that doesn't stop me picking up on things that I have noticed as well. G-Sync does a great job but why am I running on one card? Simply because SLI isn't doing well at the moment and it just feels wrong. Single card is flawless and even a single Titan can cope in all the games I play but I own 3 Titans and want to be able to use all 3 but if the smoothness isn't there, I feel it isn't good enough. I have picked this up and brought it to the attention of nVidia via the forums and I hope a few more people notice and do the same.

Moan over

SS-89 · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:25

Generally speaking I'd have to agree with this, my 290x Trifire setup felt smoother than my current 970's. My issue with crossfire was the distinct lack of profiles available on release of games, something Nvidia seems to do a lot better.

Kaapstad · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:38

@4K

4 Titans best smoothness

4 290Xs less smooth

4 980s worst smoothness

I suspect that memory compression may have something to do with the above.

LambChop · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:43

Hold the press....'New tech in scaling issues shocker'

Sigh.

Rangerjr1 · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:49

SS-89 said:
Generally speaking I'd have to agree with this, my 290x Trifire setup felt smoother than my current 970's. My issue with crossfire was the distinct lack of profiles available on release of games, something Nvidia seems to do a lot better.

But why would you need profiles? Make your own or change settiings manually lol

tommybhoy · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:55

SS-89 said:
Generally speaking I'd have to agree with this, my 290x Trifire setup felt smoother than my current 970's. My issue with crossfire was the distinct lack of profiles available on release of games, something Nvidia seems to do a lot better.

Best CrossFire performance I've ever had using 290X's regarding release day scaling, if it hasn't worked out the box, a manual profile has generally done the job on AAA titles.

Kaapstad said:
@4K

4 Titans best smoothness

4 290Xs less smooth

4 980s worst smoothness

I suspect that memory compression may have something to do with the above.

Maybe AMDMatt can show this to AMDRoy and see if he sends you 8Gb ones to test to see if it can change your opinion.

LambChop said:
Hold the press....'New tech in scaling issues shocker'

Sigh.

Gregster said:
I own 3 Titans and want to be able to use all 3 but if the smoothness isn't there, I feel it isn't good enough. I have picked this up and brought it to the attention of nVidia via the forums and I hope a few more people notice and do the same.

Moan over

Read it again.

ALXAndy · 12 Nov 2014 at 11:59

I'm not surprised two Titans are smoother really, given they are true high end cards and the 980 is Maxwell's mid range part. We had the 750ti (entry) then the 970 and 980 (mid) now we're waiting on the Titan 2, 990titurbonutterpiggyedition.

Orangey · 12 Nov 2014 at 12:18

I thought Nvidia reserved SLI for their high-end parts?

smogsy · 12 Nov 2014 at 12:55

just going to put it out their

My 2x 980 SLI were kinda smooth running
- ROG Swift (gsync on)
- + 2 1080p either side
- Gaming just on ROG swift

Now for a test running single ROG swift (gsync ON)
- Much much smoother in BF4....

seems SLI does worse on mutiple monitors or gsync not working correctly

Gregster · 12 Nov 2014 at 12:56

Don't turn it into a slaughterfest please lads and would appreciate if others who have the same can post (or post if your SLI sytem is great). It might just be my system, or a combination of things....

Edit:

Just seeing your post Smogsy and spot on for me. BF4 was stuttery, Batman AO would stutter at the end of a fight and generally I am quite sensitive to microstutter and I can feel it but with G-Sync on a single card, it is a complete different experience and untouchable.... Maybe it is just a G-Sync and SLI problem perhaps?

shankly1985 · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:03

LambChop said:
Hold the press....'New tech in scaling issues shocker'

Sigh.

Since when was Gregster Titans new tech?

Stanners · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:06

shankly1985 said:
Since when was Gregster Titans new tech?

What is the title of the thread, Did he quote Greg?

Mr. May · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:12

Nice to see the 290x's still doing well was seriously considering selling mine which can clock to 1200/1500 and going 970 SLi.

shankly1985 · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:19

Stanners said:
What is the title of the thread, Did he quote Greg?

But it would seem its not only new tech that as the problem like he pointing out.

Orangey · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:20

LambChop said:
Hold the press....'New tech in scaling issues shocker'

Sigh.

LOL

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_hd_7970_crossfire_review,21.html

The modern GPU stringent titles scale anywhere from 1.6x towards a staggering 2x performance, and that's just impressive. Playing Crysis 2 at 2560x1600 in ultra quality mode with the HQ texture pack in DX11 at 70 FPS on average certainly brings a big smile to my face.

tommybhoy · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:24

Greg, this has happened before, the 340.72 driver fixed it, but it sounds like SLi/Gsync's been broken again on newer drivers.

Is performance the same on your other monitor or Gsync disabled?

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...smooth-gsync-sli-smooth/post/4312264/#4312264

Stanners said:
What is the title of the thread, Did he quote Greg?

Looks like he's blaming scaling as the problem-it's frame time delivery, pointed out by greg/[H].

The more that points it out, the quicker it should get fixed, the point of greg's op.

RichardH754 · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:35

Hmm, I might be going back to the Red team then, because Crossfire is a lot smoother now it seems!

Gregster · 12 Nov 2014 at 13:38

Well I am limited to how far I can go back with drivers (G-Sync limited) and it is certainly frame time delivery for me. Single card is unbelievable on G-Sync but SLI leaves me scratching my head.

I am uploading a vid to youtube that will hopefully show what is happening. None of this at all with a single card and whilst it isn't major, it is still annoying.

SS-89 · 12 Nov 2014 at 14:08

Rangerjr1 said:
But why would you need profiles? Make your own or change settiings manually lol

Oh wow really, I didn't know that!!? :rolleyes:

Whilst you could force a profile through CCC it didn't preclude it from being a glitch fest or flat out broken especially in a tri-fire setup where I would sometimes get negative scaling.

My experience so far of SLI has been better in terms of driver support for multi-gpu profiles. On the other hand like I said in my first post I found my 290X tri fire to be a smoother visual experience when it worked.

I'm not surprised you focused on the negative point I had about my experience with crossfire.

Gregster · 12 Nov 2014 at 14:40

This is the worst case scenario that I have noticed but it does it similar but not as bad in BF4, Bioshock Infinite, SEV2+3, Grid Autosport off the top of my head. Yet single card is perfect..

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI Overclocked GPU Review

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