2x R9-290, when did crossfire become terrible?

[LtMatt]

Hi!

I used to play with crossfire 290s. Certain issues pushed me over to the other side (primarily HDMI 2.0, but also things like heat, noise, and profile problems), but while I had my crossfire setup I loved the performance.

I broke my replacement card, so I'm back on the 290s while I wait for Polaris/Pascal. I fired up a few games like Witcher 3 and Ryse to see how the crossfire profiles had improved, and in most cases I found performance was terrible. Geralt's shoulder pads don't flicker any more, but the game visibly crawls.

A quick look at afterburner shows that while crossfire is working, the 2nd GPU isn't really doing anything.

So... when did crossfire become terrible? Is there a particular highpoint driver version I could look to roll back to for Witcher 3 in particular?

For the Witcher 3 ensure you make these tweaks to overcome some obstacles.

 

[Final8y]

Yeah, i wouldnt do it globally, it would probably make a mess of films, i just set up rivatuner to do it in games that need it to reduce the lag but mainly to get rid of the stutter, GTA feels so horrible when it hits 60 fps.

I do notice the judder but for me its the lesser of 3 evils.

Btw with more cards in crossfire does it increase the lag? I remember reading a guide ages ago where a guy tested response times, he was getting like 60ms with vsync off, 100-110 with vsync on then as high as 140+ with crossfire but im sure he was only using 2 way crossfire. Does it get even higher with more cards? The reason i ask is cause when 295s get cheap enough i was thinking about going 3 way crossfire, always wanted to try it but i dont think i could cope if ya get more lag and stutter.

Its can increase the lag depending on the game.
The only game that i have played that 3/4 way increased stuttering over 2 way was in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit on my 5970 quadfire, a lot of the time 3/4 way will decrease stuttering over 2 way.

We repeated this same test using a number of games yielding different average frame rates. So long as the average is above 30 FPS, the resulting output is almost stutter-free. Minor differences in when frames hit the screen are not apparent, and so they don't bother us at all. The experience is similar to using a single GPU.

After analysing the dual-card configuration, this is certainly not what we were expecting.

Interim Assessment

Amazingly, the three-way setup has a tremendous advantage over two cards in CrossFire.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,review-32256-6.html

As you see both 3 and 4 way are much smoother than 2 way and a lot has improved since then with CF, the problem is that games at the moment are an un optimized mess which have stuttering and lag problems even on single cards bring multi gpu into the mix is likely to make things worse most of the time but there have been occasions where multi GPU has overcome the issues.

 

[LtMatt]

Unfortunately the 6xxx series and earlier did not have the benefit of frame pacing technology.

Multi GPU does not just require a driver update/profile, it requires work from the developer so that the game engine is friendly towards Multi GPU. Not all developers place a high priority on supporting two or more GPUs, as most gamers have one GPU - which is understandable.

Despite that, I still enjoy using CrossFire because when it works well it enables me to game at a high resolution with the highest available image quality settings. When it doesn't work, you revert to single GPU with FreeSync technology to smooth out those 32-55 FPS scenario's. Multi GPU is for the enthusiasts and you have to accept that it's not going to work in every title.

I'm going to make a prediction, DirectX 12 is going to see an improvement for Multi GPU users.

 

[Final8y]

Unfortunately the 6xxx series and earlier did not have the benefit of frame pacing technology.

Multi GPU does not just require a driver update/profile, it requires work from the developer so that the game engine is friendly towards Multi GPU. Not all developers place a high priority on supporting two or more GPUs, as most gamers have one GPU - which is understandable.

Despite that, I still enjoy using CrossFire because when it works well it enables me to game at a high resolution with the highest available image quality settings. When it doesn't work, you revert to single GPU with FreeSync technology to smooth out those 32-55 FPS scenario's. Multi GPU is for the enthusiasts and you have to accept that it's not going to work in every title.

I'm going to make a prediction, DirectX 12 is going to see an improvement for Multi GPU users.

I hope so because Mantle was like Liquid Velvet on my setup.

 

[nashathedog]

Agreed, less focus seems to be on dual gfx cards now and more on achieving 4k.

Considering how dual card is the only way to get playable maxed out AAA gaming that consistently hits 60 fps it's crazy how dual card support has gone to the dogs.

It may be a pipe dream but I'm hoping the next gen's next gen flagships may make the need for dual card set-ups a thing of the past.

 

[BluD]

I kinda like it having the games needing better systems than are available at the time, kinda gives people who enjoy building overclocked systems summat to work towards.

 

[P4Clock]

CF 7950's was the best set up i ever had it destroyed all. When i CF my 290x's i spend more time gaming with CF disabled as the experiences in game was better.

Now days the king is a single powerful GPU

 

[HEADRAT]

I've tried crossfire on a number of occasion over various generations of cards and have never found it anything less than infuriating.

If you enjoy gaming then buy the single fastest card.

If you enjoy endless hours of debugging and tinkering trying to get it to work then go crossfire (you'll usually end up disabling it and just playing on one card)

when it works well

The key word their is "when", this isn't all AMDs fault, obviously the people that code the games also have their part to play but as far as I can see it's pretty much a shambles. We used to have separate crossfire profiles, now they are just introduced when their is driver update (a step backwards IMHO)

It may be a pipe dream but I'm hoping the next gen's next gen flagships may make the need for dual card set-ups a thing of the past.

Maybe but I seem to remember this promise since the inception of crossfire!

I'd really love to add a second Fury X to my system but before I do the whole things needs to get a lot better, maybe my perception is outdated so I would love to see posts from others