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CrossFire or Upgrade?

avaktis

avaktis

avaktis

Associate
Joined
7 Mar 2016
Posts
25
AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor
Radeon R9 280X 3G
8G RAM
SSD
40Inch HD TV monitor - thinking of getting another

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I want to upgrade to the Radeon R9 Nitro 390 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Backplate (11244-01-20G)

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...rd-with-backplate-11244-01-20g-gx-373-sp.html

However, would getting another Radeon R9 280X 3G and using crossfire be a better upgrade solution? You can get the cards for around £100 now.
 
I love Crossfire, and it's been many years since I last used a single GPU (I've used 2 x 4870's, 2 x 5870's, 2 x 7970's and 2 x 290's).

I say that to explain my response is not based on prejudice. I would currently advise against using a multi-GPU setup if there is a single GPU that will give you the same performance. The 280X does not have the improvements to Crossfire setups that the 290 and later had (losing the bridge and using XDMA) and so a Crossfired 280X setup will not be as smooth under the best circumstances as a Crossfired XDMA setup would. Coupled to that, there are a lot of games that have been coming out over the past year or so that do not play nicely with multi-GPU and those that do seem to take a few game patches and driver updates before they work reliably. With DX12 giving more control directly to the developer, I personally think it will be a good year of DX12 game releases before we start to see devs utilise multi-GPU properly and well.

If you can hold out another 6 months, I would say keep hold of your 280X and wait it out for Nvidia and AMD to start releasing their next generation of cards before upgrading as that should make upgrading a really noticeable gain. If you definitely can't wait until then (I wouldn't be able to! :) ) then I'd vote for selling your 280X and upgrading to the 390 you've listed as you will gain approx. 40% more performance in most games going from a 280X to a 390 (based on my experience going from a 7970 to a 290) but be aware there will be some games that you won't notice any improvement for your money without recording the FPS before and after.
 
Confused Stu said:
I would currently advise against using a multi-GPU setup if there is a single GPU that will give you the same performance.

The 280X does not have the improvements to Crossfire setups that the 290 and later had

I would say keep hold of your 280X and wait it out for Nvidia and AMD to start releasing their next generation of cards before upgrading as that should make upgrading a really noticeable gain. If you definitely can't wait until then (I wouldn't be able to! :) ) then I'd vote for selling your 280X and upgrading to the 390 you've listed as you will gain approx. 40% more performance in most games going from a 280X to a 390 (based on my experience going from a 7970 to a 290) but be aware there will be some games that you won't notice any improvement for your money without recording the FPS before and after.
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to write your helpful post.

I heavily mod my game with min 2k and 4k textures wherever I can, lighting effects, shadows, etc.

I use the ENB Series all the time.

http://enbseries.enbdev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4654

My processor was getting to hot, so i invested in a Kraken watercooler,however, the card it getting around 80-90C.

Unfortunately I do not think I will be able to wait lol, but I will try and hang in there for 6months.
 
I don't know much about modding games, but if you're limited by your VRAM rather than by your GPU's horsepower, then you might well see a much bigger benefit going 280X (3GB) to 390 (8GB). Do you use Afterburner to monitor your GPU? If so, do you ever notice the GPU usage dropping below 100% while your VRAM usage is maxxing out?
 
I'm using a 7990 which is essentially crossfire 280X - it's crap.

Most recent big games didnt support crossfire at release - when it's finally patched in there are bugs.

I'll be going single card at upgrade time.
 
Confused Stu said:
I don't know much about modding games, but if you're limited by your VRAM rather than by your GPU's horsepower, then you might well see a much bigger benefit going 280X (3GB) to 390 (8GB). Do you use Afterburner to monitor your GPU? If so, do you ever notice the GPU usage dropping below 100% while your VRAM usage is maxxing out?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately when I use afterburner I cant move in my game :P

I use CPUID Hardware Monitor Pro. I played Skyrim fully modded to look nothing like the base game for 30mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvXfT-sBylM

I have all overhauls.

Results MAX:

GPU temp:77C

Fans:3239RPM


Utilizations: 100%

Graphic Clock: 1100MHz
Memory Clock: 1500MHz

This is run through an SKSE (Script Extender) and ENB series.

The games looks 100x better than the new fallout and any game I have ever seen.
 
Last edited:
avaktis said:
Unfortunately when I use afterburner I cant move in my game :P

I use CPUID Hardware Monitor Pro. I played Skyrim fully modded to look nothing like the base game for 30mins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvXfT-sBylM

I have all overhauls.

Results MAX:

GPU temp:77C

Fans:3239RPM


Utilizations: 100%

Graphic Clock: 1100MHz
Memory Clock: 1500MHz

This is run through an SKSE (Script Extender) and ENB series.

The games looks 100x better than the new fallout and any game I have ever seen.
Click to expand...

At the end of the day R9 will start streaming texture data from system RAM. The FPS will be between 60-30. Averaging 43fps I believe.

I think I will take your advice and wait, however, if the card starts to get 90-100C to quickly then ill need to think about the upgrade or further cooling (cooling would be good to have anyway).
 
I'd recommend the 390 over crossfire 280 OP. No multi GPU issues, more vram for your high resolution textures and less power draw. Alternatively, you can wait it out for the release of Polaris before upgrading and hopefully get more bang for your buck.
 
As others have said, 390 over 280x xfire, but polarised is due this year and should bring big improvements. The big cards may not arrive until next year though, so depending on your budget you may want to upgrade now and then take the leap to the big cards on the new process, which should be very fast, or start saving now and hold on for up to a year. I would do the former tbh
 
Just go for it, you never really lose much money when you sell GPU's on Ebay... I just got rid of a 7950 after 5 years of hammering it... £150 then, £90 on Ebay now, waiting is a losers game.
 
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