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Hypothetical question.
- Thread starter stulid
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Soldato
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- Cornwall
This thread feels like entrapment... 
I'd be very tempted to switch them yes.
I suspect in most scenarios the 680 SLI will perform better, but a single 290 will probably be good enough for those either of those resolutions. It's also newer and you'd get TrueAudio, plus Mantle (although with DX12 that may or may not be such a big benefit long term).
There is, at least in theory, the option to go Crossfire later on (although by that time it might be worth considering an upgrade again).
I'm sure there's also a potential saving power wise, but probably not enough to affect the decision.
I'd be very tempted to switch them yes.
I suspect in most scenarios the 680 SLI will perform better, but a single 290 will probably be good enough for those either of those resolutions. It's also newer and you'd get TrueAudio, plus Mantle (although with DX12 that may or may not be such a big benefit long term).
There is, at least in theory, the option to go Crossfire later on (although by that time it might be worth considering an upgrade again).
I'm sure there's also a potential saving power wise, but probably not enough to affect the decision.
Associate
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- 1 Mar 2013
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- Ealing, London, U.K.
Non-Reference 290: Yes. Reference 290: No.
This thread feels like entrapment...
I'd be very tempted to switch them yes.
I suspect in most scenarios the 680 SLI will perform better, but a single 290 will probably be good enough for those either of those resolutions. It's also newer and you'd get TrueAudio, plus Mantle (although with DX12 that may or may not be such a big benefit long term).
There is, at least in theory, the option to go Crossfire later on (although by that time it might be worth considering an upgrade again).
I'm sure there's also a potential saving power wise, but probably not enough to affect the decision.
Blimey, never thought id be finding myself agreeing with the cornish gm. 290 with an option to add another one at a later date makes more sense.
This is what i found going from sli 670's to a single 780, 1920x1200 res.
I got by on a 750W psu with 290 crossfire at 1100/1400 so 850W be fine, unless he wants to run really big overclocks.
Hypothetically, i would not bother as i feel you would notice no difference between 2 x 680's and any single card, be that a 290 or a 780.
Hypothetically though if you want to get a 290 then do so
Remember the swap is effectively free..
Sell the GTX680 EVGA superclocked cards now before their value drops even lower and get a single fast card.
Would that not sound sensible to do?
Soldato
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- 29 Aug 2010
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- Cornwall
Depends how long you wait for crossfire of course. There may not be a compatible card available or by that time there may be something newer out and it might make more sense to sell one card and buy another rather than add a second (what will be) older card.
Depending on the cooling solution of both your cards and the 290 it may be quieter going to 1 card too (although with the 290s...).
The extra VRAM may also help at 1440p and even at 1080p with Mantle and its extra VRAM usage.
I will say that I've gone from Palit 570s and EVGA 670s to HIS 7950s and Sapphire 290s and to me the AMD cards 'felt' cheaper. I also, personally, prefer Nvidias driver package and control centre stuff more, but that may just be familiarity.
Let's see if LtMatt agrees with that!
Depending on the cooling solution of both your cards and the 290 it may be quieter going to 1 card too (although with the 290s...).
The extra VRAM may also help at 1440p and even at 1080p with Mantle and its extra VRAM usage.
I will say that I've gone from Palit 570s and EVGA 670s to HIS 7950s and Sapphire 290s and to me the AMD cards 'felt' cheaper. I also, personally, prefer Nvidias driver package and control centre stuff more, but that may just be familiarity.
Let's see if LtMatt agrees with that!
Depends how long you wait for crossfire of course. There may not be a compatible card available or by that time there may be something newer out and it might make more sense to sell one card and buy another rather than add a second (what will be) older card.
Depending on the cooling solution of both your cards and the 290 it may be quieter going to 1 card too (although with the 290s...).
The extra VRAM may also help at 1440p and even at 1080p with Mantle and its extra VRAM usage.
I will say that I've gone from Palit 570s and EVGA 670s to HIS 7950s and Sapphire 290s and to me the AMD cards 'felt' cheaper. I also, personally, prefer Nvidias driver package and control centre stuff more, but that may just be familiarity.
Let's see if LtMatt agrees with that!
Partial agreement.
I can't comment on Nvidia's drivers or their control panel as ive not had a Nvidia gpu since a Geforce 440 MX back in the day.
Stulid knows AMD drivers and CCC fairly well id imagine from his 280 crossfire setup so i don't need to add anything on this front. Works perfectly for me and if i need other tweaks, i just use RadeonPro. Though im fine with just CCC and afterburner personally.
I definitely agree that the extra vram will help. 4GB seems to be the sweet spot and covers all the resolutions. 2GB just won't cut it any more these days.
Penny for your thoughts gm?
This thread feels like entrapment...
I'd be very tempted to switch them yes.
I suspect in most scenarios the 680 SLI will perform better, but a single 290 will probably be good enough for those either of those resolutions. It's also newer and you'd get TrueAudio, plus Mantle (although with DX12 that may or may not be such a big benefit long term).
There is, at least in theory, the option to go Crossfire later on (although by that time it might be worth considering an upgrade again).
I'm sure there's also a potential saving power wise, but probably not enough to affect the decision.
This, IMO.
Depends, if its high refresh 1080 I'd stick with the 680's otherwise single 290 all the way.
I've used both amd and nvidia driver packages etc... A fair bit over the last year, the main thing I notice with nvidia over amd is the very little after driver tweaking that needs done, I found radeon pro essential to get the best from some games with amd, while on the green side its pretty much just plug and play.
Not to say having to use radeon pro is a bad thing, it offers plenty outside of fixing things, just that nvidias package is a little more fool proof for the average user
I've used both amd and nvidia driver packages etc... A fair bit over the last year, the main thing I notice with nvidia over amd is the very little after driver tweaking that needs done, I found radeon pro essential to get the best from some games with amd, while on the green side its pretty much just plug and play.
Not to say having to use radeon pro is a bad thing, it offers plenty outside of fixing things, just that nvidias package is a little more fool proof for the average user
Depends, if its high refresh 1080 I'd stick with the 680's otherwise single 290 all the way.
I've used both amd and nvidia driver packages etc... A fair bit over the last year, the main thing I notice with nvidia over amd is the very little after driver tweaking that needs done, I found radeon pro essential to get the best from some games with amd, while on the green side its pretty much just plug and play.
Not to say having to use radeon pro is a bad thing, it offers plenty outside of fixing things, just that nvidias package is a little more fool proof for the average user
Don't forget PG you used crossfire before frame pacing was implemented and you've not tried XDMA frame pacing either. A lot has changed since you had your 7970 cards. There is zero tweaking required these days.
As I said, I can only speak from what I've used, iirc last driver I used was ~13.7. The fixes I needed to make were never about smoothness or IQ, I was (if you'll remember) one of the people who said 'what stutter?' when the frame pacing thing came about, it was never something that bothered me. Fixes were more around getting crossfire to play nicely either due to buggy (or non-existent) drivers or buggy game patches. Was no bother for me as I actually enjoyed fiddling with things to get the best from them, just perhaps not the best for you average plug a card in and play type user.
If that's all changed in the last 8-9 months then good stuff as it was my one and only gripe with AMD drivers - having to use a 3rd party tool to get the functionality I required
If that's all changed in the last 8-9 months then good stuff as it was my one and only gripe with AMD drivers - having to use a 3rd party tool to get the functionality I required
As I said, I can only speak from what I've used, iirc last driver I used was ~13.7. The fixes I needed to make were never about smoothness or IQ, I was (if you'll remember) one of the people who said 'what stutter?' when the frame pacing thing came about, it was never something that bothered me. Fixes were more around getting crossfire to play nicely either due to buggy (or non-existent) drivers or buggy game patches. Was no bother for me as I actually enjoyed fiddling with things to get the best from them, just perhaps not the best for you average plug a card in and play type user.
If that's all changed in the last 8-9 months then good stuff as it was my one and only gripe with AMD drivers - having to use a 3rd party tool to get the functionality I required
Yes i do remember actually. I remember our bf3 testing.
Crossfire support is fine, usually its because of the game if its not working these days. Titanfall as an example. Thief was not working at launch, but the release driver did include a crossfire profile. It was not working until the game was patched (by Eidos) a couple of days after release though. I think the issue generally lies with games tbh these days more than lacking driver profiles. So many games these days seem to ship in an unfinished state.