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Nub Question

No1newts

No1newts

No1newts

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What would be the benefit of running 2 graphics cards over 1?

Also would it be better to get 1 really good card or cheaper cards which, added together, would perfrom better?

I know, don't mock the foolish please :(:p
 
in some cases running two cards can be better than just 1
in others cases such as more power needed, more heat, the need for better airflow.

the usually official answer is, 1 better card is better than 2 lower end cards, everyone has differences on this, some cards work flawlessly for some, while the same cards offer nothing but headaches etc etc :)
 
Seraph said:
in some cases running two cards can be better than just 1
in others cases such as more power needed, more heat, the need for better airflow.

the usually official answer is, 1 better card is better than 2 lower end cards, everyone has differences on this, some cards work flawlessly for some, while the same cards offer nothing but headaches etc etc :)
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Thanks

I was thinking of getting http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-112-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Would there be a viable 2 card alternative or is this good enough to handle most things without bother?

What is the benefit of running 2 cards, in general?
 
a 570 should handle most things quite nicely, what exactly would you be using the card for? Gaming? what resolution do you use?
 
Well i thought that was pretty obvious tbh, the benifit of running two cards over one is the increase in performance... which was up to 70% last time i checked. However don't get pulled into thinking this is straight forward because we still see some games that misbehave or do not utilise properly when running xfire or sli, its probably something you should take some time to read up on (there is loads avaliable for this just simply by googling).

As for the second part to your question; there are more things to take into consideration than that, for example two cheaper cards may not have support for newer technologies such as DX11.. which you are going to want for pratically all new games coming out for the time being.
 
Not sure about SLI but Crossfire now runs up to 100% faster in quite a few games. I might be wrong but from reading posts here and in other threads, crossfire gives less headaches in terms of driver support. They are also constantly updating their driver set to include crossfire support for the latest games.
 
On the NV side, you would be able to use NV Surround in SLI, or 3 or 4 independent monitors outside of SLI, or one card dedicated to PhysX for supporting games. Also, the general benefit would be to achieve more performance than a single GPU can deliver.
 
You're better off with a single high end card.

No chance of SLI issues or micro-stuttering.

A single 570 will happily pump out good frame rates on a single 1080p display on all currently available and most future titles for a while to come...and when you feel you really NEED to upgrade you could look at SLI then!
 
ghutchison14078 said:
You're better off with a single high end card.

No chance of SLI issues or micro-stuttering.

A single 570 will happily pump out good frame rates on a single 1080p display on all currently available and most future titles for a while to come
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If the OP can afford a high end card then fair enough. Nothing beats crossfire price/framerate right now.

I've had no issued with my crossfire(2 x 6850) so far. But only tried about 4 games so far, all of them almost double the framerate. I think the only card that can come close to performance is the 6990 and that in itself is a very power hungry card.
 
rocsen said:
If the OP can afford a high end card then fair enough. Nothing beats crossfire price/framerate right now.

I've had no issued with my crossfire(2 x 6850) so far. But only tried about 4 games so far, all of them almost double the framerate. I think the only card that can come close to performance is the 6990 and that in itself is a very power hungry card.
Click to expand...

As we all know there are pro's and con's to SLI/Xfire setups...at the end of the day its up to the individual to weigh it all up and decide what he really wants / needs from his GPU

If you're only running a 60hz lcd then whats the point of a setup that can run call of duty at 250fps....a single 570 like the OP first suggested is an excellent single card solution for anyone running a single 1080p display and wants the eye candy turned up on the vast majority of games (Metro and Witcher 2 aside :D )
 
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If you have a set budget and aren't sure whether to go for sli/CF or single card, get the single card.

A single card takes less space in your case, allows you to upgrade in the future, runs cooler, isn't subject to micro stutter, needs less power.

If you spent your money on two cheaper gpus, you might get very slightly better performance.on some games and GPU combinations, but if you're the kind of person that wants that extra 2fps on a few games, the better option is to get one better gpu, then get a 2nd later once you've saved for it.
 
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