One Card is Not Better Than Two

[Lightnix]

So to safely sum up in this thread, I think we can say that a) its cheaper to buy second hand than new, and b) you need more umpf than the average Joe at 2000+x res.

Unfortunately, every time I look at the ridiculous prices people want for their second hand cards on the auction site I come back here and buy new. Liking my 5850. Originally intended to buy a second 4850, but 512k doesnt cut it these days. Back 15 months ago, 1mb cards were hugely overpriced - about £200 iirc. So I can safely say for me the 2 cards better than 1 theory doesnt really work in all scenarios.

512kB indeed doesn't cut it any more, but I have trouble finding anywhere that sold £200 1mb cards just 15 months ago.

 

[danyulland]

i had a nightmare with Xfire, bought 2x 4890 and theyd continually crash my computer only way i could get it stable in games was to put the fans on 100% and also have a sidefan on the case pushing air over them... in the end it wasnt worth the hassle i sold one of them on the bay.

although im not completely against it... on the same chip could be a different story... 4870X2's are going fairly reasonably on the aforementioned auction site.

 

[chaparral]

i had a nightmare with Xfire, bought 2x 4890 and theyd continually crash my computer only way i could get it stable in games was to put the fans on 100% and also have a sidefan on the case pushing air over them... in the end it wasnt worth the hassle i sold one of them on the bay.

You said that it only crashes when you overclock your CPU in this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18047876

Im almost certain it must be related to Bios settings now... If i run the CPU and Voltages at stock it runs fine... but obviously this defeats the object as this means running my processor at 2.66 rather then 3.5 which it easily reachs otherwise.

 

[gurusan]

Crossfire 4870s or even 4850s offer MUCH MUCH more bang/buck......but then you are stuck with 2 old and busted cards when you could have the new hotness!!!!!!!

 

[danyulland]

nah i found that, overclocking the cpu/memory/chipsets only made the computer crash faster due to more heat in the case. It'd still crash on stock but only after an hour or 2 of intense gaming.

After adding a side casefan blowing onto the cards at high speed the crashing went away. The problem was the fan had to be at top speed and sounded like a hair dryer, plus the fact i hate side fans as they just push dust all over everything.

On top of that even whilst playing games in hairdryer mode, i found that maximum framerates increased massively but minimum framerates didnt really improve too much if at all in some games. it just didnt seem worth it in the end.

IM now happily sat with 1x 4890 and an overclocked CPU, i think ill hold back now for the next big release as im happy with what i have for now.

 

[AMG]

Single card is better than two.

A. don't block off your other connectors, like PCIe 1x or PCI (if you care)
B cooler

and yes I know I have a crossfire system , two cards is more brag factor or if you need the powerz saying that could always have a GTX295, GX2 or a X2

 

[londonbairn]

nah i found that, overclocking the cpu/memory/chipsets only made the computer crash faster due to more heat in the case. It'd still crash on stock but only after an hour or 2 of intense gaming.

After adding a side casefan blowing onto the cards at high speed the crashing went away. The problem was the fan had to be at top speed and sounded like a hair dryer, plus the fact i hate side fans as they just push dust all over everything.

On top of that even whilst playing games in hairdryer mode, i found that maximum framerates increased massively but minimum framerates didnt really improve too much if at all in some games. it just didnt seem worth it in the end.

IM now happily sat with 1x 4890 and an overclocked CPU, i think ill hold back now for the next big release as im happy with what i have for now.

I'd say it's not the GPUs but your OC isn't as stable as you think it is. I have been through a few Crossfire configs and the crashes I got were down to poor overclocks (not enough vcore to be particular). Loads of people happily run crossfire.

Crossfire when I tried it was an excelletn platform.

 

[Randell]

Single card is better than two.

A. don't block off your other connectors, like PCIe 1x or PCI (if you care)
B cooler

and yes I know I have a crossfire system , two cards is more brag factor or if you need the powerz saying that could always have a GTX295, GX2 or a X2

you also forget the need for game specific profiles or driver fixes when games are first launched. Thats one reason I would be loath to go back to a Crossfire system (I had both a 3870x2, and 4850 Xfire).

 

[danyulland]

I'd say it's not the GPUs but your OC isn't as stable as you think it is. I have been through a few Crossfire configs and the crashes I got were down to poor overclocks (not enough vcore to be particular). Loads of people happily run crossfire.

Crossfire when I tried it was an excelletn platform.

Yes im aware many people run it without issue but i was speaking from my perspective.

My systems overclocked the same as it was before and its been running stable ever since, nothing has crashed and windows has been on pretty much 24/7, plenty stable enough for me. I dont understand why you seem to think that a pefectly stable system i.e. no crashes at all for several months will then crash every 30 seconds when adding a 2nd GFX card and you say its down to the overclock not being stable?!

Well whatever, all im saying is if theres a viable single core solution thats what ill be going for in the future.

 

[AWPC]

The OP is assuming that everyone has an X58 + Core i7 platform for maximum SLI/Xfire performance as well as a PSU which can supply 2 cards & all their other hardware as well as a 64 bit OS

2 Cards more than ever nowadays is for enthusiasts only who understand all the pros/cons and appreciate scaling is rarely 100% but usually double the cost.