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SLI or Top End Single?

Caporegime
Joined
25 Jul 2003
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I have two R9 270xs.

I can SLI them happily, in fact I am doing now, and it seems fine, but would I be better off just selling them and putting the money towards getting a super duper graphics card?
 
*AMD - Crossfire nVidia - SLI

Anyway, most would agree that going for the highest priced single card you can afford is the best option and allows for crossfire/SLI at a later date if needed with more powerful cards.
 
*AMD - Crossfire nVidia - SLI

Anyway, most would agree that going for the highest priced single card you can afford is the best option and allows for crossfire/SLI at a later date if needed with more powerful cards.

Indeed. It also means you're not reliant on driver scaling to reach maximum performance. While it is pretty good now in both camps, that's not always the case with newer games.
 
Doh yes Crossfire sorry.

Budget isn't really an issue, but it's going to be my last computer related purchase for a fair while. Might then be best to move to a single R290X.
 
Get 290, not 290X - not worth the price increase for the amount of money you pay. Could even consider GTX 780.
 
Doh yes Crossfire sorry.

Budget isn't really an issue, but it's going to be my last computer related purchase for a fair while. Might then be best to move to a single R290X.

Go for a 290P, the difference in performance clock for clock between a 290P and 290X is about 9%. Also the 290Ps can often overclock higher as they have less active silicon and therefore produce slightly less heat.

Depending on the game one benefit a single powerful card can give over two weaker cards is higher minimum fps.
 
Although most of the above advice is good, why are you switching if your current 270X Crossfire setup is 'fine'? Moving to a 290X or a 780TI will net you about the same performance you have now. I agree with the sentiment of changing, but i think if it ain't broke why try and fix it. Just something to consider, maybe.
 
I have just chucked in another GTX670 and FPS has doubled in Crysis 3. This cost me £130

On the downside some games dont support SLI (properly anyway) like Titanfall and heat, noise and power usage has obviously gone up.

I quite like having to 'tinker' to get certain things working but overall it has been a better purchase than shelling out on a new card
 
All comes down to cost vs performance divided by hassle :)
Great when it works and pain when it doesnt.

Cant beat saving £100s to get same performance as a single card though.

Maybe different situation if you are doing new build from scratch but if you already have the cards and they are running why spend loads to get same performance you already have? :(

Plus two cards look soooo much nicer in a pc :)
 
Go for a 290P, the difference in performance clock for clock between a 290P and 290X is about 9%. Also the 290Ps can often overclock higher as they have less active silicon and therefore produce slightly less heat.

Depending on the game one benefit a single powerful card can give over two weaker cards is higher minimum fps.

What is a 290P? Non-reference 290?
 
All comes down to cost vs performance divided by hassle :)
Great when it works and pain when it doesnt.

Cant beat saving £100s to get same performance as a single card though.

Maybe different situation if you are doing new build from scratch but if you already have the cards and they are running why spend loads to get same performance you already have? :(

Plus two cards look soooo much nicer in a pc :)

This!

However, I think it depends on res. Anything under 1200p I would stick. If you are higher than that, then yea, a 290 or a 780.
 
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