Multi-GPU Performance Evaluation

[PopcornMachine]

@ Popcorn

 

I am sorry you feel that it was biased. It was written that way because it's the truth. I don't sugercoat anything if I don't like something I will tell you why. A year ago I was a huge ATI fan but I just got frustrated with the same bs over and over again.

 

As for only 10% have 30" LCD's we have no way of really actually knowing to be honest. The idea of testing at that resolution is to see what the cards can do.

 

FYI X38 and X48 boards do not have SLI so I am not sure if that is a typo but I get what you are saying.

 

60 or 70 FPS is a good range to play at no doubt about it. Just remember the higher resolution you go the more the cards take a hit. 4850's in CF would not power a 30" LCD properly for a good gaming rig hence the reason we showed a few different combo's to give people and idea where things fall in.

 

Everyone has different needs and wants for what they want for their system

 

 

My mistake on the chipset. I meant 780i or 790i.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that your experience is not everyone's experience. Certainly not mine. I had an 8800 GT and it died on me after 6 months, but I'm not taking sides or saying I would never use Nvidia again.

 

I hope to be more mature than that, and I would hope people writing articles like this would be too. But your attitude and quick dismisal of my points indicates to me that your mind was made up before the article was written.

 

So now I know what to expect from this site. You're just trying to be right, and not actually help people with their purchases.

Edited April 28, 2009 by PopcornMachine

[ccokeman]

Each person has their own needs. Not everyone will want or need a system with this kind of graphics solution. But those who do use multiple GPU solutions at larger than 1680x1050 will find this useful. Many times the CPU will be a limitation so you have to show a larger resolution with a higher clocked processor to make sure the GPU is the limiting factor not the CPU. 2 4830s is not a bad combination at 1680x1050 but there are those that want or need more. If its any consolation I ran ATI up until the 8800s first appeared and I could no longer ignore the performance. Support is a major concern for me. I have had driver issues more times than I care to count when ATI launches a new product. They have been getting better but they are not there yet. They release drivers once a month period, unless there is some overwhelming need that they are getting bashed over. Nvidia is more responsive in this regard at this point. As I have said before my loyalties lie with whomever is going to give me the best performance. I have been a huge AMD fan and may well be one again but currently I have Intel and Nvidia. In the past it has been AMD and ATI. Performance is what draws my dollars.

 

Thanks for the constructive dialog!

[Bosco]

I guess what I'm saying is that your experience is not everyone's experience. Certainly not mine. I had an 8800 GT and it died on me after 6 months, but I'm not taking sides or saying I would never use Nvidia again.

 

I hope to be more mature than that, and I would hope people writing articles like this would be too. But your attitude and quick dismisal of my points indicates to me that your mind was made up before the article was written.

 

So now I know what to expect from this site. You're just trying to be right, and not actually help people with their purchases.

 

And thanks for acknowledging that the platform costs could be important.

Say what??????

 

You missed the point completely..

 

Everyone has different needs plain and simple. You may run your computer one way and I will run at another way. Did I ever say i would never use ATI again no I didn't. My experience is not yours of course not yours is not mine either.

 

Of course my mind was made up before I wrote this article we have been working on this for 4 months so I knew well in advance were everything stood. I know its hard for you to understand where i am coming from being that you are not in my shoes, but I play with alot of different cards and I wrote based what we tested and what I have played with over the last few months.

 

How is what we did not helping? We gave you two of the highest resolutions and showed you were the cards fall in performance wise. If we tested at any lower resolutions the testing would have been pointless. What did I say in my conclusion? I said to do your research on the games you want to play and see where both NVIDIA and ATI fall in the mix. Read and ask questions to find whats right for your needs. How is that not helping?

[GaiusMaxwell]

My mistake on the chipset. I meant 780i or 790i.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that your experience is not everyone's experience. Certainly not mine. I had an 8800 GT and it died on me after 6 months, but I'm not taking sides or saying I would never use Nvidia again.

 

I hope to be more mature than that, and I would hope people writing articles like this would be too. But your attitude and quick dismisal of my points indicates to me that your mind was made up before the article was written.

 

So now I know what to expect from this site. You're just trying to be right, and not actually help people with their purchases.

 

No-one's experience is anyone else's experience, however, several people can have similiar experiences, what you describe in the 8800gt example is a very personal experience that may have been shared by a very small group of people. bosco's statements about ATI driver issues are completely true and the experience of sub-par driver performance by ATI has been shared by a very large group of people - it is a consistent experience, not a 1 off thing.

 

If his mind was made up before the review was written (which it probably was) it doesnt take ANY credibility away from the actual facts in the review..go look at it yourself, ATI and xfire produce sub par numbers in all but (3?) tests.

 

Bosco isnt trying to be right, he is right, there is a difference. By using his summary, many new hardware enthusiasts will buy nvidia - so can you explain why getting people to buy nvidia is not helping people purchase the best quality products? the numbers speak for themselves, and im sure anyone who read this review to get an opinion of whether to SLI or Xfire had already made their decision LONG before they read bosco's summary.

 

You sound like an ATI fanboy that is trying to cover up ATI's poor driver updates and xfire support by bringing attention to a negligable summary. By your logic if a football reviewer was biased to a certain team, and that team was on top, that football reviewer would not be helping football enthusiasts by saying the team he is biased towards is on top/the best.

 

Facts/numbers > logic

 

protip: If u were going to buy from an unknown website, you would probably google to find reviews/opinions based on personal experiences by people who have used the site before, if it had 20 reviews saying they will steal your money, then im sure you wouldnt buy from them. i can assure you more than just bosco has experienced bad ATI driver support.

Edited April 28, 2009 by Whatislove

[Jiv]

Great article, thanks guys. :thumbs-up:

 

If possible, can you guys add in more cards, curious to see how the 9800gtx+ performs. ^_^

[DLS2008]

Great article, thanks guys. :thumbs-up:

 

If possible, can you guys add in more cards, curious to see how the 9800gtx+ performs. ^_^

The reviewers are working on it, but it takes time. Bosco mentioned doing another article with lower priced cards/possibly single cards. However, this current evaluation took nearly 4 months as it is. Reviewers have lives outside of reviewing computer parts and there were sure a lot of combinations to test.

[Jiv]

The reviewers are working on it, but it takes time. Bosco mentioned doing another article with lower priced cards/possibly single cards. However, this current evaluation took nearly 4 months as it is. Reviewers have lives outside of reviewing computer parts and there were sure a lot of combinations to test.

 

Yea I know dude, sry if I sounded impatient or something, didnt mean it that way. Appreciate the effort they put in to make this review possible. Was just trying to say if its possible, since it will be useful thats all.

[wevsspot]

Reviewers have lives outside of reviewing computer parts and there were sure a lot of combinations to test.

 

Amen brother! I don't think that a lot of people realize that most (if not all) of the folks doing these reviews have "other" full time jobs than just getting to play with nice hardware and writing reviews. And formulating a testing methodology, conducting the extensive benchmarks and testing, then compiling and reporting the results is a very time consuming project.

 

I applaud every single person on the review team here at OCC. They do an outstanding job considering all of the other constraints. Thank all of you guys.

 

I came away from the test report with some well defined facts and personal thoughts. The facts as I see them are that the current generation of nVidia cards are the performance kings in either single card or multi-gpu configurations. From experience nVidia drivers overall are more mature and trouble free than those released by ATi, and nVidia does a better job of responding to driver issues as soon as they are aware of them. If you are gaming at 1920X1200 60mhz pixel refresh rates then even a pair of ATi HD4850's will get the job done for most game titles.

 

And that last statement leads me into my closing thoughts (which have already been vocalized multiple times in this thread). A wise hardware shopper understands what he/she wants/needs out of the hardware they purchase. Hopefully purchase decisions are based on why you need a particular piece of hardware and where the price to performance ratio falls. Others will be constrained to green/red team hardware decisions based on the motherboards that they already have or intend to buy. Either way, whether you go ATi or nVidia as long as you understand your wants/needs and purchase accordingly you will probably be happy as long as the card isn't DOA or doesn't give up the ghost one day after the warranty expires

 

I certainly appreciate the time and effort that went into compiling and presenting these test results. In fact, as result of reading the report I found myself at NewEgg yesterday afternoon drooling over new video cards (specifically nVidia cards). Then I hit myself in the head with a hammer and reminded myself that my two lowly (but inexpensive) HD4850's play everything I like to play, at frame rates well above what my monitor can display at 1920x1200 resolutions and with most of the eye candy turned on and set at medium to high.

[DLS2008]

Yea I know dude, sry if I sounded impatient or something, didnt mean it that way. Appreciate the effort they put in to make this review possible. Was just trying to say if its possible, since it will be useful thats all.

O, I knew what you meant. I was just pointing out how long it takes. I'd like to see a single-GPU comparison at some point as that's what many people use.

[IVIYTH0S]

O, I knew what you meant. I was just pointing out how long it takes. I'd like to see a single-GPU comparison at some point as that's what many people use.

and a single/multi GPU OC'ing competition

though that might be too much

Edited April 28, 2009 by IVIYTH0S

[Judicatorr]

O, I knew what you meant. I was just pointing out how long it takes. I'd like to see a single-GPU comparison at some point as that's what many people use.

 

You can already get that here in the Best Graphics Card for the Money Review. And ATI holds their own. I don't think you can go wrong with either nVidia or ATI. It simply boils down to how much $$ you want to spend for the performance you'll need.

[Compxpert]

Isn't the reason why ATi fails out in most of the tests due to a lack of proper support for crossfire? From my experience with ATi drivers they aren't bad and the worst issue I ever had was the Display adapter fail error from vista. For me Nvidia cards are still just too expensive so to me I get better bang for my buck with ATi.

 

Honestly I do wish ATi would re-write their their entire code base from scratch because I honestly believe they could do better with their drivers. I would also like to see them take interest in distributed computing again as I see no reason why they aren't upping the ante and competing with Nvidia on all levels.