/?pid=6208

Updated:05:55 AM EDT Mar 28


this is ggmania.com subsite Crossfire vs SLI Performance Comparison - TechAmok

Crossfire vs SLI Performance Comparison - [hardware]
06:48 AM EDT - Apr,27 2009 - post a comment

The chaps over at OCC have published a new review on a Crossfire vs SLI Performance Comparison. Here's a bit:
So what did we learn from this little exercise? I learned that SLI is the more mature multi-GPU solution currently. In each of the three classes, the Nvidia technology and their video cards lost no more than four times out of 40 tests, with all things being equal - this being in the quad GPU class. Each of the other classes delivered a 37 to 3 margin of victory for team Green. Each set of cards was run at the default factory settings in the control panel to show what Joe Average will get out of a plug and play system. Could performance be improved upon by manipulating the settings in the control panel? Sure it could - on both counts, but this was about running what the system defaults to. The only deviation from this is in 3DMark Vantage, as the Nvidia cards share a distinct advantage in the PhsyX tests. The reasoning is that Futuremark does not allow the scores when the GPU does the PhysX calculations, because ATI does not have an equivalent technology to compete right now. Right now, SLI is the way to go for multi-GPU performance in the games tested in this comparison. The downside to this is that it will cost you a little bit more to get this performance, as ATI seems to have the pricing game down pat at the performance levels I looked at here. With just raw cost as a factor the GTX 295 quad GPU setup will set you back just over $1100, while the HD 4870x2 combo will only (insert sarcasm here) set you back $800-$1000 depending on the cards you buy. The Sapphire cards will only set you back 400 bucks each, instead of the more popular pricing of 500 bucks. In the single GPU card class, the GTX 285 combo will cost you almost $700 - at a cozy $680 - while the HD 4890 combo only goes for $530, with prices scaling downward based on the video card's capabilities. That being said, the best value per frame per second delivered is the GTX 260 SLI combination at $3.44 per FPS at 1920x1200, and $4.59 per frame at 2560x1600. In most of the games tested, the GTX 260 SLI combo did not deliver the best performance, but it was able to hold its own. Raw performance goes to the Quad SLI GTX 295 combo.

For most of us, at some point the power bill gets to be a concern - especially when you run a distributed computing project on both your CPU and GPUs. The power company wants their piece of the pie just like everyone else. While our test systems are not the most power hungry, it pulls a decent amount of power under load. The loser in the power consumption testing has to be the HD 4870x2 CrossFireX setup. With our systems and these two cards under load, the system pulled a total of 936 watts from the outlet. As a comparison, the Quad SLI setup used 757 watts from the mains. This scenario continued when the dual GPU cards were pulled out of multi-GPU mode, with the 4870x2 pulling 656 watts, and the GTX 295 pulling 471 watts under load. In the third class, the GTX 285 SLI combo did pull more current than the HD 4890 combo, with the GTX 260 setup falling between the HD 4870 and HD 4850 CrossFire setups.

When you look at the scaling in performance you get from going to a quad GPU setup, it is not going to be anywhere near 100% in most cases. There were a few instances where the scaling on the HD 4850x2 and HD 4870x2 scaled closed to 100% - which was a real surprise. This was the exception, and not the rule. In turn, there were games where there was no scaling whatsoever with cards in CrossFireX, while the SLI combo scaled well. That's something that could be a driver fix, to enable better CrossFire support in games. To use all this video horsepower, you will need a monitor that runs no less than a 1920x1200 resolution, as anything else means you are just throwing money away. The ideal solution is to go with that 30+ inch monitor you have been lusting over to take advantage of the firepower. Currently, Nvidia and its SLI technology is the performance winner here, on this system, with the drivers and video cards tested. The numbers are the numbers, and this is what they show. ATI has great price points, but they just can't deliver overpowering performance for that price. On the other hand, Nvidia delivers the performance but at a steeper price. The old adage "you have to pay to play" comes to mind here. By paying, you have a GPU that is capable of doing much more than just create pretty pictures for us to look at on that magic screen. With Nvidia's CUDA technology, you have a wide array of applications ready to take advantage of the parallel computing capabilities of its architecture, such as vReveal from Motion DSP which allows you to clean up poorly shot video, Badaboom for converting video to most popular mobile formats, Folding@Home where performance is just amazing, with more coming each week, it seems. You have GeForce 3D Vision to immerse you in the game. GPU Acceleration in Photoshop! What more do you need? Drivers? Why yes indeed, Johnny. Nvidia seems to be more committed to delivering drivers almost as fast as I change my underwear (yes, it's a daily occurrence), while ATI is still stuck on a once a month schedule, and you need to hope and pray they work. One thing that could overcome the performance problems is having user adjustable CrossFire profiles so the performance is there. When there is no scaling or negative scaling, a profile for that game may be all that's needed to excel, but currently that's not the case. Price is a point of difference, but there is more to it than a GPU that costs less but offers less. You don't pay Hyundai dollars and expect Corvette performance. Sometimes you get a surprise, but now its ATI's turn to swing for the fences. The potential is there on the CrossFire side of the fence.


Add your comment (free registrationrequired)

Short overview of recent news articles

Mar,28 2024 Intel's Battle Has Just Begun
Mar,27 2024 Unreal Physics is a new free game on Steam
Mar,27 2024 Is The World's Cheapest Hardware Wallet SafePal S1 Worth It?
Mar,27 2024 Yes, this was a Bad Idea (Emergency Wall-Mounted PC Build)
Mar,27 2024 11 Cool Command Line Programs You Need to See
Mar,26 2024 When you Accidentally Compromise every CPU on Earth
Mar,24 2024 Everyone Who Tried This Has FAILED - Khadas Mind Modular PC
Mar,24 2024 Air Cooling is Dead
Mar,24 2024 US Justice Dept. Sues Apple for Monopolistic Behavior in Smartphones
Mar,24 2024 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Official Teaser Trailer (2024) Michael
Mar,22 2024 Alien: Romulus | Teaser Trailer
Mar,22 2024 NVIDIA Is On a Different Planet
Mar,21 2024 Everyone Needs This and it's Under $10 - Handy Tech Under $100
Mar,21 2024 20 COOL GADGETS FOR 2024
Mar,21 2024 Nvidia's 5090 Is Built From WHAT?!
Mar,20 2024 Parasyte: The Grey | Official Trailer | Netflix
Mar,20 2024 Fastest m.2 on Planet EARTH | Crucial T705 Nvme Review
Mar,20 2024 LG's new 480Hz OLED dual-mode monitor
Mar,19 2024 First 9.1 GHz CPU (overclocked 14900KS)
Mar,18 2024 Haley Messick - Saatisfaction @bennybenassi - In10sive Mastercamp
Mar,18 2024 1000W CPU: The Most Powerful Desktop Processor
Mar,18 2024 Expands Snapdragon 8 Series to Cover More Price Points
Mar,17 2024 Train Vs Lamborghini
Mar,16 2024 Don't use a Microsoft Account!
Mar,16 2024 This Ghillie Made from MIRRORS is SHOCKINGLY GOOD
Mar,16 2024 How Hackers Deliver Malware to Hack you using Social Media
Mar,15 2024 Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile - Launch Trailer
Mar,14 2024 Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core
Mar,14 2024 Asus Goes Big with Zenfone 11 Ultra
Mar,14 2024 House Passes Bill to Force Sale of TikTok
Mar,14 2024 Motorola Brings More Affordable 5G Phones to its 2024 Lineup
Mar,14 2024 Capristan Swim - Miami Swim Week | Art Basel Miami
Mar,11 2024 The Most Stunning All SSD NAS Ever? Inside QNAP's All-SSD
Mar,11 2024 M2 vs M3 MacBook Air - ULTIMATE Comparison!
Mar,11 2024 Risky PC Experiment: Direct CPU Water-Cooling! Can It Survive?
Mar,11 2024 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from
Mar,10 2024 I tried the Cheapest Arduino Alternative (that Nobody heard of)
Mar,10 2024 This is the WEIRDEST PC I've ever seen.
Mar,10 2024 Nvidia Retires GTX 16 Series, GDDR7 Arrives, FSR Upscaling Going AI?
Mar,09 2024 The New BIOS Hack That Bypasses Every Antivirus
>> News Archive <<

TechAmok - Privacy Policy        loading time:0.01secs