Dual GPU card VS SLI & Crossfire

[JezEngland]

Hi.

This question is regarding dual GPU cards VS single GPU cards with the same GPU's and GPU stats, if that doesn't exist imagine please and processors that are not bottlenecked by the PCIE bandwidth.

Does running SLI give better performance than a dual GPU card because it's using 2 PCIE slots?

I think there may be better syncronising engineered using 2 PCIE slots (SLI) VS syncronising 2 processors (dual processor card) through 1 PCIE slot.

Thanks

 

[dielbe]

Hi.

This question is regarding dual GPU cards VS single GPU cards with the same GPU's and GPU stats, if that doesn't exist imagine please and processors that are not bottlenecked by the PCIE bandwidth.

Does running SLI give better performance than a dual GPU card because it's using 2 PCIE slots?

I think there may be better syncronising engineered using 2 PCIE slots (SLI) VS syncronising 2 processors (dual card) through 1 PCIE slot.

Thanks

Dual GPU cards in SLi is best

 

[JezEngland]

Dual GPU cards in SLi is best

I don't believe it because of quad SLI

 

[marick626]

I don't believe it because of quad SLI

There isn't much performance difference by running 2 5850s in crossfire and a single 5970 (2x 5850 chips). I don't think PCI-E bandwidth would be a big issue. The only real advantage to a dual chip GPU would be the cost savings.

You are probably referring to the GTX 590 or 6990 that are coming out. In my humble opinion, two GTX580s will be faster than a single GTX590 but that is mere speculation.

 

[JezEngland]

Ye OK thanks. I don't know how the motherboard PCIE lanes and BUS are involved with the syncronsing

With info I found the PCIE bandwidth will be a problem at high tripple monitor resolutions. This is 480 results: http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8/2

 

[thestepster]

the single cards in sli/xfire will be better than the dual card as overclockin will be limited cause of the heat of 2 chips on one board, plus the specs of the 590 are still up in the air, and the 6990 is going to be using those really hot 6900 series chips so expect that to be massivly loud and possibly crippled a bit to try and keep them temps down i think they will use 6970's in there toned down to a 6950 like they did in the 5970

its still strange sayin the amd is hotter and louder

and a lot of new members keep mentioning quad and tri set up, they are completely pointless unless its benching you are doing they work in very very very few games and u just end up with worse performance, and there are a lot of members on here that dont even like sli/xfire and just say get the best single card u can afford

 

[JezEngland]

OK, Is there a difference in the possibility of micro stutter, syncronising and PCIE BUS etc related problems with the dual GPU VS sli/crossfire?

 

[thestepster]

its more to do with heat with the dual cards, as u see the single top of the range cards can get really hot especially the 6900's imagine packing 2 of them onto the same pcb and tryin to find a way to cool with of them well enuff so u dont get into the 90's its a tall order so the 5970 it was a 5870 crippled to a 5850, the asus ares was a true dual 5870 card but the problem with that was the the price at release £1200 smackers

i couldnt comment how well they work as ive never owned one i was saved from buying a second hand 295

but the 5970 turned out to be excellent, previous dual nvidia cards were poo, but now they are on top in everything and they are doing things so brilliantly now they should be able to nail this down and take the crown in every category

but the thing with ppl liking only running one card is not all games play nicely with sli/xfire plenty out there will not even use the cards the same amount so when they are using them (one does vertical lines other does horizontal) that difference can hurt performance, or so i kinda worked out but i can be very wrong

 

[JezEngland]

OK, thanks

 

[JezEngland]

Maby the GTX590 and HD6990 is aimed at only 1 PCIEX16 2.0/2.1 slot motherboards and low overclocking ability as thats the best a motherboard like that can get. 2 dual cards is not worth wasting your bread and butter because of poor performance increase and big performance decrease possibilities of 4 GPU's and other problems. The heat produced is gona be massive. Overclocking is limited by heat and PCIE bandwidth.

A gaming/overclocking board with SLI Crossfire is better

People are gona google this and find our ideas

So cheap motherboard with GTX590/HD6990..nnnnNOoooo or expensive motherboard with GTX 580 SLI/HD6970 Crossfire please sir, YES your welcome

or you got a server cross science lab of a motherboard with PCIE slot packed with test tubes or summin like SSD's and just have 1 spare slot though Quadro cards, is there a dual Quadro for science? I just searched NVIDIA weB for it and didn't fine a dual Quadro, just SLI

Wat do u think?

 

[michaelah500]

I don't think there will be much performance difference between an SLi of two 580s and a single 590, to be honest. In terms of heat...both solutions can be a problem. Obviously the 590 will probably be similar to the 295 - HOT, though a lot of it is still rumours: maybe nVidia have sorted the heat problem or Asus can develop a decent DirectCU solution ? (Not forgetting a twin or tri fan cooler).

If there is any performance increase, I'm guessing two GPUs could perhaps performance better than a dual GPU card...because of the overclocking and tri SLI capabilities. Then again, maybe the dual GPU cards will benefit from having the two chips on one PCB (less distance to travel ?) just a thought.

To conclude, it would be a better idea to have a CrossFire/SLI setup on a top end motherboard than a single (or two) dual GPU cards.

 

[JezEngland]

yes.

the dual GPU will appeal with its multi monitor Nvidia Surround support though 2 480 @ PCIE 2.0/2.1 x 16 is bottleneck'd with tripple mpnitor resolutions like 5000x1200+, so 580's is

2 480's in 2 PCIE 2 x8 slots = x16 with tripple monitor setup results: http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8/2

You gota have a rare awkward build to need a GTX590 or HD6990 I think

distance to travel is tiny, it doesn't hurt performance, they are very fast. I don't know how fast and maby circuit boards circuitry is faster than fibre optics. does electricity travel faster than light with the right conductor?

I think the PCI bus on the motherboard synchronises the SLI/Crossfire cards and not sure though I think it'd be more effecient than a bus built into the dual card.

 

[marsey99]

iirc 2 5850s was 3/5% faster than the the 5970 at the same clocks but like its been said the dual gpu cards are aimed at people who cant fit 2 cards in their box more than people wanting to run 2 cards for x4 sli/xfire.

personally i think they started doing them again as a way to dupe some people into buying them as they are the fastest single card you can buy.

as for the 590 im hoping its a 3 screen 3d gaming monster that fits in 1 slot

 

[JezEngland]

Yes. I hope so too.

EVGA has a dual GPU card and a thread has it, maby 2-3 weeks old and in the vid theu said it'd be released soon. I haven't seen it for sale. It looks like a dual 560, has 2 GB memory and 2 8 Pin power sockets. In many ways that has more appeal to the GTX590 as it'll be cheaper with room for overclocking and the memory on the 590 is its appeal

like the ASUS ARES and MARS were like £1000ish + each and we can get a gaming motherboard and 2 580's with that money

 

[thestepster]

Yes. I hope so too.

EVGA has a dual GPU card and a thread has it, maby 2-3 weeks old and in the vid theu said it'd be released soon. I haven't seen it for sale. It looks like a dual 560, has 2 GB memory and 2 8 Pin power sockets. In many ways that has more appeal to the GTX590 as it'll be cheaper with room for overclocking and the memory on the 590 is its appeal

like the ASUS ARES and MARS were like £1000ish + each and we can get a gaming motherboard and 2 580's with that money

the new card from evga the 595 was meant to be to one of the top cards was announced b4 the 560 was released, if you dont mean that zotac were gonna make a dual 460 card but that ended up getting scapped

 

[JezEngland]

ye this 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HluSWlpxdPA

2 8 pin power sockets looks like 560's