Multi GPU, different models/generations, task "splitting"?

Hey guys,

I read an article in PC Gamer about the use of different manufacturer GPU's in the same machine, amd and nvidia in the same rig, which is an interesting thought in it self, but what I found more interesting was in the comments.

Link to the article: http://www.pcgamer.com/could-directx-12-or-vulkan-apis-make-slicrossfire-obsolete/

Picture of the comments:



So what does he mean?

Wouldn't using a 660ti with a 970 severely limit the 970?

Could tasks be "delegated" by the 970 (master GPU) to the 660 (slave GPU)?

Or maybe I'm completely misunderstanding

yes you are misunderstanding using a slower as a dedicated physx card will increase performance in games that use physx... eg the 660 would sit idle until its needed to process physics algorithms in games. not to be confused with SLI.

also what they are doing with dx12 shouldnt be confused with either one, from what i gather it will treat the cards as completely different entities using both cards full power to run game processing not using the cards together as one but completely seperate handling different parts, perhaps one handling terrain generation while one handles light / shadow processing ect. but i skimmed through it really quick didnt quite read it in detail.

there already had been a motherboard that would let you combine nvidia and amd cards and use bother their processing power to render games, and it did it well, though off the top of my head i cannot remember what it was exactly..

wagex said:

yes you are misunderstanding using a slower as a dedicated physx card will increase performance in games that use physx... eg the 660 would sit idle until its needed to process physics algorithms in games. not to be confused with SLI.

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I'm having some trouble understanding you here.. The 660 would give a system with a 970 a performance boost, correct? By letting the 660 handle a task (physics). Instead of the 660 limiting the 970 (SLI)?

wagex said:

also what they are doing with dx12 shouldnt be confused with either one, from what i gather it will treat the cards as completely different entities using both cards full power to run game processing not using the cards together as one but completely seperate handling different parts, perhaps one handling terrain generation while one handles light / shadow processing ect. but i skimmed through it really quick didnt quite read it in detail.

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I don't see this type of coop between different manufacturers ever happening.. It would wash out the reasons for choosing either one of them, meaning you could just choose one of both and get the benefits of both.

The 660 would give the 970 a performance boost, assuming the game supported Physx calculations. If it doesn't, then there will be no benefit. All it would do is offset the Physx calculations to the secondary card so that the first/primary card (970) wouldn't have to do it.

Ah, alright.. It could be worth keeping an older GPU then, instead of selling it (assuming that its value is low compared to its power). Are there any common problems associated with this?

Erik89 said:

I'm having some trouble understanding you here.. The 660 would give a system with a 970 a performance boost, correct? By letting the 660 handle a task (physics). Instead of the 660 limiting the 970 (SLI)?



I don't see this type of coop between different manufacturers ever happening.. It would wash out the reasons for choosing either one of them, meaning you could just choose one of both and get the benefits of both.

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if someone wrote software to do it, it doesnt matter what they want. like i said there was already a motherboard that let you crossfire / sli any nvidia card with any amd card, i cant remember it was some kind of fusion hybrid thing.

wagex said:

i cant remember it was some kind of fusion hybrid thing.

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MSI P55A Fusion

wagex said:

like i said there was already a motherboard that let you crossfire / sli any nvidia card with any amd card, i cant remember it was some kind of fusion hybrid thing.

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Yes I saw that, but you edited your reply several times while I was writing a response so I didn't get that part until I had already posted.

Mr.Scott said:

MSI P55A Fusion

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What happened with the Fusion? Was this not a welcomed function when it was released?

ah, yeah, sorry i do that.