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Looking ahead. How worth it are dual gpu cards?

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Nephilim

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Location
Cosmic dance between earth and shadow
Hiya,
Im planning out the further updating of my rig, got the 3820 SB in eyesight :p
And Im trying to think about graphics solutions,

I would rush out and get a 690 (after some saving that is) but Im wondering how functional dual gpu cards really are. Is it going to share all the same problems outright that an sli/cf setup will? Because that kind of limits the amount of games it will even be useful on.

I was kind of holding my breath to see what other vendors would do with an hd 7990 but that remains to be seen.

Anyway, I dont really want to hold back with this next upgrade cycle but do you think I should roll with a 690 or CF some 7970's or wait to see what next gen brings in the coming quarter/next year. (and instead spend the money on nice frills like SSD's and better ram etc.



I would love to here some first hand experience of 690 owners, how good the drivers are etc.
 
I wouldnt bother with the X79 platform for gaming. I really wouldnt get the X79 platform and a 3820 (the whole point of that platform is for Hex cores). 3770K and Z77 + 690 will be BOSS.

That said, yes, the 690 shares the same concerns of SLI/Crossfire as it is SLI on a single card.

There is no point in 'better ram' as it returns nearly nothing for you outside of benchmarks.

Assuming you are rocking 1920x1200 or less, a single 680 or 7970 will be fine for a couple years.
 
You are going to get a two repsonses from this site... one side will tell you that youre always better off with a powerfull single card and then the other side will point out how much more power you can get out of a dual GPU setup for the money...

My 2cents....

A single card will never be as powerful as a crossfire set up for the same amount of money.

A crossfire setup will consume more power and generate more heat than a single card.

Not all games scale the same for crossfire so your returns will vary as compared to a single card.

Setup is very easy for either setup because the drivers now adays are very 'turn-key'. You do have the added annoyance of updating CAP's which are Crossfire Application Profiles that are designed to better utilize the Crossfire scaling for a given game but you install a new CAP whenever you are updating your video drivers...

Crossfire/SLI setups really shine when using multiple monitors and might top out on a single 1080p monitor dep on the settings and game.
 
On of the reasons for the wanting to upgrade is I might be wanting to run a triple monitor setup someday soon.

Is the 3820 really not a good choice? I was also looking at the 3930 but for the difference in money...
I thought Ivy wasnt as strong for gaming?
 
On of the reasons for the wanting to upgrade is I might be wanting to run a triple monitor setup someday soon.

Is the 3820 really not a good choice? I was also looking at the 3930 but for the difference in money...
I thought Ivy wasnt as strong for gaming?

ivy is strong its slightly better than SB and those are SB-E chips but they just meant its pointless to have a 6 core cpu for gaming, wont help much if at all and its a waste to have an SB-E quad core on an SB-E platform :)

1155 platform is more than plenty strong for any gaming you could ever want :) atleast until its outdated lol
 
ivy is strong its slightly better than SB and those are SB-E chips but they just meant its pointless to have a 6 core cpu for gaming, wont help much if at all and its a waste to have an SB-E quad core on an SB-E platform :)

1155 platform is more than plenty strong for any gaming you could ever want :) atleast until its outdated lol

Ok I think I understand now. I am admittedly out of the loop when it comes to Intel stuff, and as much of a traitor I feel for wanting to switch over at that xD

I just wanted to get the best I could for up to like 500 bucks on the cpu, I was a little thrown off on some of the Ivy bridge specs since on paper it seemed like SB stuff was better but I didnt know. Well back to shopping I guess :p
 
For a multimonitor setup a 690 is a good choice.. or any multiple cards.. Its almost a requirement to have really.

But yeah, Z77 and 3770K over X79 and a quad. If you can and want to afford it, grab 3930K, but if you arent using hte extra cores, I wouldnt spend the money.
 
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