TriFire motherboards with possible bottleneck CPU

[TehGiantSlayer]

New to the forum, been enjoying it so far!

 

Anyway, straight to the point, I'm building a computer. I already have my R9 290 Windforce @1.05KHz, and am planning on Tri-Firing it eventually, with incremental upgrades over periods of a month or two (not a possibility, it will happen, haha). I have several reasons for TriFire, and not just a 980 Ti. 1) Just plain much more powerful. 2) TriFire gets rid of a large majority of microstutter that's associated with CF.

 

I have a 1.05KW PSU, might get a 1.2KW. Anyway, I'm thinking of getting an MSI Gaming 5 mobo, but it only has 8/4/4 PCIE lanes while TriFiring. Now, I know that 8/8 only has about 2% performance decrease for CF, but I was wondering how much of a performance loss I'd be experiencing with 8/4/4 (all at 3.0), if anything significant.

 

Aside from that, this is mainly for gaming, so I'm probably going to get the 4690k, but I'm not sure whether that will be a noticeable bottleneck on the GPUs.

 

Thanks!

[blu4]

Welcome to the forum!

 

1. I can tell you straight away- don't do three way CFX. It just isn't worth it. 90%+ games work like rubbish with three cards. Two is the max you should go.

2. That will wreck your power bill.

3. The cards will run hot- very. In the summer you will melt. They are Windforce but they are also R9 290s.

4. You mean an i7 4790k? You won't be able to run a three way set up on an i5.

 

You are after something that is not feasible and you'll not be happy with it. If you want to get a high end gaming PC get an aftermarket 980ti or a Fury X if you're a AMD fan but for the love of god DO NOT DO THREE WAY CFX. sry for caps

[PineappleHolidays]

I would only do two way crossfire.

 

Also, an i5 would be fine for two way, but three way would be pushing it a bit ( imo )

[REDHOTIRON2004]

First of all, for the love of mother nature stop and think for a second. Why are you doing that?

The ozone layer is depleating, the ocean water level is increasing, greenhouse effect that would be produced because of your heater(computer) would submerge whole continents while you are probably playing crisis3 or shooting the bad guys. In the case, if you decide to go with this then you are the bad guy.

Ok facts(jokes) apart. Tri crossfire is only for benchmarks. You won't see any real world benefit because:

1. Drivers are usually not optimized even for 2way crossfire leave alone 3way crossfire x.

2. Games are themselves not optimized for 3 way setup.

3. The rule of diminishing returns also works here. And beyond a 2way crossfire you might hit a plateau or some limitation of the fps.

4. You need to have atleast 4k monitor to see any practical change in fps.

5. Remember to use helmets with other protective gear and have fire extinguisher ready just in case. Along with games you are also playing with fire. Yeah!

Get a custom 980ti. Overclock that beast. Its already 2 times more powerfull than a r9 290x. It uses less power and if you actually do a 980ti 2way sli then you would be looking at an awesome beast of your dreamz as sli scale better compared to crossfire.

[TehGiantSlayer]

Sorry for not replying, I never got a notification of responses on this thread!

 

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

1. I can tell you straight away- don't do three way CFX. It just isn't worth it. 90%+ games work like rubbish with three cards. Two is the max you should go.

2. That will wreck your power bill.

3. The cards will run hot- very. In the summer you will melt. They are Windforce but they are also R9 290s.

4. You mean an i7 4790k? You won't be able to run a three way set up on an i5.

 

You are after something that is not feasible and you'll not be happy with it. If you want to get a high end gaming PC get an aftermarket 980ti or a Fury X if you're a AMD fan but for the love of god DO NOT DO THREE WAY CFX. sry for caps

 

1. http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=383446
    http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/05/13/amd_radeon_r9_295x2_xfx_290x_dd_trifire_review/

    http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1791730

    What I'm saying is that 3 cards work pretty great

 

2. I'm aware

 

3. True, they will slowly evaporate the world's oceans, but it doesn't really affect their performance (aside from the throttling thing that AMD did, which is already a problem for 290s  :angry:)

 

4. No, I was referring to an i5 4690k. Is there something that prevents it, or will it just bottleneck slightly?

 

The reason I'm preferring 3-way CFX is because, although the third card doesn't scale THAT well, it adds decreases the frame-time variance that is inherent with 2-way. Basically, it makes the gameplay actually look smooth, which is sometimes an issue with CFX and SLI.

 

I'm not an AMD fanboy, but at $200 each, these cards are a hell of a deal. Also, the 980 Ti and Fury X are more than the price of three 290s. I'm thinking about CFX because of the incremental upgrades, I don't want to shell out $650 in one go 

[TehGiantSlayer]

First of all, for the love of mother nature stop and think for a second. Why are you doing that?

The ozone layer is depleating, the ocean water level is increasing, greenhouse effect that would be produced because of your heater(computer) would submerge whole continents while you are probably playing crisis3 or shooting the bad guys. In the case, if you decide to go with this then you are the bad guy.

Ok facts(jokes) apart. Tri crossfire is only for benchmarks. You won't see any real world benefit because:

1. Drivers are usually not optimized even for 2way crossfire leave alone 3way crossfire x.

2. Games are themselves not optimized for 3 way setup.

3. The rule of diminishing returns also works here. And beyond a 2way crossfire you might hit a plateau or some limitation of the fps.

4. You need to have atleast 4k monitor to see any practical change in fps.

5. Remember to use helmets with other protective gear and have fire extinguisher ready just in case. Along with games you are also playing with fire. Yeah!

Get a custom 980ti. Overclock that beast. Its already 2 times more powerfull than a r9 290x. It uses less power and if you actually do a 980ti 2way sli then you would be looking at an awesome beast of your dreamz as sli scale better compared to crossfire.

 

Although I am a proponent of environmental causes, it's worth it

I LOL'd so hard, haha

 

No, but really, I don't think a 980 TI is 2 times as powerful as an r9 290x, especially if you overclock the 290x. But the thing is, one 980 TI costs more than triple what a 290x costs. Two 980 TI cost nearly as much as my whole current PC! Hahaha, although that would be nice to imagine

 

EDIT: For a response to the points you listed, read my previous reply.

[TehGiantSlayer]

.

[Nena Trinity]

Crossfire beats SLI we all know that but Tri-Fire will kill your PSU unless it is a VERY GOOD ONE!

[blu4]

-snip-

I still disagree, tri-fire is stupid. Not worth the money for PSU upgrade, heat output, power consumption and scaling. Had a look on the websites you posted and those are user reviews that will vary. $200 bucks for a single 290? For three that's around $600- that can get you an aftermarket cooled 980ti that OUTPERFORMS this three way set-up. In BF4 1440p a 980ti OC gets average 83FPS, Metro Last Light 70FPS.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/06/nvidia-gtx-980-ti-review-all-the-power-of-the-titan-x-for-650/2/

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti-review

http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti-review/

 

Just don't get a three way xfire. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[TehGiantSlayer]

I still disagree, tri-fire is stupid. Not worth the money for PSU upgrade, heat output, power consumption and scaling. Had a look on the websites you posted and those are user reviews that will vary. $200 bucks for a single 290? For three that's around $600- that can get you an aftermarket cooled 980ti that OUTPERFORMS this three way set-up. In BF4 1440p a 980ti OC gets average 83FPS, Metro Last Light 70FPS.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/06/nvidia-gtx-980-ti-review-all-the-power-of-the-titan-x-for-650/2/

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti-review

http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti-review/

Just don't get a three way xfire. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

You are right. TriFire does lack in many areas, although it is great in others. I think it just depends on the individual if they're willing to put up with the cons for the pros. The 980 TI is a much simpler option, though, so it seems like a better choice

[blu4]

You are right. TriFire does lack in many areas, although it is great in others. I think it just depends on the individual if they're willing to put up with the cons for the pros. The 980 TI is a much simpler option, though, so it seems like a better choice

Simpler

Easier

Cheaper

 

Anyone on this forum will tell you that 1 single high end GPU is better than 3 lower/medium. It's great for mining but not for gaming.

[TehGiantSlayer]

Simpler

Easier

Cheaper

Anyone on this forum will tell you that 1 single high end GPU is better than 3 lower/medium. It's great for mining but not for gaming.

Well, to be frank with you, it could be optimized to be a better solution than a single card, but that would take too much effort (and money, with watercolor ). For the fun of it, I wouldn't mind trying it, but money and time issues, so it's not happening, hahaha.

Anyway, thanks for your opinions on the topic!