latentjones

The Beginning: How I found Crossfire 390's
 
I have just upgraded my rig to a Crossfire setup running two Sapphire R9 390's. I just wanted to start a thread that covered benchmarks and my first hand experience in games so that people who might be interested in this setup could find some detailed information. I tried to research benchmarks and gaming experiences before my upgrade but found that there really was very little. Hopefully this will prove beneficial to some and perhaps just curious and interesting to others.
 
So first things first, here is my rig:
 
System
CPUIntel i5 4590 @ 3.3 MotherboardMSI Sli Krait ed RAM2x 8gb Crucial CT102464BA160B DDR3 GPUR9 390 (Sapphire) Crossfire CaseFractal Design Define S Storage1tb HDD 120gb SSD PSUEVGA Supernova GS 850w Gold Display(s)BenQ XL2730z 1440p 144hz Freesync Cooling2x 140mm Fractal Case fans 1x Non branded 120mm Case Fan KeyboardKane Pro MouseKane Pro SoundSades SA-902 Headphones Operating SystemWindows 10  
N.B. I will update the specific model of Fractal fans I have but for now note that they are the ones that come with the Define S case as standard. I'm thinking of upgrading them to Fractal Venturis but I digress.
 
The first benchmark I ran was Unigine Valley. These were my settings:
 
Preset: Custom
API: DirectX 11
Quality: Ultra
Stereo 3D: Disabled
Monitors: Single
Anti-Aliasing: x2
Fullscreen: On
Resolution: 2560x1440
 
On the single Sapphire R9 390 at stock speeds the results were:
 
FPS: 51.0
Score: 2132
Min: 24.6
Max: 91.6
 
Reasonably respectable I thought.
 
FYI, Core was at 1040, Mem Clock was at 1500, Power Limit at 0 and Voltage at 0 (This is the card at stock/ Sapphire's factory overclock).
 
Temps on the single card never went above 76c and I ran the benchmark for at least an hour and a half. I also found this to be the case in while gaming. Credit to Sapphire's Nitro cooler.
 
The benchmarks for the Crossfire setup with both cards at stock and at the same settings as before:
 
FPS: 84.2
Score: 3525
Min: 25.8
Max: 143
 
Temps on the top card reached and stayed at around 86/87c in the three hours that I ran the benchmark, this is the card that the display port cable was connected; my primary card. The second card reached and stayed around 77/78c. Both cards had 100% utilisation.
 
Again, respectable and a clear improvement. I'm not sure how to work out if these gains are a reasonable return on my investment (RoI), I spent £268 on the second card. Regardless, I was going to do purchase the second card as I've never tried Crossfire before and I wanted to try and clear the mist surrounding the benefits and drawbacks. Some people rave about it and others say it is always more trouble than its worth. At this point I was more than happy I took the plunge. 
 
I should say that in most of the forums I inquired about crossfire the most common answer was 'Get a 980ti' or 'Wait for Pascal/Polaris'.
 
To respond to the first I want to make clear that I have  Freesync monitor, and feel I would be wasting a really enjoyable aspect of my rig by forfeiting Freesync and buying an Nvidia card.With that in mind I will want to stay with AMD until I replace my monitor which wont be soon as it is a recent purchase.
 
Hence my response to the second most frequent comment is that the first wave of Polaris GPU, the Polaris 10 and 11, will focus more on performance per watt and my research has led me to believe that the next enthusiast level cards that really show massive gains in performance wont be until Vega and that is due for release in 2017. This I suppose is my justification, if I even need one. 
 
To be continued.
 
 
In the next post I will be writing up real game benchmarks and experiences. 
 
Thanks for reading.
 
 
 
 

And? I don't like it ether. Nvidia compares performance in relation to their last series of cards but has bumped the pricing up a full tier. But two 1070s in SLI use less power than my 980ti, that's nuts. And the 1070 matches my 980ti and even beats it in new titles. So if they can get the price, can you blame them? Do you want capitalism? Most of the rhetoric used by AMD fans is jealousy. 

Release GimpWorks and make even more money?

there is also the idea of "build it and they will come".
 
Sometimes, you just gotta do something stupid and see if someone bites.
 
And for gaming YES.
there is more OEM systems sold world wide each year, used for gaming, then there will ever be custom rigs in total in a DECADE.
 
Most
People
are
fucking
morons
and
go
buy
their
shitty
PC
at
bestbuy

i think that guy works for all the major tech companies.
I bet he was the one who stole the DX12_0 compliancy of your Maxwell card

Funny, my Time Spy score is just fine. So are my fps in every DX12 game I play. It's almost like the whole thing is blown out of proportion for the sake of drama.
 
NA!

Woah this thread got real fruity.
 

No i think you should buy a GTX 1080 and a 1440P monitor.

I'd go after that CPU first. You could almost jump up to Skylake with what a 1070 costs. And like Morgan said the 390 is plenty.

I'd agree with @App4that. I had the 390 Nitro, two in fact and I found 1440 playable. I now have the 1080 and that was a hell of a jump even from two 390's. 
 
But I would upgrade to a 6700k and a Z-170 and then wait for 1080 prices to come down or wait for 1080ti or Vega.

No HBM2... Weak game Nvidia.
 
I'll keep my 1080 until the 1180ti by the looks of things.
 
 

After looking AIB 980s are going for ~$250 you can sell your current one for that basically making the 1070 $180, if it costs you close to $180 for another 980 you should just get a 1070. 

Here we go. 
 
*mortal kombat soundtrack*
 
FIGHT! (over polymers and semi-conductors and fancy stickers)

Did you know that the USA is the entire world?

Brother, that's not just burning.
 
I raise you:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXVGQnJm0w
 

Whoever said I was a saint? 

Jealousy has arisen from my groin region.

*Clickidy clickidy clickidy*
 
 
I despise trolling as well, but when the toxicity arises from people giving into emotional impulses regarding, essentially luxury electronics products, I can't help but letting it fly at least.

Well someone was going to start this thread. Yeah I'm not a very good troll.

Posted June 25
 
yes please tell me its quiet
 
 
Yea "fixed"
 
 
And apparently it flickers as well. Good lord.
 
https://m.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4mz4wa/driver_36839_faqdiscussion_thread/
 
 
I am the hardest one. :> 
"I ain't no fanboy"
*proceeds to create a thread to bash AMD"
 
hahahaha
Can we just watch the flames now please?

Well someone was going to start this thread. Yeah I'm not a very good troll.

This is now a silly hat party! I'm wearing a ten gallon cowboy hat and Don is wearing the Spider-Man mask!
 
Yay! Parties! 

I must admit this hasn't been that toxic. Well played LTTF

You: 
 
"I ain't no fanboy"
*proceeds to create a thread to bash AMD"
 
 
You a couple weeks back:
 
 
I am the hardest one. :> 
 
 
hypocrisy hɪˈpɒkrɪsi/ noun   the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.