Is crossfire worth it?

[Petecool]

what issues occur when using crossfire?

 

I am choosing between a 780 ti or crossfire 290s.

 

I would rather the 780 ti, but for the same price i could go for dual 290s and get much more  performance than a single 780 ti. 

 

I was wondering what issues occur when using crossfire, will all new games use both gups?

 

If I go for the cf 290s i wont buy the reference version. 

 

 

[Askew]

A pair of 290s will destroy the 780Ti in the vast majority of scenarios, however if I was going to build a dual GPU solution to day I'd use 2x GTX 780 with reference cooler.

[ZacDaMan72]

Crossfire the 290s.

[legend8887]

get the 780 Ti for now and then get a second one later on

[JoshM]

Lol you will have a ridiculous amount of performance with 290's in CF over a 780ti. My mates haven't run into CF issues at all tbh maybe the real old games, tends to be more SLI I have found. 

[wng_kingsley7]

http://www.eteknix.com/4k-gaming-showdown-amd-r9-290x-crossfire-vs-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-sli/

 

@Askew Not quite a fair conclusion to conceive that 780 ti sli wouldn't draw higher fps etc over the R9 290.

 

A pair of 290s will destroy the 780Ti in the vast majority of scenarios, however if I was going to build a dual GPU solution to day I'd use 2x GTX 780 with reference cooler.

Of course a pair will be better then a single card.

[Askew]

http://www.eteknix.com/4k-gaming-showdown-amd-r9-290x-crossfire-vs-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-sli/

 

@Askew Not quite a fair conclusion to conceive that 780 ti sli wouldn't draw higher fps etc over the R9 290.

 

Of course a pair will be better then a single card.

 

What are you talking about? 2 780Tis were never part of OP's question.

[GhostWindGamer]

CF the 290's

[Enderman]

Yeah two 290s will perform better, but there are quite a few issues with crossfire from what I've seen over the past year. Some people have problems with the drivers, others have issues with crossfire not performing well in their games...etc...

If you really need max performance because you are doing triple 1440p or 4k then get the 290s, otherwise I would recommend the 780ti for less hassle and you will still get awesome performance. You can always add a second one in a couple years if you upgrade to 4k.

 

My thoughts are avoid crossfire/sli whenever possible unless the top end card isn't enough. By top end I mean 780ti or 290x.

[xtroria]

CF the 290 yeah but just get ready with more power needed, you also probably should just do a water loop with kraken G10 and water cooler otherwise they will run pretty damn hot at CF

[SlaughterSmurf]

I went with 780ti since my PSU and motherboard couldn't handle the CF solution, I didn't want the extra heat output and I want to get shield and a G-sync monitor later down the line but I guess if I was building a new PC I would lean towards the CF 290, unless you could possibly SLI the 780Ti in the next few months??? But single 780 ti vs CF 290 I would probably choose CF 290.

[SlaughterSmurf]

Yeah two 290s will perform better, but there are quite a few issues with crossfire from what I've seen over the past year. Some people have problems with the drivers, others have issues with crossfire not performing well in their games...etc...

If you really need max performance because you are doing triple 1440p or 4k then get the 290s, otherwise I would recommend the 780ti for less hassle and you will still get awesome performance. You can always add a second one in a couple years if you upgrade to 4k.

 

My thoughts are avoid crossfire/sli whenever possible unless the top end card isn't enough. By top end I mean 780ti or 290x.

CF drivers have been fixed for the most part.

[RedSpade]

CF doesn't have too many issues but if you do come across a game breaking bug or annoying anomaly you can always stop CF and you'll still have a very powerful card.

 

Oh and the resell value will be better in the future along with bragging rights now.

[SlaughterSmurf]

CF doesn't have too many issues but if you do come across a game breaking bug or annoying anomaly you can always stop CF and you'll still have a very powerful card.

 

Oh and the resell value will be better in the future along with bragging rights now.

Does a 780 ti not constitute bragging??!?!?!?!

[Toto123456]

u buy 2x 290 ur set for 3-5 years, if u buy 1x780ti ur set for 2 years and have to buy another one later which will cost more. 2x290 cost £550 and 1x780ti cost £579. 

[Tacitus]

u buy 2x 290 ur set for 3-5 years, if u buy 1x780ti ur set for 2 years and have to buy another one later which will cost more. 2x290 cost £550 and 1x780ti cost £579. 

 

Skew the pricing much? Cheapest decent 290 I could find is £296 (Tri-x) and the KFA2 reference 780ti, the Zotac OC 780ti and the Gigabyte Windforce 780ti (from German Amazon) could all be had for under £460.

 

But I must agree, the performance of the 290s will be much better, frame pacing has been resolved and in games with Mantle support (a growing list) framerates are rock solid.

 

@Petecool Just make sure you get something like the Tri-x, Vapour-x, PCS+ or maybe Windforce at a push.

 

 

 

[Toto123456]

 

Skew the pricing much? Cheapest decent 290 I could find is £296 (Tri-x) and the KFA2 reference 780ti, the Zotac OC 780ti and the Gigabyte Windforce 780ti (from German Amazon) could all be had for under £460.

 

But I must agree, the performance of the 290s will be much better, frame pacing has been resolved and in games with Mantle support (a growing list) framerates are rock solid.

 

@Petecool Just make sure you get something like the Tri-x, Vapour-x, PCS+ or maybe Windforce at a push.

 

 

 

 

 

I found a 290 tri-x on ebay yesterday (£265 was the final bid + £12 shipping), it was brand new. I e-mail the guy why he is selling it and was told that he thought he needs 2x290 for 1440p but it turns out that a single card perform just fine for him and that he doesn't need to have two. which I thought was right coz I have the 290x and it was the right choice for 1440p, to be honest I was a little bit dissappointed in some games like metro last light where it was unplayable at high, I have to set it  to medium sometimes low!, I guess the game is badly optimized anyway, it doesn't look anywhere near as good as crysis 3 but it killed my 290x!

 

back to the point,

but the cheapest 780ti with ACX cooler I can find is about £540 (most are 579). I don't like other brand though, if I buy a gpu I willonly  choose the brand I trust like evga,msi for nvidia and only sapphire for amd. the 290 has excellent price/performance ratio, and is only about 20-25% slower than the 780ti but it cost nearly half the price, also even a single 780ti won't max out all games at 1440p anyway.

 

The only thing I think the nVidia has over the amd are software, noise, temp and the aesthetic (sometimes). I used to have the gtx 770 and seems to be experiencing less issue with their driver but F*** it, Amd is wayy cheaper, got my 290x for £200! but to be fair I liked the asthetic of the evga 780ti classified LOL!

[Tacitus]

I found a 290 tri-x on ebay yesterday (£265 was the final bid + £12 shipping), it was brand new. I e-mail the guy why he is selling it and was told that he thought he needs 2x290 for 1440p but it turns out that a single card perform just fine for him and that he doesn't need to have two. which I thought was right coz I have the 290x and it was the right choice for 1440p, to be honest I was a little bit dissappointed in some games like metro last light where it was unplayable at high, I have to set it  to medium sometimes low!, I guess the game is badly optimized anyway, it doesn't look anywhere near as good as crysis 3 but it killed my 290x!

 

back to the point,

but the cheapest 780ti with ACX cooler I can find is about £540 (most are 579). I don't like other brand though, if I buy a gpu I willonly  choose the brand I trust like evga,msi for nvidia and only sapphire for amd. the 290 has excellent price/performance ratio, and is only about 20-25% slower than the 780ti but it cost nearly half the price, also even a single 780ti won't max out all games at 1440p anyway.

 

The only thing I think the nVidia has over the amd are software, noise, temp and the aesthetic (sometimes). I used to have the gtx 770 and seems to be experiencing less issue with their driver but F*** it, Amd is wayy cheaper, got my 290x for £200! but to be fair I liked the asthetic of the evga 780ti classified LOL!

 

Lots of people would probably prefer to buy from a retailer than on Ebay, brand new or otherwise.

 

As far as branding goes Gigabyte has one of the best UK customer support and RMA service since they have a UK base and a 780ti from them can be bought for ~£450. KFA2 (Galaxy in the States) are one of the most reputable brands for Nvidia cards, and Zotac is Sapphire's sister company for nvidia cards.

 

290 is where my money will be going come September (unless solid news of new cards puts them very close) with intention to crossfire sometime soon, for 3440x1440. The scaling these days is just so good

[Toto123456]

Lots of people would probably prefer to buy from a retailer than on Ebay, brand new or otherwise.

 

As far as branding goes Gigabyte has one of the best UK customer support and RMA service since they have a UK base and a 780ti from them can be bought for ~£450. KFA2 (Galaxy in the States) are one of the most reputable brands for Nvidia cards, and Zotac is Sapphire's sister company for nvidia cards.

 

290 is where my money will be going come September (unless solid news of new cards puts them very close) with intention to crossfire sometime soon, for 3440x1440. The scaling these days is just so good

I know gigabyte is a good card but i never had one so I can't tell whether they are good or not. 

 

still nvidia price their high end card to high, I liked their mid range card though, the 750ti, 760, 770(is this considered high end card?), as they are perfect for ITX build, low temp, noise, card's length, great performance. but the 780 and 780ti are just way overprice compare to the amd card.

[Tacitus]

I know gigabyte is a good card but i never had one so I can't tell whether they are good or not. 

 

still nvidia price their high end card to high, I liked their mid range card though, the 750ti, 760, 770(is this considered high end card?), as they are perfect for ITX build, low temp, noise, card's length, great performance. but the 780 and 780ti are just way overprice compare to the amd card.

Even at mid-range (760, 770) AMD beat out Nvidia for pricing and many now view the 280x superior to 770 for its extra VRAM.