CROSSFIRE OR NOT TO CROSSFIRE, That is the Question

[GollyWog]

Hello, i currently have a R9 380x in my system if i wanted to upgrade should i either buy another more expensive more powerful card to replace it or should i buy another 380x and run in crossfire mode, FYI i have an appropriate power supply just wanted to information and knowledge.

[App4that]

Don't crossfire. You only see a benefit in games that support it, and you uses twice the power and generate twice the heat.

Sell the 380x and get a better single card.

[suchamoneypit]

I dont think its worth it to crossfire that card, especially since some games dont support it, or dont support it well and then you left without a lot of the benefits. Selling it and getting a better single GPU is a much better decision.

[Guest]

380x is very recent card, just wait until pascal/polaris and get one high end card.

 

 

[MLG Doge]

It generally better to buy one better card than two lesser ones.

[thatguyyouknow75]

Why not? It makes your system look bad ass, and the majority of games and applications will support it. Wait for the card to go on sale or something

[thekeemo]

Unless it is a huge upgrade I would CF

[AnnoyedShelf]

5 minutes ago, GollyWog said:

Hello, i currently have a R9 380x in my system if i wanted to upgrade should i either buy another more expensive more powerful card to replace it or should i buy another 380x and run in crossfire mode, FYI i have an appropriate power supply just wanted to information and knowledge.

I'd rather not.  Honestly, you'll just end up with micro-stuttering and on top of that, games that don't support dual-gpu setups will run as poorly as if you just had a single card.  If you really want an upgrade, I'd flip the 380x and get something more powerful.

[suchamoneypit]

Just now, thatguyyouknow75 said:

Why not? It makes your system look bad ass, and the majority of games and applications will support it. Wait for the card to go on sale or something

the extra electricity, tons of extra heat, for minimal gain over a better single GPU and it looks a little cooler?

Crossfiring 380Xs just isn't the wisest decision. I'd only ever crossfire a high end card like 980 tis or Furys.

[thatguyyouknow75]

3 minutes ago, suchamoneypit said:

the extra electricity, tons of extra heat, for minimal gain over a better single GPU and it looks a little cooler?

Crossfiring 380Xs just isn't the wisest decision. I'd only ever crossfire a high end card like 980 tis or Furys.

Electricity is cheap assuming he has the proper psu, and there isn't minimal gain, I've built systems with lower end cards sli/xfire and they saw great improvement in the majority of applications. I'm running dual 970s and have never ran into an instance where I felt I didn't have enough power

[Godlygamer23]

4 minutes ago, suchamoneypit said:

the extra electricity, tons of extra heat, for minimal gain over a better single GPU and it looks a little cooler?

Crossfiring 380Xs just isn't the wisest decision. I'd only ever crossfire a high end card like 980 tis or Furys.

Minimal gains? Most games benefit from SLI/Crossfire and it's not "minimally." For electricity, getting a better single GPU might cause additional electricity to be consumed too.

[grayperview]

Depends on how much you can get for your current card, if you can get a good price for it sell, and get a fury series or 980 series card....if not find another cheap 380x and crossfire them, The issues with crossfire are massively over exaggerated, I have 400 or so games on my accounts (origin, steam, uplay) the only two i can think of that flatout didn't work with my 7970 in crossfire, where Batman Arkham knight and the golf club.

A few had micro stutter, these where solved using Raedon pro though...

[juank_smg]

I remember when i crossfire my 270x back in the day. It did make my system look awesome, but ... not really better performance on almost any game

[xb0w]

agreeing with @App4that here. it is much better to get a single card

[Weak1ings]

If you bought it really recently, you might be able to get a refund :P  The best of all options.  However, I'd suggest waiting for the next-gen stuff as the 380x should be fast enough for all of your non-4K gaming.

[App4that]

50 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Minimal gains? Most games benefit from SLI/Crossfire and it's not "minimally." For electricity, getting a better single GPU might cause additional electricity to be consumed too.

Most games huh? So I guess I imagined running crossfire with a 390/290 and not having a single game in my Steam Library benefit from it. /s

Big difference between the wattage used by a top tier graphics card and two mid level. Especially since we're talking about AMD. Also with two cards the air available for cooling is severely restricted, crossfire/SLI is best saved for top cards utilizing liquid cooling.

 

But I'll offer some evidence.

 

 

 

 

[Godlygamer23]

7 minutes ago, App4that said:

Most games huh? So I guess I imagined running crossfire with a 390/290 and not having a single game in my Steam Library benefit from it. /s

Big difference between the wattage used by a top tier graphics card and two mid level. Especially since we're talking about AMD. Also with two cards the air available for cooling is severely restricted, crossfire/SLI is best saved for top cards utilizing liquid cooling.

http://www.eteknix.com/sapphire-tri-x-r9-390x-8gb-crossfirex-review/

There's my counter to your first statement. Only game that didn't benefit from it was Arkham Knight. A higher performing GPU still has the potential to pull more power.

[App4that]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

http://www.eteknix.com/sapphire-tri-x-r9-390x-8gb-crossfirex-review/

There's my counter to your first statement. A higher performing GPU still has the potential to pull more power.

And what of the top card in the supposed crossfire set up, what about it's operating temperatures? And the power usage of the bottom card even when not utilized by the game? And where is a list of games that benefit from crossfire, not just have a crossfire profile?

Even a single 390x is substantially better than two 380x's when viewed from a overall prospective. And we haven't discussed the difference in VRAM. ROTTR uses all the VRAM you can throw at it. If you find a game that will reward your investment in two 380x's, it will laugh at the 4g of VRAM offered.

Sorry, in this case you're wrong. A single card is the better choice even when just looking at the next year of use.

[Godlygamer23]

5 minutes ago, App4that said:

And what of the top card in the supposed crossfire set up, what about it's operating temperatures? And the power usage of the bottom card even when not utilized by the game? And where is a list of games that benefit from crossfire, not just have a crossfire profile?

Even a single 390x is substantially better than two 380x's when viewed from a overall prospective. And we haven't discussed the difference in VRAM. ROTTR uses all the VRAM you can throw at it. If you find a game that will reward your investment in two 380x's, it will laugh at the 4g of VRAM offered.

Sorry, in this case you're wrong. A single card is the better choice even when just looking at the next year of use.

So what happens if someone wants a Fury X? Are you going to tell them to avoid it because of the lesser VRAM?

You can gain additional performance from Crossfire/SLI setups, and I never mentioned anything about heat. I talked about performance and power draw, and really, some people value performance over power draw anyways.

[App4that]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

So what happens if someone wants a Fury X? Are you going to tell them to avoid it because of the lesser VRAM?

No, I really don't think I'm wrong. You can gain additional performance from Crossfire/SLI setups, and I never mentioned anything about heat. I talked about performance and power draw, and really, some people value performance over power draw anyways.

Good point.

I do tell people to avoid the Fury X, and not for any other reason than cost/performance and the limitation of the 4g of VRAM. Sad thing is they crossfire like beasts. But heres what the 4g of VRAM does to the Fury X.