Just wanted to say, I greatly appreciate how this video explained how different video cards can be xfired as long as they have the same gpu! I've been looking it up for days and so far this is the only video that has made that clear.
I like this guy. For someone like me who is just getting into making my own gaming PC, this is a very simple video. Detailed yet simple. He speaks quite clearly, pronouncing each word really nice. Thank you.
@TreyDee45 you could check the specs on your system and try to find the manufacturer, however most computer vendors use the reference card which is the graphics card straight from the original company that made it. you can however try to open your case if it doesn't void the warranty and check the card out, most likely it would be the reference card. Also go ahead and check the specs on the card to make sure that you can get it identical as it can be, i heard it runs a lot better that way.
It's like a distributed system from computer science. They work together to provide more efficiency and performance. It's like you and your mate lifting a wardrobe, although you have four arms lifting, none of you is focused on doing one thing different from the other, just lift the wardrobe. The plug can go in whatever VGA you want, they are working simultaneously anyway.
Hey Linus! Wanted to bring up a very good point: As of currently, you are able to run a Radeon 5850 and 5870 in Crossfire, as they are the same GPU clocked at different speeds and with a different amount of Stream processors. Even more interesting, they will perform less than two 5870s but more than two 5850s. Just wanted to give you that info as you said they had to be the exact same card (excluding vendor, PCB, etc). - Scott S.
There are bridges for 2,3 and 4-way SLI/CrossFire. I do believe they are still a single bridge just with more connectors on it. Also, if the cards you want to CF (I'm not sure if Nvidia cards can do that too) are mid-class, like a 6670 for example, then you won't need a bridge, as the PCI-e slots can handle the data communication between the cards.
Actually, you can run those cards at the same time if used on different monitors. You could actually run an ATI and Nvidia card together as well but it would be even easier since you can configure both cards at once with the Nvidia Control Panel.
I dont know whether someone have posted this, but you should also explain the difference between X-fire and sli bridge, which x-fire have a bigger head. As some of us need to buy a new bridge, for the 1 that comes with the mobo is faulty.
Linus, can you please make a video talking about how much RAM is needed for all sorts of different needs? Gaming, multi-media, video editing, standard use, etc? Please.
Thanks razzo161 for answering my question. I'm not really a hardcore gamer, I was mostly just curious if SLI was available for laptop. You answered my question. I am looking at Sedar laptops, though, because I want a fast laptop for video and graphic art projects. THX, bro.
@jamiegward1984 no that's not what he was saying..and I dont blame you for getting confused. it's a lot to take in. the part you're probably thinking of is. if you put two ati *( or now they are owned by amd) vid cards on a motherboard and configure crossfire or ( xfire as people call it that also) on SOME motherboard the motherboard will auto down clock the maximum bandwidth from x16 speed on both slots to x8. There's no performance difference than if both slots were x16 speed still. cheers
It's straight forward. plug in the 2 cards in their respective PCI- E slots.. connect the SLI bridge. to both cards.. then screw them both in tight to the case. then attach the monitor cable to the top card. ie the one nearest to the CPU. Depending on your monitor.. DVI, Display Port & HDMI will give you the best image results.
@NCIXcom Just need to update the Lucid Hydra drivers so you can play some current games out right now. The LH does support both 480 and 5870 together... the only problem is that Nvidia has disable some features on their cards anytime there's an AMD card present.
You can't wire together 2 different graphics cards. For instance, you can't put a GTX580 with a 570, but you can put 2 of the same GPUs of the same type together. a EVGA 560 and an ASUS 560 for example.
it's not usually driver issues so much as microstutter. the 7000s series cards have a much higher ms issue than NVidia at the moment. that said I was running 2 7950s with no noticeable issue, except heat ... which is why I am only running one until I can run my ac full time.
Well, technically, with the Lucid chip on certain motherboards, you can combine ATI and Nvidia cards, but I don't recommend that you do. There are going to be driver issues out the window, plus they don't scale nearly as well as SLI/CF.
Actually a single 6 pin power connector can only supply a maximum of 75 watts. Now even on nividia`s website a single 550 ti can consume a maximum of 116w of power on full load. When in sli it probably won`t run at full load so each card uses a little bit less watts depending on what they are used for. I run sli gtx 460s overclocked to only about 800mhz with a 650w power supply. Along with overclocked i5 2500k.
@assassinator64 My understanding was that AMD chipsets don't support the competitor's SLI standards (AMD now owns what used to be ATI.) There are boards that support AMD CPUs and SLI using chipsets from nVidia called nForce. The letters NF are usually in those boards' names. Still, for maximum versatility you'd be better off with an Intel chipset. It's academic really because most people have decided which technology they want before purchasing the board.
@NCIXcom no explanation on scaling linus? i think people want to know that part. Also, you should mention that when you sli or crossfire cards with different frequencies (core or memory) the SLI or crossfireX setup will scale down the card with higher frequency to the lower frequencies of the other card(s).
@PlayerUnkown yeah should be. Remember every processor is different and just because certain overclocks can be achieved by others doesnt mean you will be 100% guranteed to achieve aswell. If it isnt stable at 3.8ghz go for 4.0ghz. By the way what cooler are you going to be using?
your videos are great man, we all learn a lot, and it's not even boring, you sound profesional and fun at the same time, that's cool, that's why I watch your videos :D
No but if your motherboard supports lucidvirtumvp it can take some of the graphics power from that cpu and help out rendering in games to increase performance.
since the 550 ti uses only one 6 pin connector, it will not consume more than 100w. With a 600w power supply, you would probably be using no more than 550w as long as you don`t overclock and use more power. I checked on the geforce website.
IIRC only the GPU itself has to be identical. I don't know for sure however. I think that if you have 2 cards in SLI with different VRAM, the one with more will simply run better on higher resolutions. So if you have 3 screens and 2 cards in SLI, connect 2 screens to the one with more RAM. But again, I'm not 100% sure.
Well, you should really try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. But it could be possible. You'd have to run CoolBits to hack the registry so that you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate them together in SLI mode.
@1:50 there's a bit of a hiccup in this theory. I have an HD7870 and a more recent HD7870 that I was planning to run in CrossfireX but it didn't work out. Why? Simply because the generations of chipset had changed, even though they were still 7870's. The older one couldn't CrossfireX with the newer one (XT Boost edition) because supposedly the newer cards are actually running a 79xx chipset. I think that's tantamount to shifting the goalposts, so yes I was a bit pissed.
Now I'm sorry if this offends you in any way or manner(it shouldn't). Physical 4-Way SLI on GTX690's would firt of all not be impossible but would require minimum of 4000W of power(that would be around 3 1300W PSU's. Cost = 800€) and the cards them selves would be like 2600€ so combined cost would be 3400€. I'm pretty sure no one wants to put that much money for ONLY those components. And you would need a rather large case for 3 power supplies and 4 GTX690's :)
SLI = Nvidia's technology for connecting 2 - 4 graphics cards of the same type and series ie 460GTX can have SLI (1 card in each PCI - Express slot.) which is 2 cards connected via a SLI bridge, which is a ribbon cable. Then there's 3 way SLI 3 nvidia graphics cards connected together and so on up to 4way SLI.,AMD/ATI have their own system called Crossfire. works in the same way as SLI.2 or more graphics cards in the same series of AMD graphics cards connected together called crossfireX
@MiniExtreme That's not gonna happen until they resolve the heat issue of the Fermi GPUs. They are working on it right now and their new GTX580 runs cooler but more powerful than their GTX480 but still not quite cool enough. But they do have a dual GPU card which is quite powerful right now, the GTX295.
so what you're saying is that if it has the same chipset, it'll work. for example AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5770 and 6770 in theory should work because they have the same chipset and the exact same specs
@scooter1151 You also have certain motherboards that can run any two cards (even different GPUs and manufacturers). I think its either called "hydra" or "fuzion".
@gpopp008 a Phenom II x4 would likely bottleneck the SLI configuration in most gaming scenarios. It all depends on what games you're playing, what resolution, and what framerates you're looking for. In my own personal experience, I've noticed that a 965, and 560 non-ti work the latest and greatest right along side any enthusiast grade platform if they're both running 1080p or below. SLI'ing 560 ti's wouldn't be necessarily contributing to graphics fidelity for most games.
The GTX 660ti doesn't have the same memory bandwidth, a GTX 680 has a 256-bit memory bus whereas the GTX 660ti has a 192-bit memory bus. My guess is also that Nvidia makes a minimal difference in the PCB to not allow SLI.
@alexbeast14 CFX is more forgiving as far as what you can crossfire together - as long as the GPU's are from the same family (i.e. Cayman or Barts) you can crossfire them together. So, you can Crossfire a 6990 with a 6970 or even probably a 6950. The only thing is you'd need to overclock the 6950 so that it matches the performance of each individual GPU inside the 6990 - CFX and SLI are only as good as the slowest card in the set-up. nVidia, however, requires exact card matching - 590 need 590
I own a system with 6850 CF, this is what I have found: On 3d mark 11, I get a score of ~7400, a 7970 gets ~7900. But when a game does not have a good CF profile, I get single 6850 performance. And that is the rub, you will need to wait until AMD creates a profile for whatever new game just got released. Also some people seem to get "micro stutter". Pros: Superb performance for a lot less money. Cons: You could get micro stutter, and you need to wait for profiles for new games.
This video so was so helpful. I have a palit 780ti and i am buying a zotac 780ti oc edition. This guy seems to have so many channels but the way he explains things is awesome
You said they can have mis-matched vendors, mis-matched memory, so long as they have the same GPU...but what about clock speed and what not? Does that matter? Or so long as it's the same GPU, everything's good.
Actually multiplayer games such as BF3, and Planetside 2 will use more than 4 cores. So an FX 8350 for example will have an advantage over an FX 4300 (I would say i5, but I think it may be faster for even multiplayer gaming than the 8350).. Anyway, you get my point
@AssPoopedHere As long as they have the same GPU it will work. Doesn't matter the brand, you just need the same GPUs. For instance, MSI 560 ti with a Asus 560ti
I've been told & read that crossfire will give 50 - 50 performance results in crossfire .. whereas in SLI it's possible that you could only get one card doing most of the work and the other doing only 20% +.. but that depends on the game.. It's always better to get the best single GPU you can afford.
technically yes but it will bottleneck with the lower card, so basically if you ran them together there it would be the equivalent of having two GTX 560 ti's (384 cores) with non of them having 448 cores, so your better off having the exact same card because it will have ether more performance with two 448 cores or cheaper with the same performance with two 384 cores hope this helped :)
@Drzewo97 Lol, I knew that much, the difference between the 5870x2 and the 5970 is the core clock speed of the actual GPUs. They both use the same ATI 5850/5870 GPU, except the 5970 is clocked to 5850 speeds, where as the Ares is clocked to 5870 speeds. The Ares is the fastest single card on the market.
@YoshiixP Read the requirements of the brand you're buying. then add up CPU, RAM, Motherboard, HDDs, and fan wattage requirement. add. there you have your needed PSU number.
if they have the same chipset then "theoretically" they should work. from what i have seen, i dont even think that the 6770 or 5770 are even Crossfire available, the do not have an Crossfire pug for a bridge, so no they wont work. try a HD 6870, so that crossfire is an option. hope this helped :)
actually nowadays there are specific motherboards that can run nvidia cards with amd cards.. as in an SLI/CROSSFIRE type configure with 2 completely different cards
@MrDominator98 i would go with a single 6870. the benefits of crossfiring isn't as good as it could be. you are running 2 cards but in reality, dual mid range gpus would be about the same as a high end single gpu. not to mention later you can crossfire that higher end card and get even better results. i'd go that route personally. might check out tom's hardware for some benches of crossfire vs single cards. you'll find it's not really double the performance
@afinewaytodie that's not ati's (just recently amd) fastest card, its Asus fasted. they did this on theyr own, since there is no 5870x2 just the 5970. So it'S just somethign that the subvendor created out of ati chips, rather than ati building the fastest card :)
@rock962000 a video would be very cool, but let me try to answer you: standart use multimedia, hd video playback= 2gb double channel, 3 gb triple channel gamming, hd video editor= 4 gb double 6 gb triple, You'll only need more ram if you are using a server, extremely large databases, cientific simulators or for example hd video/photo editors across multiple screens
Sweet. I think I am going to do it with my HD 6970, but I gotta change my HD first. I'm looking forward to by a SSD to improve the system performance and then set Crossfire on my pc.
@msi48701gb If you said that, then I would go with the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3. I've just checked at Newegg, 149.99 USD. You can run Crossfire with your dual HD6950s using that board
Basically that's all you need to do except keep in mind the power at the wall and the power delivered are not the same because the supply loses some in the AC to DC conversion. If your system components were using 850 watts you would see closer to 1000 AC watts at the wall and it would not be overloading the supply. I doubt your system uses more than 500W with a single card but the difference would be exaggerated somewhat on the watt meter, about 20%
No it's better to get a good single GPU to stop any micro-stutter that sli - crossfire causes. as their's a delay of data been sent along the crossfire / SLI bridge. adding more cards increases the micro stutter.
I've heard a lot of people say my psu doesn't have enough juice to do it. and i'd rather avoid crossfire issues. but now i'm must choose between hd 7950 and gtx 660ti. I dont know which one to get. I play borderlands 2 at the moment. I will be playing Assassin's Creed 3 and bioshock infinite. And play GTA 4, Battlefield 3 and witcher 2
@dharkbizkit Well ya, but considering the 5970 uses 2 5870/5850 GPUs clocked at 5850 speeds, the Ares 5870x2 is clocked to 5870 speeds. While it might not be "official", It still uses the same proprietary ATI tech. So, I guess it can be considered an ATI card, even though ASUS is the only vendor for the product. I mean, its really just minor technicalities, but it should be noted that the Ares is the fastest ATI/AMD single card on the market.
You will most likely get better performance out of 2 570s, but I personally prefer to have one card (and it will be cheaper). A 670 with 4 GB should run anything you need for quite a while.
This was informative thank you .
Just wanted to say, I greatly appreciate how this video explained how different video cards can be xfired as long as they have the same gpu! I've been looking it up for days and so far this is the only video that has made that clear.
SLI thecnology is for NVIDIA gpu and crossfire thecnology is for AMD gpu
am i right ???
Yes.
I like this guy. For someone like me who is just getting into making my own gaming PC, this is a very simple video.
Detailed yet simple. He speaks quite clearly, pronouncing each word really nice.
Thank you.
SLInus
Love the video, would be awesome to see an updated version.
Who else is watching this in 2015?
+Da Lunch Bunch Me :D Linus has changed so much :P
+Da Lunch Bunch 2016
hurt my ears in 2016
and this haircut....
@TreyDee45 you could check the specs on your system and try to find the manufacturer, however most computer vendors use the reference card which is the graphics card straight from the original company that made it. you can however try to open your case if it doesn't void the warranty and check the card out, most likely it would be the reference card. Also go ahead and check the specs on the card to make sure that you can get it identical as it can be, i heard it runs a lot better that way.
watching tis in 2014 480 fastest nvidia LOL
It's like a distributed system from computer science. They work together to provide more efficiency and performance.
It's like you and your mate lifting a wardrobe, although you have four arms lifting, none of you is focused on doing one thing different from the other, just lift the wardrobe.
The plug can go in whatever VGA you want, they are working simultaneously anyway.
Hey Linus! Wanted to bring up a very good point: As of currently, you are able to run a Radeon 5850 and 5870 in Crossfire, as they are the same GPU clocked at different speeds and with a different amount of Stream processors. Even more interesting, they will perform less than two 5870s but more than two 5850s. Just wanted to give you that info as you said they had to be the exact same card (excluding vendor, PCB, etc).
- Scott S.
There are bridges for 2,3 and 4-way SLI/CrossFire. I do believe they are still a single bridge just with more connectors on it. Also, if the cards you want to CF (I'm not sure if Nvidia cards can do that too) are mid-class, like a 6670 for example, then you won't need a bridge, as the PCI-e slots can handle the data communication between the cards.
Actually, you can run those cards at the same time if used on different monitors. You could actually run an ATI and Nvidia card together as well but it would be even easier since you can configure both cards at once with the Nvidia Control Panel.
I dont know whether someone have posted this, but you should also explain the difference between X-fire and sli bridge, which x-fire have a bigger head.
As some of us need to buy a new bridge, for the 1 that comes with the mobo is faulty.
Linus, can you please make a video talking about how much RAM is needed for all sorts of different needs? Gaming, multi-media, video editing, standard use, etc? Please.
Thanks razzo161 for answering my question.
I'm not really a hardcore gamer, I was mostly just curious if SLI was available for laptop. You answered my question.
I am looking at Sedar laptops, though, because I want a fast laptop for video and graphic art projects.
THX, bro.
@TROUS3RS no, u just connect one card to monitor. U have to connect all cards together with crossfire bridge.
Yet again, a great video. All of your video's are helping me with my current build :) Thanks
The dual-core was an intel core i3-2100, the quad-core was an AMD Phenom II x4 965 BE and the six core was an AMD Phenom II x6 1045t.
@knightjocke the lowest clock speed is used for both cards, and the lowest memory is used for both cards
@JJooffaann Someone lost or broke the wireless microphone. Without it, the camera handling noise is unavoidable.
@YoshiixP simple, add up the wattage needed by one card. multiply it by two. depends on exactly what card you get.
You have the SLI bridge that connects GPUs together, then put monitor plug into first GPU.
@jamiegward1984 no that's not what he was saying..and I dont blame you for getting confused. it's a lot to take in. the part you're probably thinking of is. if you put two ati *( or now they are owned by amd) vid cards on a motherboard and configure crossfire or ( xfire as people call it that also) on SOME motherboard the motherboard will auto down clock the maximum bandwidth from x16 speed on both slots to x8. There's no performance difference than if both slots were x16 speed still. cheers
It's straight forward. plug in the 2 cards in their respective PCI- E slots.. connect the SLI bridge. to both cards.. then screw them both in tight to the case. then attach the monitor cable to the top card. ie the one nearest to the CPU. Depending on your monitor.. DVI, Display Port & HDMI will give you the best image results.
Bare in mind at the first example with the two 6870, the 2GB version will scale down to 1GB version in crossfire.
Awesome, informative video. After watching this I feel like I have a good understanding.
@NCIXcom
Just need to update the Lucid Hydra drivers so you can play some current games out right now. The LH does support both 480 and 5870 together... the only problem is that Nvidia has disable some features on their cards anytime there's an AMD card present.
You can't wire together 2 different graphics cards. For instance, you can't put a GTX580 with a 570, but you can put 2 of the same GPUs of the same type together. a EVGA 560 and an ASUS 560 for example.
I love the look of the MSI cyclone coolers
it's not usually driver issues so much as microstutter. the 7000s series cards have a much higher ms issue than NVidia at the moment. that said I was running 2 7950s with no noticeable issue, except heat ... which is why I am only running one until I can run my ac full time.
@sevless You can't have quad 590's. Since the 590 itself is already 2 GPU's, running two of them counts as 4-way SLI.
Well, technically, with the Lucid chip on certain motherboards, you can combine ATI and Nvidia cards, but I don't recommend that you do. There are going to be driver issues out the window, plus they don't scale nearly as well as SLI/CF.
Actually a single 6 pin power connector can only supply a maximum of 75 watts. Now even on nividia`s website a single 550 ti can consume a maximum of 116w of power on full load. When in sli it probably won`t run at full load so each card uses a little bit less watts depending on what they are used for. I run sli gtx 460s overclocked to only about 800mhz with a 650w power supply. Along with overclocked i5 2500k.
@assassinator64 My understanding was that AMD chipsets don't support the competitor's SLI standards (AMD now owns what used to be ATI.) There are boards that support AMD CPUs and SLI using chipsets from nVidia called nForce. The letters NF are usually in those boards' names.
Still, for maximum versatility you'd be better off with an Intel chipset. It's academic really because most people have decided which technology they want before purchasing the board.
@NCIXcom no explanation on scaling linus? i think people want to know that part. Also, you should mention that when you sli or crossfire cards with different frequencies (core or memory) the SLI or crossfireX setup will scale down the card with higher frequency to the lower frequencies of the other card(s).
The gtx 770 is a single gpu card, so it is only considered 2-way SLI with two cards as each 770 has one gpu on it.
@PlayerUnkown yeah should be. Remember every processor is different and just because certain overclocks can be achieved by others doesnt mean you will be 100% guranteed to achieve aswell. If it isnt stable at 3.8ghz go for 4.0ghz. By the way what cooler are you going to be using?
your videos are great man, we all learn a lot, and it's not even boring, you sound profesional and fun at the same time, that's cool, that's why I watch your videos :D
because the 690 is a dual-gpu, putting two 690s in SLI is called 4-way SLI because there are 4 gpu's running in SLI
If it has 2 PCI -E slots (minimum) and it states on the box / manual that it supports both SLI / Crossfire-Fire. then yes it should.
No but if your motherboard supports lucidvirtumvp it can take some of the graphics power from that cpu and help out rendering in games to increase performance.
actually you can, although it's not technically sli/crossfire, the intel 4000 hd graphics do help boost graphical performance.
since the 550 ti uses only one 6 pin connector, it will not consume more than 100w. With a 600w power supply, you would probably be using no more than 550w as long as you don`t overclock and use more power. I checked on the geforce website.
@parshnip1 vram doesn't stack, so it will only use max 1gb vram, regardless of which card is primary.
IIRC only the GPU itself has to be identical. I don't know for sure however. I think that if you have 2 cards in SLI with different VRAM, the one with more will simply run better on higher resolutions. So if you have 3 screens and 2 cards in SLI, connect 2 screens to the one with more RAM. But again, I'm not 100% sure.
not only the gpu has to be identical, but also the pcb and its construction as far as i know and hopefully learned correctly by watching linus vidz.
Well, you should really try to match the memory size so that you are ensured full value and performance from your purchase. But it could be possible. You'd have to run CoolBits to hack the registry so that you can force both of the cards to use the lower of the two memory sizes and operate them together in SLI mode.
@1:50 there's a bit of a hiccup in this theory. I have an HD7870 and a more recent HD7870 that I was planning to run in CrossfireX but it didn't work out. Why? Simply because the generations of chipset had changed, even though they were still 7870's. The older one couldn't CrossfireX with the newer one (XT Boost edition) because supposedly the newer cards are actually running a 79xx chipset. I think that's tantamount to shifting the goalposts, so yes I was a bit pissed.
Now I'm sorry if this offends you in any way or manner(it shouldn't). Physical 4-Way SLI on GTX690's would firt of all not be impossible but would require minimum of 4000W of power(that would be around 3 1300W PSU's. Cost = 800€) and the cards them selves would be like 2600€ so combined cost would be 3400€. I'm pretty sure no one wants to put that much money for ONLY those components. And you would need a rather large case for 3 power supplies and 4 GTX690's :)
SLI = Nvidia's technology for connecting 2 - 4 graphics cards of the same type and series ie 460GTX can have SLI (1 card in each PCI - Express slot.) which is 2 cards connected via a SLI bridge, which is a ribbon cable. Then there's 3 way SLI 3 nvidia graphics cards connected together and so on up to 4way SLI.,AMD/ATI have their own system called Crossfire. works in the same way as SLI.2 or more graphics cards in the same series of AMD graphics cards connected together called crossfireX
@MiniExtreme That's not gonna happen until they resolve the heat issue of the Fermi GPUs. They are working on it right now and their new GTX580 runs cooler but more powerful than their GTX480 but still not quite cool enough. But they do have a dual GPU card which is quite powerful right now, the GTX295.
so what you're saying is that if it has the same chipset, it'll work. for example AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5770 and 6770 in theory should work because they have the same chipset and the exact same specs
yes it will for sure, it's sli/crossfire ready and it's 80+ bronze. You should get 2 7870s or 7950s though if you can afford them.
SLI Also means one display per card, unless using surround.
@scooter1151 You also have certain motherboards that can run any two cards (even different GPUs and manufacturers). I think its either called "hydra" or "fuzion".
@gpopp008 a Phenom II x4 would likely bottleneck the SLI configuration in most gaming scenarios. It all depends on what games you're playing, what resolution, and what framerates you're looking for. In my own personal experience, I've noticed that a 965, and 560 non-ti work the latest and greatest right along side any enthusiast grade platform if they're both running 1080p or below. SLI'ing 560 ti's wouldn't be necessarily contributing to graphics fidelity for most games.
The GTX 660ti doesn't have the same memory bandwidth, a GTX 680 has a 256-bit memory bus whereas the GTX 660ti has a 192-bit memory bus. My guess is also that Nvidia makes a minimal difference in the PCB to not allow SLI.
@alexbeast14
CFX is more forgiving as far as what you can crossfire together - as long as the GPU's are from the same family (i.e. Cayman or Barts) you can crossfire them together. So, you can Crossfire a 6990 with a 6970 or even probably a 6950. The only thing is you'd need to overclock the 6950 so that it matches the performance of each individual GPU inside the 6990 - CFX and SLI are only as good as the slowest card in the set-up. nVidia, however, requires exact card matching - 590 need 590
I own a system with 6850 CF, this is what I have found:
On 3d mark 11, I get a score of ~7400, a 7970 gets ~7900.
But when a game does not have a good CF profile, I get single 6850 performance.
And that is the rub, you will need to wait until AMD creates a profile for whatever new game just got released.
Also some people seem to get "micro stutter".
Pros: Superb performance for a lot less money.
Cons: You could get micro stutter, and you need to wait for profiles for new games.
This video so was so helpful. I have a palit 780ti and i am buying a zotac 780ti oc edition. This guy seems to have so many channels but the way he explains things is awesome
Linus is the BEST review on UA-cam! :) always go to him first.
You said they can have mis-matched vendors, mis-matched memory, so long as they have the same GPU...but what about clock speed and what not? Does that matter? Or so long as it's the same GPU, everything's good.
yes, you can run 4-way SLI with two 690s, and 4-way SLI with four 680's
the gtx 690 is basically 2 under clocked 680 gpus in 1 card, therefore you can only run 2 in sli as it is actually 4 gpus
@MrKschrank yes that's the point of it. it was built to run Nvidia and Ati or Amd, as well as mismatched gpus
Actually multiplayer games such as BF3, and Planetside 2 will use more than 4 cores. So an FX 8350 for example will have an advantage over an FX 4300 (I would say i5, but I think it may be faster for even multiplayer gaming than the 8350).. Anyway, you get my point
@AssPoopedHere As long as they have the same GPU it will work.
Doesn't matter the brand, you just need the same GPUs.
For instance, MSI 560 ti with a Asus 560ti
I've been told & read that crossfire will give 50 - 50 performance results in crossfire .. whereas in SLI it's possible that you could only get one card doing most of the work and the other doing only 20% +.. but that depends on the game.. It's always better to get the best single GPU you can afford.
I'm so far behind the power curve that these older videos work just fine. : )
technically yes but it will bottleneck with the lower card, so basically if you ran them together there it would be the equivalent of having two GTX 560 ti's (384 cores) with non of them having 448 cores, so your better off having the exact same card because it will have ether more performance with two 448 cores or cheaper with the same performance with two 384 cores
hope this helped :)
@Drzewo97 Lol, I knew that much, the difference between the 5870x2 and the 5970 is the core clock speed of the actual GPUs. They both use the same ATI 5850/5870 GPU, except the 5970 is clocked to 5850 speeds, where as the Ares is clocked to 5870 speeds. The Ares is the fastest single card on the market.
One reason (not gaming related) for this would be video rendering since it usually uses as many cores as possible.
@YoshiixP Read the requirements of the brand you're buying. then add up CPU, RAM, Motherboard, HDDs, and fan wattage requirement. add. there you have your needed PSU number.
@dEnimlAb27 Actually, you can. With Crossfire nowadays, you can take GPUs from the same family.
if they have the same chipset then "theoretically" they should work. from what i have seen, i dont even think that the 6770 or 5770 are even Crossfire available, the do not have an Crossfire pug for a bridge, so no they wont work.
try a HD 6870, so that crossfire is an option.
hope this helped :)
You are probably right. But I heard that BF3 uses up to 6 cores but im not so sure about that.
actually nowadays there are specific motherboards that can run nvidia cards with amd cards.. as in an SLI/CROSSFIRE type configure with 2 completely different cards
@Licardo7 did u see the video? u can, and they will both run as good as if they were both running at 16x
@MrDominator98 i would go with a single 6870. the benefits of crossfiring isn't as good as it could be. you are running 2 cards but in reality, dual mid range gpus would be about the same as a high end single gpu. not to mention later you can crossfire that higher end card and get even better results. i'd go that route personally. might check out tom's hardware for some benches of crossfire vs single cards. you'll find it's not really double the performance
@afinewaytodie that's not ati's (just recently amd) fastest card, its Asus fasted. they did this on theyr own, since there is no 5870x2 just the 5970. So it'S just somethign that the subvendor created out of ati chips, rather than ati building the fastest card :)
some examples are F1 2012 (or another version of F1 dont remember which) and Arma 2..
@GibsonsSGFreak yes but you have to download moded drivers and they may not work with future drivers.
@rock962000 a video would be very cool, but let me try to answer you:
standart use multimedia, hd video playback= 2gb double channel, 3 gb triple channel
gamming, hd video editor= 4 gb double 6 gb triple,
You'll only need more ram if you are using a server, extremely large databases, cientific simulators or for example hd video/photo editors across multiple screens
@chrix94 No its not, its their fastest graphics card. The HD5970 has two cutdown HD5870 GPUs in one graphics card.
GTX 480 is the fastest by nvidia... Damn this is old but still a good informative video
lol 3 years later, GTX Titan.
RoupMcgee no 780 ti
k
RoupMcgee ya
Sweet. I think I am going to do it with my HD 6970, but I gotta change my HD first. I'm looking forward to by a SSD to improve the system performance and then set Crossfire on my pc.
@msi48701gb If you said that, then I would go with the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3. I've just checked at Newegg, 149.99 USD. You can run Crossfire with your dual HD6950s using that board
Basically that's all you need to do except keep in mind the power at the wall and the power delivered are not the same because the supply loses some in the AC to DC conversion. If your system components were using 850 watts you would see closer to 1000 AC watts at the wall and it would not be overloading the supply. I doubt your system uses more than 500W with a single card but the difference would be exaggerated somewhat on the watt meter, about 20%
You can run ATI (AMD) and Nvidia cards in the same machine... That is if you want to have AMD card(s) and want the Nvidia card to be for PhyX.
@braydenmaine yes however the difference in card good impact performance dramatically linus has a video on using a dedicated PhysX card
A quick not is that SLI doesn't share memory so if you have a gtx 460 1gb and a gtc 460 768mb you should use the 1gb as primary.
No it's better to get a good single GPU to stop any micro-stutter that sli - crossfire causes. as their's a delay of data been sent along the crossfire / SLI bridge. adding more cards increases the micro stutter.
I've heard a lot of people say my psu doesn't have enough juice to do it. and i'd rather avoid crossfire issues. but now i'm must choose between hd 7950 and gtx 660ti. I dont know which one to get. I play borderlands 2 at the moment. I will be playing Assassin's Creed 3 and bioshock infinite. And play GTA 4, Battlefield 3 and witcher 2
@dharkbizkit Well ya, but considering the 5970 uses 2 5870/5850 GPUs clocked at 5850 speeds, the Ares 5870x2 is clocked to 5870 speeds. While it might not be "official", It still uses the same proprietary ATI tech. So, I guess it can be considered an ATI card, even though ASUS is the only vendor for the product. I mean, its really just minor technicalities, but it should be noted that the Ares is the fastest ATI/AMD single card on the market.
what about GTX460 1 GB and 768 MB - as they have slightly diferrent GPU's?
You will most likely get better performance out of 2 570s, but I personally prefer to have one card (and it will be cheaper). A 670 with 4 GB should run anything you need for quite a while.
actually you don't get double performance if u are using crossfire or sli just about 20-30% more performance
it's usually to complex to get working right for PhysX, not sure about just for using extra monitors though
@trabang gtx 480 was the fastest GPU 1 year ago, a 5970 was the fastest single graphics card on the market.
they both have the gpu chip 'RV850' and they can CF, because I have an 5770 and I have a Crossfire bridge and pug