18 replies to this topic

[Hougham]

Hello, Im building a low cost PC on a very tight budget. The best card I can afford is a HD7750. Now my motherboard can take 2 twin slots cards or 3 single slot cards in crossfire. So I was hoping next year to get another card to upgrade. So my question is does triple cross fire make much difference. Would I be better getting the slightly slower single slot HD7750 cards with 800mhz core so I can get 3 in the end or better to get the 900mhz twin slot model and just aim for a second card later next year? Thanks

[Neozero]

crossfire/SLI all suffer from micro studder. Basically one card renders faster then the other and you get a slight lag on your monitor between frames. Supposedly new drivers for crossfire have limited this but as I do not use AMD/ATI video cards atm I cannot verify this. However it is proven that three-way or quad has almost no micro studder however at this point you are usually shelling out booku cash as only the very best cards support three way and quad. I have yet to see single slot cards that support three way that are not simply dual slots configured for water cooling.

That being said MWO does not support crossfire/SLI so there really is no point in building a rig that can run that for MWO. IMO it is always better to go with a bigger card then build crossfire/SLI if you have the money.

[Goose]

Tom's said:

http://www.tomshardw...iew,3107-6.html More Honorable Mentions: Assorted Multi-Card Configurations

The Radeon HD 7970 delivers such strong performance at $310 that we find it hard to recommend faster (but sometimes-inconsistent) multi-card configurations for more money.

We'll call out some other options, though, mostly for folks with one of these cards already installed: two GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2 GB cards in SLI for $330, two GeForce GTX 660s in SLI for $390, two GeForce GTX 760s in SLI for $500, and finally, two GeForce GTX 770s in SLI for $800.

Gorram forum …

Edited by Goose, 04 October 2013 - 10:19 AM.

[The Gunman]

Neozero, on 03 October 2013 - 07:48 AM, said:

However it is proven that three-way or quad has almost no micro studder however at this point you are usually shelling out booku cash as only the very best cards support three way and quad.

That being said MWO does not support crossfire/SLI so there really is no point in building a rig that can run that for MWO. IMO it is always better to go with a bigger card then build crossfire/SLI if you have the money.

I initially owned a single 7970 paired with a 1920x1080 display and the game ran fine. Zero issues at all.

I then upgraded to triple cross-fired 7970's paired with a 5760x1080 eyefinity arrangement. After some experimentation with various settings in Catalyst and MWO, I eventually found settings that worked. Apart from no v-sync and occasional lighting issues with tourmaline desert, everything is working fine. No micro-stutter. Totally worth it!!

Edited by The Gunman, 04 October 2013 - 07:50 AM.

[Egomane]

The Gunman, on 04 October 2013 - 07:43 AM, said:

I then upgraded to triple cross-fired 7970's paired with a 5760x1080 eyefinity arrangement.

I'm doing that on a single 7970Ghz. Without the lightning issues on tourmaline. No need to use a Triple-Crossfire setup like that in MWO.

For other games, this amount of GPU power might be usefull though.

[ArmageddonKnight]

Dont use Crossfire, AMD still have not fixed the framepacing issue (runt/dropped frames) its only fixed with single cards atm. Ofcurse this only matter if ur eyes are sensative enough to notice it, otherwise dont worry.

Edited by ArmageddonKnight, 04 October 2013 - 09:11 AM.

[Catamount]

ArmageddonKnight, on 04 October 2013 - 09:11 AM, said:

Dont use Crossfire, AMD still have not fixed the framepacing issue (runt/dropped frames) its only fixed with single cards atm. Ofcurse this only matter if ur eyes are sensative enough to notice it, otherwise dont worry.

Testing on the FCAT over at Tom's showed the issue was pretty much fixed for Crossfire in the 13.8 beta, the same way Nvidia had it fixed a month or two prior. There are still a couple of game-specific issues, such as with all AMD performance in Metro: Last Light, but in general, frame time variance was cut to a third of what it used to be.

That fix was not included in 13.9WHQL it appears, but it IS in 13.10 beta, and they have improved it vs 13.8.

So we're at a point where MS doesn't really affect Crossfire for the most part, and the most time goes by, the less and less the small remaining glitches here or there should persist.


With that in mind, the OP's choice should be clear: scaling for tri-fire setups isn't that good in many games, so a dual 7750 setup would be better for the money.

Edited by Catamount, 04 October 2013 - 10:11 AM.

[Sen]

Quote

the OP's choice should be clear: scaling for tri-fire setups isn't that good in many games, so a dual 7750 setup would be better for the money.

This or [and everybody always HATES this word} Wait.

As a standard rule of thumb, one more powerful card is virtually always better to do than two lesser cards. Yes, there can be benefits to running dual/tri card setups, but it comes with the possibility of headaches.

[I've done a few xfire setups in my day. 2x 6850s were absolutely phenominal--and the guy I sold them to still runs them...but dual 7950s? I still haven't cleaned all the hair I ripped out out of the insides of my keyboard >< ]

Also, remember that there is no xfire support for MwO at this time [unless something has changed recently].

I know it's hard to wait, but maybe it'd be better to simply make sure you have a motherboard that can run integrated graphics, and then hold off until you have a bit more cash for a higher end card.

At the end of the day, it's your choice either way. Just thought I'd play devil's advocate

Edited by Sen, 04 October 2013 - 11:54 AM.

[Catamount]

With the R200 series coming, it may indeed be a good idea to wait. You're going to be spending years with this card, OP; might as well wait a couple months to make those years more enjoyable.

[Aftermathrar]

OP: I would go with 2 of the 900Mhz models. They'll probably run cooler, be less stress overall on the PSU, and run everything well enough.

I'm currently running 2x 7970s and MWO seems to make use of both of them. However if I try to override any of the settings with Catalyst Control Center (better AA or AF) the game goes haywire, similar to how Darksiders 2 behaved. Basically no models will render and you can see through the terrain. Same with setting up AFR, every other frame is black. Vsync doesn't seem to work properly, though, I get about 150fps regardless of turning it on in CCC and MWO.

With Eyefinity you can just force CF with RadeonPro to correct and microstuttering, it was the workaround for everything before AMD finally added frame pacing. I haven't tried RadeonPro settings yet since the left and right monitors only offer views of the cockpit.

Edit: Here's what the game looks like with forced AA/AF, from another thread in this forum.

Edited by Aftermathrar, 05 October 2013 - 12:18 PM.

[Flapdrol]

Multigpu is bad, when you get the money to upgrade just get a single big gpu and sell the old one.

[Uulyen]

[color=#959595]I then upgraded to[/color][color=#959595] triple cross-fired 7970's [/color][color=#959595]paired with a 5760x1080 eyefinity arrangement. After some experimentation with various settings in Catalyst and MWO, I eventually found settings that worked. Apart from no v-sync and occasional lighting issues with tourmaline desert, everything is working fine. No micro-stutter. [/color]Totally worth it!! [color=#959595] [/color]


I am wondering if you could post your configuration? I have been doing 5760x1080 Eyefinity with a single 7970 and just added a second for Crossfire. I have been slogging through different options and am wondering how what I use compares to what you are using.

Also, what framerates are you getting from Trifire?

THANKS!

Uulyen

[v4skunk]

I would just get a single fast GPU.
OP do not get a 7750 the card is very slow. At minumum get a 7770 or better. IT IS worth spending the extra money even if it holds your build back by a month.

[The Gunman]

Uulyen, on 07 October 2013 - 06:48 PM, said:

I am wondering if you could post your configuration? I have been doing 5760x1080 Eyefinity with a single 7970 and just added a second for Crossfire. I have been slogging through different options and am wondering how what I use compares to what you are using.

Also, what framerates are you getting from Trifire?

Catalyst Settings Application Settings:

Anti-Aliasing Mode: Use application settings.
Anti-Aliasing Samples: Use application settings.
Filter: Standard
Anti-Aliasing Method: Multisampling
Morphological Filtering: Off
Anisotropic Filtering Mode: Override application settings
Anisotropic Filtering Level: 16x
Texture Filtering Quality: High Quality
Surface Format Optimization: On
Wait for Vertical Refreash: On, unless application specifies
OpenGL Triple Buffering:: Off
Tessellation Mode: Override application settings
Maximum Tessellation Level: 64x
Frame Pacing: On
AMD CrossfireX Mode: AFR friendly

MWO Options:
Screen Resolution: 5760 x 1080
V-Sync: On
Window Mode: Fullscreen
Motion Blur: Off
System Specifications: Very High
Damage Glow: Off.

Measured on Crimson Straight:
Averaging 100fps depending on activity of course.
Drops to 40fps without Crossfire enabled.

Edited by The Gunman, 10 October 2013 - 07:31 PM.

[frag85]

If Gunman isn't getting flicker it probably has something to do with Trifire. As I mentioned in another CF post, running eyefinity with crossfire I have spent hours trying different drivers (13.1-13.11b), combinations of settings (even the exact same ones Gunman posted) and I'm either stuck with 1.8x-2x scaling around 100-120FPS with a horrible flicker, or with the default CF profile with no flicker, but only 1.1x scaling around 60-65fps.

[Jove Chiere]

No that I have touched exactly...
But fighting with the Crossfire in MWO user.cfg, I added values ​​and ultimately HE REMOVED THE BLACK LINE FLICKER!

These are the values ​​that I added to my CFG:

r_PostMSAA = 0
r_PostMSAAMode = 0
r_FSAA = 0
r_UseEdgeAA = 0
r_PostAA = 0
 
r_MultiThreaded = 1
r_MultiGPU = 1
sys_physics_GPU = 1
d3d9_TripleBuffering = 1

Lose the AA filter in the models, but what you gain in FPS is 200%.

I use beta drivers AMD Catalyst 13.11 betav8
In Catalyst, I have the matching profile:

The Gunman, on 10 October 2013 - 07:26 PM, said:

Catalyst Settings Application Settings:

Anti-Aliasing Mode: Use application settings.
Anti-Aliasing Samples: Use application settings.
Filter: Standard
Anti-Aliasing Method: Multisampling
Morphological Filtering: Off
Anisotropic Filtering Mode: Override application settings
Anisotropic Filtering Level: 16x
Texture Filtering Quality: High Quality
Surface Format Optimization: On
Wait for Vertical Refreash: On, unless application specifies
OpenGL Triple Buffering:: Off
Tessellation Mode: Override application settings
Maximum Tessellation Level: 64x
Frame Pacing: On
AMD CrossfireX Mode: AFR friendly

MWO Options:
Screen Resolution: 5760 x 1080
V-Sync: On
Window Mode: Fullscreen
Motion Blur: Off
System Specifications: Very High
Damage Glow: Off.

I have a 7770 Crossfire and I wonder if other CF also works.

Edited by Jove Chiere, 05 November 2013 - 06:30 AM.

[Rand 3065MUX]

This game does not play well on my HD7750 with A8 processor. Games like Ghost Recon Online play fine and look great, but this game the graphics card crashes a lot. I pretty much stopped playing because of it.

[Catamount]

Rand 3065MUX, on 19 December 2013 - 09:56 PM, said:

This game does not play well on my HD7750 with A8 processor. Games like Ghost Recon Online play fine and look great, but this game the graphics card crashes a lot. I pretty much stopped playing because of it.

Your 7750 is fine, but your A8 is just underwhelming for this game. You're going to run into trouble without doing a substantial OC on it. It also sounds like you might be having temperature or PSU issues.

Edited by Catamount, 20 December 2013 - 04:54 AM.

[v4skunk]

Hougham, on 03 October 2013 - 07:39 AM, said:

Hello, Im building a low cost PC on a very tight budget. The best card I can afford is a HD7750. Now my motherboard can take 2 twin slots cards or 3 single slot cards in crossfire. So I was hoping next year to get another card to upgrade. So my question is does triple cross fire make much difference. Would I be better getting the slightly slower single slot HD7750 cards with 800mhz core so I can get 3 in the end or better to get the 900mhz twin slot model and just aim for a second card later next year? Thanks

This may sound harsh but the 7750 is not the best of cards and is not worth xfiring at all.
The best thing to do is save your money and get a single fast gpu, i would get a AMD R270X / GTX 760 or higher and which ever is cheapest. You would get a massive performance increase with one of them cards.