Dual 580s in SLI or 2 5870s in crossfire
 

I'm looking at 2 computers around the same price, 1 has dual 5870s the other SLI 580s.

Now the 580s are apparently the best GPUS around (tesselation) but the 5870s have EyeFinity, which I don't think the Nivida have? I would like Eyefinity but the 5870s are older tech than the 580s! :confused::confused::confused:

I realise both systems are over kill but my next computer will have to last 5 years+

Any help from tech guys?

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You can try at SimHQ's Hardware & Software forums. They have very helpful guys there:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/8/1.html

Good luck.

Engadin.

Either way you go it really doesn't matter. I've gotten 3 years out of my single Gtx 260, and havn't had any issues with FPS. I know I'm going to have to upgrade to get the best experience for CoD, but damn... I was gunna go the route of a single Gtx 570 or something. :-P The 580s would probably be better than the 5870s but at the same time a bit more expensive. I'm curious as to how much these rigs cost. Any word?

How about you wait for the Gtx 590s to come out and go triple SLI?! You'll get at least 10 years out of that hahahah only kidding

P.S. - Sorry i've been drinking. :)

Nvidia has its own "eyefinity"
Its called Nvidia surround or Nvidia 3D surround

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-visi...echnology.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3dv-sys...echnology.html

Of-course it works without the 3D vision activated.

Go for the 580s - Nvidia can get a comparable setup to eyefinity, you just cant do it with a single card (2 outputs per card), but with 2 you can have 4 monitors. atm I have a 480 in, now nmb 72 in EVGA que for 580 step up. If it was a year ago I would of said go ATI, the 480 runs too hot, but the 580 really is a great card tbh, will do better in the long run, also is 3d ready... omg will COD be 3d capable? o.0

Thats some BS Ghodan, bloody post stealer :P

If I was upgrading solely for CoD I'ld wait till the game gets released till I made any major purchaces

Il-2 had issues with micro-stutters using SLI, I'm sure there are a few people around with SLI and crossfire rigs that can talk about any current issues

IF I was going to have the same computer for 5 years, I'ld want to find out about any performance quirks of the sim before getting it.

Also Bulldozer getting released in a month or so, so I heard, so it would be interesting to see the performance differences between the two main players.

I did a major upgrade a couple of years ago and locked myself into the socket 775 platform. A week later the i7's were released. Had I looked into it a bit further I'ld have waited.


Cheers and all the best!

Bulldozer is a CPU not GPU. But SLI and intel cpu's have better drivers and support than AMD tbh.

Eyefinity menu's are better/more advanced then Nvidia surround view. Its like Nvidia implemented it only because ATI/AMD has Eyefinity. So like a after thought)
CPU's dont really need drivers as we know them for GPU's.

There is no game that will give you a problem/conflict with a AMD cpu.

Sorry for being holistic in my approach to upgrading hardware. If you reread He111's original text he says he is buying a new computer. Seeing how different sims vary between being CPU and GPU intensive and we have no idea how CoD will handle SLI/crossfire graphics (or CPU's for that matter) I would still make the same comments.

Cheers!

Well, if u can get a pc with 2x580 for roughly the same prize as 2x5870 i would say the 2x5870 pc is extremly overprized. (sounds odd to me though, 580 is at least twice as expensive.)

And, as already said, u can run 3 monitors with 2 580 and 3D if u prefer that.


Gtx580 eats 5870 for breakfast, lunch and dinner, no way arround that.

If its for running Cliffs Of dover then bear in mind that there is no information available as to whether the game will benefit to running SLI or crossfire, no testing as been done to date.

580's without doubt

Voice of reason!

It's funny how many people are spending thousands on PC's for SOW without even waiting for the most basic of info on what runs them and how.

We've had no benchmarks, no reviews, no details on resolutions or settings, etc. The closest thing we've got is, "this pc had these specs at some show and we're not sure exactly the settings or build state of the game was". There was also a video of a leak from a beta tester and still, not a lot to go on.

Wait for some info. Maybe SLI/Crossfire is going to be great, maybe it will give you no performance advantage at all. As for building a PC to last you 5+ years, that's stupid. You spend $3000 on a PC this year, and same time next year I'll build one with only $800 and spank it silly. Building a PC every 5 years for gaming is like buying all your milk for the year in one shot. For a while you have a ton of milk, but it ends up stinking for the rest of the year.

Read this: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...7&postcount=70

Concur - good info.

There's not a single propeller flight sim I'm aware of that benefits from SLI or Xfire. With the cost of the extra card - and the higher price motherboard (2X 16X PCI-E) you would be taking a huge risk.

Best advice is to wait until the product is delivered. If CoD runs out of the box on either Xfire or SLI then it will be the first. Otherwise you've spent a large amount of money on performance you'll never see.

I currently have a single 5870 I purchased more than a year ago. My MB is a Gigabyte with 1 16X slot and 1 8X slot. If by some miracle CoD is xfire compatible AND a second 5870 makes a significant difference in the eye-candy I can run in real time - then I'll find a second 5870 and get a new MB.

I really don't believe that will be the case however. I hope I'm wrong.

S!

Gunny

Sli/crossfire is supported in CoD hence u get more performance with 2 cards instead of 1. If anyone want an answer as to how much, feel free to wait till the game is released.


My guess its gonna get better with every new driver version. (if NVidia/AMD will bother with it that is)

P.S. Running 16X or 8X makes virtually no difference whatsoever (around 3% iirc)

I hope your right - and I hope further it's not just SLI but Xfire too. I think your second point maybe the most significant in the actual interest AMD/Nvidea shows in the product line.

Hopefully CoD will see a bazillion copies and the world will be just perfect. On the other hand air combat sims don't seem to have benefitted from either technology.

Thanks btw for the 16X/8X info Baron.

S!

Gunny

Luthier said that SLI/Xfire was inconclusive at this time. Do you know something he doesn't? Did we miss an update?

Also, SLI/Xfire is for people who want to game at huge resolutions or on multiple monitors. A single card of the next generation will typically outperform 2 cards of the previous generation in an SLI/Xfire configuration, and do it cheaper as well.

Wait and see before you drop come coin!

Edit: Found the post by luthier http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpos...&postcount=241

+1

Using the same reasoning SLI was supported with Il2, but many people reported issues with micro stutters which disapeared when SLI was disabled.

Until we get to test the sim nobody (except the development team) will be able to comment on the potential performance benifits or problems of SLI/crossfire setups with any degree of authority.

With a 5 year planned life for the system, waiting a month or so would seem prudent to me. Others may see it differently. You may need to buy it now! But remember that anyones advice regarding performance or issues with COD is based on guesswork at this stage.

Cheers!

Look here: Click on multi GPU.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....637&card2=613#

That's just showing us the hardware math, (memory bandwidty, core frequency, etc.) and not what they are going to do in COD. We're going to have to wait to see what hardware does what in-game.

He111 be careful not to compare apples with pears, have a look here:-

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rd,2857-7.html

Those results are backed up by other reviews (I spent 3 months looking at them before buying my new PC in December).

If you have the money to be thinking 580 you should be comparing it with the 5970 or even wait until the AMD 6990 comes out and gets some reviews. I'm not saying I recommend AMD, in fact I bought Nvidia 570 instead of AMD 6970 for my own reasons, but the 6990 should be pitching at or above the 580 performance.

Essentially the difference between the AMD 58xx and 69xx series is the 68's use lower power and deliver far better tesselation performance (although CoD doesn't use tesselation). The 69xx series will push the 58xx series down in price but at the level you are considering the 58xx series is not the way to go IMHO.

I havent used eyefinity myself, so I cannot comment on that.
CPU drivers I never said anything about. I was just saying the options were gpu's and I thought he misunderstood that.
2 580s can run 4 monitors and are muc more powerful cards, SLI is also more efficient then crossfire when you scale them (tomshardware).

P.S. Note that i never said if the performace gain would be 1 fps or 100.;)

The reason Luthier cant awnser the "how much gain will Sli/crossfire give" is because A: the game aint finished. B: There isnt any Sli/crossfire profile for CoD out yet, since the game aint finished. C: Asking Oleg and team to run any kind of configuration under the sun to save us a buck is kind of crossing the line into lala land.If people want sli/crossfire to give a 100% boost i suggest you all contact NVidia/AMD right now and put the pressure on.

I would however be extremely surprised if at least Sli didnt get a boost since Oleg stated they worked with NVidia



Anyhow, i think we are digressing from the original question.

You dont need driver support to test an SLI setup, you can create your own profile, the reason why the Devs have not done this is beyond me. However being that this is a very similar engine to Il2 the GPU will have little effect its the CPU that will show the biggest performance in game.

How about utter lack of a multi-GPU system in their office or with beta testers? It's one possibility.

If you want the rig to last five(5) years, atleast get something with a decent DX11 performance. GTX580 all the way. The 5870's DX11 performance SUCK. :) And they've already been replaced by the Cayman 69xx gpu's.

@TreeUK, how exactly is CoD:IL-2's engine "very similar" to IL-2's?

First: They have more important things to do than making sure u/we buy the right hardware. Its not their job to do so. The sooner u understand this the sooner u can move on to your next pet peew.

Second: Similar engine to IL2? I know u just loove to take digs at oleg and team but lets keep it real, your creditability benefits greatly from it if u do. (in fact, i cant recollect a single post from u where u havent, in one subtle way or another taken a dig at the dev team).

That is incorrect. Il2 is highly CPU dependant because the engine was developed at a time when GPUs were very weak but CPUs were relatively powerful.

The new engine has been developed in an era when usable CPU power is bottlenecking, and GPU power advances unchecked.

As for building a 5+ year system, here's a rough visual representation of why this is a bad idea.

As you can see you are really paying through the nose for those last few FPS that you're not going to get with a $1000 system. But! Buying more often for a more reasonable price yields better results since that $1000 system the next year will trounce that $3000 system, and probably have more features and options. Plus you're getting a new warranty as well.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1705/graphy.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

That comment suggests to me that there's no code optimisation in CoD itself for Multi-GPU, and they're relying on the drivers to do all the work.

I wonder if Luthier can clarify this.

Thats exactly what it means.