1 GPU vs 2 GPUs

[BorisTheAnimal]

In my gaming rig I have a GTX 660 but I also own two Radeon HD 7870 cards, now my question is fairly simple would the two Radeon cards win in performance over my GTX card or should stick with only one card?

Plus in a not so far distant future I am planning on buying the LG's 34" UltraWide monitor.

Uh hope the title is good, was a bit unsure what to put there!

/Boris

 

[logicearth]

Well the 2 GPUs in theory would be faster then one, however its completely dependent upon the games you play. Sadly Crossfire is far more broken then SLI at this time.

 

[zap9x]

.... ermmm depends , there are several editions of the 660 , some are super powerful , same goes to the 7870 , but be aware that ati use alot of power even when its idle , so if u dont have to worry about the power consumption , compare the ram bus , core clock , ram clock or basically run a game and compare fps between the 660 and one or both 7870 and pick the way it gives u better fps

 

[essenbe]

I think a single 660 is better than a single 7870, but 2 7870's will beat a 660. But, it depends on what game you are playing. Some games are not optimized for SLI or CFX, so with 2 7870's, you would actually be playing that game with one 7870. So, it's a decision you would have to make depending on your games and not knowing about the newer games coming out.

 

[Boozad]

I'd sell all three and buy a single better GPU personally.

 

[Windows Sniper]

Actually, the single AMD card technically will perform better then your GTX card..


GTX660 Vs HD7870


I think the Xfire is something like | Base stats + 40% | at the moment with current drivers.

 

[madcratebuilder]

The 660 and 7870 are very close in performance, you could see 15% either card depending on what game is loaded. Straight up specs I think the 7870 has a slight edge. Crossfire can be problematic, when running at it's best you could see a 50% improvement over a single card. Some games can only use a single card.

There are some good deals around on 280x and 290x, you could sell the 3 you have and upgrade.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Thanks for the responses, sorry that I have not said anything in a while, been busy with stuff. madcratebuilder, sure I could do that, though I will have to check the state of my 2 7870's because I have used both them for mining so I'm not sure what it has done to them.

 

[zap9x]

depending on which game u want to play , i recommend nvidia , watch dogs has come to all of us , ATI performance on watch dogs wont be good imo , and my PC is on 24/7 so ati is a dead end since power consumption while idle is just too high

 

[carwiz]

Sell all the cards and get one of the new Intel HD based motherboards coming out. From recent tests, they are comparable to a 660 as I recall. It's only going to be on the high-end boards but what did those cards cost you? And you won't need a Mega-Watt PS and case full of fans.

 

[zap9x]

no way it can be , first of all intel HD graphics only have 350 or 600 core speed , and even ddr4 ram only have 2400mhz if im right ... 2nd there are many features in the dedicated GPU that no iGPU can replace , sell all and get new one might be a good choice , but trade all for a intel graphics iGPU , i have no i more words

 

[carwiz]

Ops. What happened to Zap9x?

Any way, for the rest of you. The word on the street is that the new Intel Iris Pro will be in a separate socket on the motherboard instead of on the CPU as all previous Intel HD versions. Leaks are putting performance on par with upper mid-range GPUs. Being a socket, I suspect they'll be upgradable. The "Integrated GPU" will be on a 14nm die so there could be lots features packed into it.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Sell all the cards and get one of the new Intel HD based motherboards coming out. From recent tests, they are comparable to a 660 as I recall. It's only going to be on the high-end boards but what did those cards cost you? And you won't need a Mega-Watt PS and case full of fans.

the gtx was about 300 € when I bought it and one of the amd cards was about 180 € though I have no idea what I could get from them now since both amd cards have been in somewhat overkill usage because of the mining..

 

[carwiz]

Sell all the cards and get one of the new Intel HD based motherboards coming out. From recent tests, they are comparable to a 660 as I recall. It's only going to be on the high-end boards but what did those cards cost you? And you won't need a Mega-Watt PS and case full of fans.

the gtx was about 300 € when I bought it and one of the amd cards was about 180 € though I have no idea what I could get from them now since both amd cards have been in somewhat overkill usage because of the mining..

That was more of a tongue in cheek comment than a directive. :shock: Besides, the new CPU and boards aren't out yet. The point was to illustrate that the new Intel HD processors will be mind blowing fast compared to the Sandy Bridge HD2000 graphics. Some initial estimates say over 32 times as fast.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

That was more of a tongue in cheek comment than a directive. :shock: Besides, the new CPU and boards aren't out yet. The point was to illustrate that the new Intel HD processors will be mind blowing fast compared to the Sandy Bridge HD2000 graphics. Some initial estimates say over 32 times as fast.

What do you mean with "more of a tongue in cheek comment than a directive"? I thought you asked for what I thought about selling the cards, not giving directives?

 

[Boozad]

I don't normally like to speak for people but I think he meant he was having a light hearted quip as opposed to actually telling you what to do.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

I see I'm sorry, it is hard to see those signs in texts..

 

[carwiz]

If you think American humor is hard to understand, try English (England) humor.

Didn't mean to confuse you and suggesting integrated graphics to a gamer is near sacrilege. (Or so I'm told.) I was just trying to point out that in the near future, integrated graphics will be a viable choice in midrange performance. There's no price leaked yet but as I said, it will only be offered on the high end motherboards from what I understand. If you'd like to research it more, Google Intel Iris Pro.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

If you think American humor is hard to understand, try English (England) humor.

Didn't mean to confuse you and suggesting integrated graphics to a gamer is near sacrilege. (Or so I'm told.) I was just trying to point out that in the near future, integrated graphics will be a viable choice in midrange performance. There's no price leaked yet but as I said, it will only be offered on the high end motherboards from what I understand. If you'd like to research it more, Google Intel Iris Pro.

Hate to be this kind of a guy but it is British humor not English because English is the language not the country, so like you said "If you think American" it points to the people not the language, but then I don't like to judge people I look at the world like that everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect and you are somewhat bound to make mistakes sooner or later..

Yeah did a Google search on it but I don't know like it can be nice having that integrated for example in a laptop so you would get it as thin as possible. But I have always seen desktops as monsters so having integrated graphics would not just stick.

 

[carwiz]

But you are that kind of guy for reasons I don't understand. And you are incorrect. I didn't say British humor for a reason. If you are British, you could be from England or any one of 14 other territorial possessions. The humor is quite different in all of them. And they all don't speak English. Perhaps I was just as incorrect in saying "American" in that there are three Americas and each very different. Even so; when the world speaks of Americans, there's hardly any confusion about which country is the subject. In any case; I will take to mind the humor, or lack of it, of the Finish from now on.