MultiGPU Update: Does 3-way Make Sense?
by Derek Wilson on February 25, 2009 2:45 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
So ... wow. And this isn't even all the data. We've still got a four GPU update to bring out as soon as we finish aggregating and analyzing everything.
First things first though: let's sort through our 3-way tests and try to make some sense of all this.
The first thing to take away is that 3-way graphics systems are absolutely not something anyone without a 30" display needs or should even want. There are so many instances where 3-way fails to improve on 2-way, and because of the high price barrier to entry and the diminishing returns on adding more hardware, 3-way is just not for everyone and has questionable value for those who choose to go that route as well.
Honestly, NVIDIA and AMD trade blows, but the one clear thing to note is that 3-way GTX 280 and 285 are just way overpriced. You don't get what you pay for and you can still get huge performance from the GTX 260 which offers consistently better value. On the AMD front, 3-way 4870 1GB pairing a 4870 X2 and single 4870 1GB is the way to go if you want 3-way. The 4850 can scale in some games that don't crush it with too much data and it offers better value in some situations.
But even more than single or two card solutions, 3-way is a case by case basis. You've really got to look at the games you like and pick the solution that performs best there. This is in large part because it's just such an investment and these options are just not "worth" the cost unless you are really picking your graphics hardware for a purpose. There isn't an easy way to make a general recommendation.
Other than to stay away from 3-way GTX 280 and 285, we've got to split our recommendation between 3-way GTX 260 and 3-way 4870 1GB. If you've got to have a 3-way solution that is. And much of our data reinforces our recommendations from our look at 2-way multiGPU solutions which tend to offer a better balance of performance and value if more power than a single GPU can offer is required.
But really, 3-way, and especially with 3 cards, is just not for everyone and not something we put a lot of stake into as a good option. Saving the money to upgrade to a new architecture is going to get you a lot more for the money than trying to squeeze longevity out of hardware by stacking more than 2 of the same thing in one system.
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Snarks - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
hmm, i find my self questioning these articles more and more..but anyway carry on.
DerekWilson - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
what's the question ... seriously, any criticism is helpful. this is the first time we've really done a series like this, and it's a complicated situation with lots of data and lots of analysis ... there's no one way to look at it, and all the feedback i get will help me down the road.i don't see the need for this type of article or series very frequently, but we'll have to do it every once in a while just in case something changes. knowing what you guys think is important and what you guys want to read about is key to us getting things done right.
Flyboy27 - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
Sell you an extra card that you don't really need.Flyboy27 - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
oh yeah... and a more expensive motherboard, power supply, and case.Burrich - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
Would the recently release Catalyst 9.2 drivers improve any compatibility or fps issues? Their release date was 2/20.7Enigma - Thursday, February 26, 2009 - link
Check out xbitlabs' review of the 9.2 drivers. If you have a 4870 X2 then yes it appears to be a nice upgrade for several games with minimal losses in the games it doesn't benefit. But if you are sporting a single 4870 1gig it actually degrades performance more than it improves!On the flipside they claim stability is better with the 9.2's so it depends on what you want/need. If you are comfortable with the framerates in the games you currently play then jump on the 9.2's for stability reasons. If you are on the edge of playable performance I would stick with the previous drivers...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/cat...">http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/cat...
DerekWilson - Thursday, February 26, 2009 - link
That article compares 9.2 to 9.1 ... the 8.12 hotfix would show similar performance improvements over the 9.1 drivers. 9.2 does benefit more games, but these are games that have been more recently released than the ones we tested.if they compared the 8.12 hotfix to 9.2, we would expect to see more parity, especially with the games we tested in this article.
DerekWilson - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
The recently released 9.2 catalyst drivers are basically the 8.12 hotfix drivers with some additions to support performance and scaling in recently released titles. So not really.smartalco - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
I don't like that you use 0 for those that score under 25 FPS, specifically because that is under 25 at the res/settings you use. If a card scores 24 FPS at 1680*1050 with maxed settings, what that really tells you is that if you were to drop to half the AA, or turn down some other setting, is that you could still have a perfectly playable game. It seems to me, that giving them a value rating of 0 is acting like everyone has to play on max settings, and if it doesn't meet the standard, its useless.IDK, just me talking, I'm going to be happy with my 4850 for quite some time.
Still an excellent article.
DerekWilson - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
i've actually got the graphs without the 0 scores in the article front to back -- just commented out at the moment ... i wasn't sure which one to go with until the last minute, and i thought about putting both in (but that wouldbe really redundant for games that no card had trouble with)i could do some more complex web programming, but i'm not a web developer and i hate javascript ...
thanks for the feedback. i'll be taking it into account in the final article on 4-way.
also, if you wanna see the value numbers for the single and dual cards that scored less than 25 fps, you can still look at the first article and see them.