7970 Crossfire question

[the FooL]

From the recent posts, it seems that Crossfire is now stable with the 15.7 drivers.

I have an XFX 7970 BEDD which has lasted me about 3.5 years, gaming at 1900x1200.

Now I have updated to a 30" 2560x1600 screen and obviously I see a big impact on the gaming.

Should I look to get another 7970 (non GHz since I have an early 7970) or wait for another deal on a 290X?
I'm hoping they might be more as the end of the year approaches.

I'm seeing the used 7970 might be had for under $150, but I see the 290X for close to $200 at times too.

Any people out there running 7970 Crossfire?

 

[biostud]

I'm running a 7990 on a 1440p display. I'm planning to upgrade in 2016 when 14/16nm cards hit the streets.

 

[XFXSupport]

Just so you know, the 7970 you have will crossfire with 7950s, 7990's, all 7970s, as well as all 280 and 280x's. They are all Tahiti GPU's and play well with others. (bridge required)

 

[AtenRa]

Sell the 7970 and buy 2x used R9 290.

 

[the FooL]

I do know my card can crossfire with others in the same GPU family.

My concern right now is if I should invest in another older 7970 or if a single 290X will provide just enough to bridge between now and the when the Fury cards hopefully become better (how the early 290Xs weren't great, but became better later on).

 

[james1701]

Short answer is no a 290X will not be a bridge if you are playing games that work with crossfire. When it works, 2 7970's will be faster. The upside to a single 290X would be a lot less heat in your case.

 

[raghu78]

Sell the HD 7970 and get a R9 390 8 GB. R9 390 is already 40-45% faster than HD 7970(1 Ghz) and on a clock for clock basis. CF scaling on average across a wide range of games is 1.5x the perf of a single card. CF scaling varies from game to game and can range from very good to non existent. More importantly in recent times CF support in Gameworks titles has been abysmal mostly due to the developer's attitude and negligence. CF support in Farcry 4 and AC Unity took 5 months. Dying Light took 1.5 months. Moreover frametimes are always superior on single GPU. You are also going to be VRAM limited at 2560 x 1600 with 3 GB on HD 7970.

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-08/...h/2/#diagramm-rating-2560-1440-hohe-qualitaet

so its a easy decision. Get a R9 390 and enjoy the bang for buck. :thumbsup:

 

[im-different]

Yeah, the older your card is, the less I would suggest a Crossfire setup. Go for a newer card.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would sell your card and either go for an after-market GTX980Ti or another strategy is to grab a stop-gap R9 390/970 or this XFX R9 290X for $253 and consider waiting to splurge once we have 16nm HBM2 GPUs. The prices on 290/290X have bottomed out so much that even if you resell it used in 18-24 months, you still should be able to get $125-150 for a 290X (the XFX one has lifetime warranty) which means the total cost of ownership over 18-24 months after selling your 7970 should be very low and allow you to wait until towards a more mature 16nm HBM2 GPU market (i.e., chances are early 16nm HBM2 GPUs will be expensive on a per mm2 basis -- i.e., NV is likely to sell us mid-range 970/980 successors first and then in 2017 we might get the fully unlocked Big Daddy Pascal at $649+. That's what I predict).

 

[the FooL]

You are also going to be VRAM limited at 2560 x 1600 with 3 GB on HD 7970.

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-08/...h/2/#diagramm-rating-2560-1440-hohe-qualitaet

so its a easy decision. Get a R9 390 and enjoy the bang for buck. :thumbsup:

4GB good enough or do I look for an 8GB card if I can find a deal under $300?
I understand that most reviews state you don't need more than 4GB unless you are muti-monitor gaming, but I like enabling AA when possible.

I would sell your card and either go for an after-market GTX980Ti or another strategy is to grab a stop-gap R9 390/970 or this XFX R9 290X for $253 and consider waiting to splurge once we have 16nm HBM2 GPUs. The prices on 290/290X have bottomed out so much that even if you resell it used in 18-24 months, you still should be able to get $125-150 for a 290X (the XFX one has lifetime warranty) which means the total cost of ownership over 18-24 months after selling your 7970 should be very low and allow you to wait until towards a more mature 16nm HBM2 GPU market (i.e., chances are early 16nm HBM2 GPUs will be expensive on a per mm2 basis -- i.e., NV is likely to sell us mid-range 970/980 successors first and then in 2017 we might get the fully unlocked Big Daddy Pascal at $649+. That's what I predict).

I do have the XFX 7970 BEDD. Good performance, even thought it's not the GHz edition.
I understand the 290X cards still have a lifetime warranty with XFX, which makes it a front-runner. If only NewEgg had also discounted the 8GB version.

 

[RussianSensation]

I do have the XFX 7970 BEDD. Good performance, even thought it's not the GHz edition.
I understand the 290X cards still have a lifetime warranty with XFX, which makes it a front-runner. If only NewEgg had also discounted the 8GB version.

If you look at the performance of a 290X (Uber = 1Ghz clocks on a reference card) in AT's latest review, they have a 925mhz 7970 on their charts vs. the 290X in a wide variety of games. This gives you a good point of reference as to where you'd end up.

You can also look at just averages here or here. Beyond a $253 R9 290X, in this particular 28nm generation, price/performance falls off a cliff. $300 390/970 aren't faster, $450+ 980 max overclocked is only 25% faster, $550 Fury is also about 25-27% faster, $650 Fury X is 32-34% faster compared to a 290X. None of these cards make sense imo against a $253 290X for 1600P. If you want a lot more performance in a single card above 290X, 980Ti @ 1.4Ghz+ is the way to go but it costs $650. I wouldn't recommend you to purchase 2x 290Xs at $250 either because at that point, I think the 980Ti makes a lot more sense as CF doesn't work in all games as well as a single fast GPU would.

I think you have 3 main options:

1) Buy a $250-300 card like the 290X/390 and use it as a stop-gap card to use for 1.5-2 years and then upgrade again to a 16nm 8GB HBM2 GPU (or something along those lines);

2) Just wait another 6-12 months and get a $400-500 16nm 8GB HBM2 GPU in 2016 and coast on a 7970 until then.

3) Just bite the bullet and get a 980Ti now.

If you can find a buyer for your 7970 for $120-150, I would upgrade to a 290X to give you a bit of extra performance while you wait for much more powerful 16nm GPUs to come down the pipe in 2H of 2016 and 1H of 2017.

Of course keep in mind that a $699 780Ti's performance was practically matched by a $330 GTX970 just 10 months later. So if you do decide to go all out on a 980Ti, just know in advance that next generation GPUs will have a node shrink + new architecture + HBM2 8-32GB of memory = one of the largest jumps in a while. That's why a $250-275 card like the 290X is very appealing since it doesn't cost that much $ as a perfect stop-gap card.

Sorry that my post is long as I am giving you more info to help you make a more informed decision. I suppose another option you could consider is finding used after-market 290/290X cards and selling the 7970. That could also work if you can find something like a Sapphire Tri-X 290 for $180 or so and get 2 of those.

 

[the FooL]

Sorry that my post is long as I am giving you more info to help you make a more informed decision. I suppose another option you could consider is finding used after-market 290/290X cards and selling the 7970. That could also work if you can find something like a Sapphire Tri-X 290 for $180 or so and get 2 of those.

No need to apologize.
This is exactly the kind of information that I was looking for.
I didn't realize that AT had included the 7970 in their Fury related reviews (check the Fury review and see they also had the 7970 in the 1440 measurements.

#1 is what I'm looking to do right now.

Been looking on the auction sites to score a used 290X w/ 8GB, but current sellers are under the impression they are worth more than a 390/390X w/ 8GB.

 

[railven]

I had a similar experience. I got my 1440p monitor and suddenly my single 7970 OCed to max Overdrive settings wasn't good enough. Ran out and got a second 7970.

What games are you playing? I once had CFX 7970's and honestly, I hated it. But this was back when AMD basically broke Zero Core in order to get frame pacing working (which frankly didn't work very well outside of specific titles).

When i tried CFX 290X for a day, the games I played had horrendous microstutter. Note, they were also Nvidia sponsored games (which is why I asked what games you are playing).

If you got the means, I would personally advise staying away from CFX cards. Especially the legacy cards which don't have that nifty XDMA feature.

Note: I also tried SLI GTX 660 Ti and I would make the exact same claims above. I snapped with SLI GTX 660 Ti and ran out buying the fastest single GPU I could get my hands on at the time.

 

[the FooL]

...
What games are you playing? I once had CFX 7970's and honestly, I hated it. But this was back when AMD basically broke Zero Core in order to get frame pacing working (which frankly didn't work very well outside of specific titles).
...

I play a mix of FPS, (Frontier Dangerous) , and some RTS.
Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy online are two that I don't mind getting good visuals on.

Trying to move away from the console, as I can't play games like GTA in front of my daughter (yet), plus I find it's cheaper on my budget for PC games usually drop a lot lower than console versions.

Based on the Russian Sensation's breakdown, I went out and got the 290X.
Did a Fry's pricematch, since the rebate was with XFX and there wasn't a requirement to buy it from newegg, from what I saw.
Since both charge me tax, I got the satisfaction of instant buyer's remorse gratification of spending over $250 on computer parts by pricematching.

Will probably sit on it for a day and then decide to keep it

[update]
Looks like there is a newegg requirement.
Time to return to Fry's.

 

[railven]

I play a mix of FPS, (Frontier Dangerous) , and some RTS.
Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy online are two that I don't mind getting good visuals on.

Trying to move away from the console, as I can't play games like GTA in front of my daughter (yet), plus I find it's cheaper on my budget for PC games usually drop a lot lower than console versions.

Based on the Russian Sensation's breakdown, I went out and got the 290X.
Did a Fry's pricematch, since the rebate was with XFX and there wasn't a requirement to buy it from newegg, from what I saw.
Since both charge me tax, I got the satisfaction of instant buyer's remorse gratification of spending over $250 on computer parts by pricematching.

Will probably sit on it for a day and then decide to keep it

[update]
Looks like there is a newegg requirement.
Time to return to Fry's.

Final Fantasy XIV was one of the games I did test (Nvidia Sponsored) and for me it had visible microstutter (CFX 290X). I didn't get to test one card, unfortunately.

Most MMOs I play(ed) during my stint with CFX 7970/SLI GTX 660 Ti was bad (WoW/FFXIV <-bad on CFX/ArcheAge <-bad on both) so I basically swore of a multi-GPU configuration all together.

FPS games didn't give much issues. I remember Bioshock: Infinite was what ultimately caused me to go CFX (couldn't get solid FPS with one 7970 @ 1440p).

Give the 290X a run before you return it (if Fry does returns with no restocking fees) so you can at least see what you'r egoing to get.

 

[RussianSensation]

Most MMOs I play(ed) during my stint with CFX 7970/SLI GTX 660 Ti was bad (WoW/FFXIV <-bad on CFX/ArcheAge <-bad on both) so I basically swore of a multi-GPU configuration all together.

1. 660Ti SLI was never good, because generally slow mid-range cards for SLI are never a good idea. It's no wonder there would be stuttering vs. a single fast card like 780Ti.

2. You probably had HD7970 CF specifically when they were going through their stage of fixing their drivers.

3. R9 295X2/290X CF's frame times are the best out of any card out as shown by TR (a site about as favourable to NV cards as it gets).

Just some examples:

GTA V

The Witcher 3

FC4

 

[RussianSensation]

Alien Isolation

Civilization

BF4

Crysis 3

Clearly, scientifically, R9 295X2 has incredible frame times, not at all like the experience you described.

Is it possible to play 10/10 games with horrible CF support? Of course as there are 1000+ games out there. Does your experience in 2-3 games you played is indicative that CF is crap? Absolutely not.

Having said that, the reason to not recommend spending $500+ on R9 290X CF is because at that point might as well spend $650 for the 980Ti. However, 290X itself is still a great stop-gap card to use until 16nm HBM2 GPUs come out because at $253 (if the OP got in on the deal) it means not spending a lot of $ to still get a solid 40%+ increase in performance, esp. if the OP sells his 7970.

I don't think anyone is really advocating R9 290X CF at this point unless it's finding a solid deal on used cards for $350-370 or so. At that point, yes R9 290X CF is unbeatable as a value proposition for 1600P.

 

[railven]

1. 660Ti SLI was never good, because generally slow mid-range cards for SLI are never a good idea. It's no wonder there would be stuttering vs. a single fast card like 780Ti.

I had more stuttering with CF 7970s in WoW/FFXIV than I did with SLI 660 Tis.

2. You probably had HD7970 CF specifically when they were going through their stage of fixing their drivers.

I said that I did.

3. R9 295X2/290X CF's frame times are the best out of any card out as shown by TR (a site about as favourable to NV cards as it gets).

None of those games are MMOs which was the experience I was sharing.

 

[RussianSensation]

None of those games are MMOs which was the experience I was sharing.

I was under the impression from seeing benchmarks that a lot of MMO(RPGs) like the Secret World, Guild Wars 2, WoW, etc. just run better on NV hardware to begin with. If I was predominantly an MMO player, I would most likely go with an NV card to start. I don't play the MMO genre at all though so it's not that I am disagreeing with you -- I 100% trust your feedback on those games/genre. My point is you can't judge CF/SLI as a whole for a wide variety of titles simply based on MMOs (well I suppose for you SLI/CF sucks if you primarily play MMOs).

 

[Shmee]

I would consider 2x 290 used. If you can find good cards for a good price.

 

[Shmee]

Here is 1 of the best 290 models for $210. Pickup another one like it at similar price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAPPHIRE-TR...340e0e8&pid=100005&rk=4&rkt=6&sd=331652360974

 

[Gikaseixas]

7970 CF < 290 CF
The lack of XDMA on the 7970 pretty much makes the 290 a better multi GPU solution and ofcourse, it's faster too.

 

[Shmee]

Agreed, the XDMA solution is clearly superior to older ones, even including modern SLI.

 

[railven]

I was under the impression from seeing benchmarks that a lot of MMO(RPGs) like the Secret World, Guild Wars 2, WoW, etc. just run better on NV hardware to begin with. If I was predominantly an MMO player, I would most likely go with an NV card to start. I don't play the MMO genre at all though so it's not that I am disagreeing with you -- I 100% trust your feedback on those games/genre. My point is you can't judge CF/SLI as a whole for a wide variety of titles simply based on MMOs (well I suppose for you SLI/CF sucks if you primarily play MMOs).

And yet again you prove you don't read any of my post. You list there NV sponsored MMOs which with the same conclusion I said about the three MMOs I gave experience on.

Then you state exactly why I swore ofg multi gpu. I only gave my experience it comes as my opinion and is supported by things I've done.

Would you please stop trying to prove somekind of under tone in my posts that doesn't exist.

Tires of you butchering my posts and spring boarding into mini novels. Thanks.

 

[guskline]

I'm running 2 Sapphire Tri-X OC R9-290s in CF in rig 2 below. VERY fast. I just sold my 3rd Tri-X for @$185 so if you look hard you can find them. The GTX980TI in rig 1 below is an EXCELLENT card but also @$650. Best bang for the buck is 2 290s in CF. I say this especially since AMD is getting the CF profiles figured out.