CF RX 480

[tential]

I am thinking of going to 2x Vega when they come out, or possibly upgrading to a 1080Ti, but I will have to wait for reviews and see. I will mention that CF for the most part works pretty well since the introduction of Hawaii cards. Obviously, 480 CF allows for more 2x the video memory and overall faster than 290 CF which I have in the other system.

I just put in for my budget $1400 for Vega. I hope that covers 2 flagship gpus or that 2x or the step down is worth it.

 

[tential]

I've found with CF when it works, it works really well. You get incredibly good performance and scaling. When my 2 x 290s kick in I've got performance between a 1070 and a 1080. When it doesn't work, it really doesn't work. Most common is that it "works" in that Crossfire can be enabled on a game, but you get horrible artifacts. Flickering textures / objects is the most prevalent bug you'll find. It's nauseating so you have to turn it off. These days its because games just aren't all that good with AFR, and only good PC devs put in the pointers and vendor specific code to get both SLI and CF working well out of the box.

Lots of 2d primary games absolute crash and burn with CF, e.g. 4x games and strategy games with lots of UI. I can't play any Paradox grand strategy with Crossfire, not that I need the performance. But you have to fiddle with turning it on and off a lot. It's much nicer now that they give you a per-game profile option to turn of CF or not (and it actually works now).

You'll get weird, inexplicable bugs too. In the Paradox games I mentioned (Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis, etc.) when in crossfire there is weird shadowing, and certain 2d UI elements appear for half a second and flicker, and certain other UI elements appear totally normally but can't be clicked. Imagine your frustration when you can't click to move units for no apparent reason... Took me a day of googling to figure out it was a CF related bug.

Hmm. I think I'll still try cf. Worse to worse, I sell my gpu at a $100 loss

 

[guskline]

Gus, have you got your wife gaming yet? If not, please tell me your grand kids are taking advantage of your sweet setups when they visit

Face2Face it's hopeless as to my wife and gaming. She is "enamored" with Candy Crush on her IPad so it's a lost cause.

Our four year old grandson is much more interested in the H.O. Trains and Godzilla, and not necessarily in that order!

 

[Headfoot]

Hmm. I think I'll still try cf. Worse to worse, I sell my gpu at a $100 loss

Yeah, at a cheap enough discount it is worth it. That's why I did 2x290 instead of $650 980 ti at the time. It was a marginal +$200 vs sell existing card for $200 and pay out another $450.

I play triple monitor so I just play single monitor when CF isn't working.

 

[sirmo]

Tempted to get a second rx480 since they are so cheap.. love my FreeSync monitor. Thanks guskline.

 

[thesmokingman]

Timespy:
RX 480 CF Overall 7231; Graphics 7518: CPU (6700k @4.6) 5946
GTX 1080 Overall 7639; Graphics 7361: CPU (5960x @ 4.4) 9714

It would be interesting if you swapped the cards and the rigs. Just thinking aloud, not like its worth the hassle.

 

[guskline]

It would be interesting if you swapped the cards and the rigs. Just thinking aloud, not like its worth the hassle.

I hear you BUT tearing down a custom water cooled 5960x to try 2 Air cooled RX480s in a 5960x rig is not worth it. Besides, if you Google Steve Burkes' gamersnexus.net site he does a review of 2 reference RX480s in CF with a 5930 rig so the results will be close.
I think this is the link:
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2...070-and-1080-power-temperatures-fps?showall=1

 

[thesmokingman]

I hear you BUT tearing down a custom water cooled 5960x to try 2 Air cooled RX480s in a 5960x rig is not worth it. Besides, if you Google Steve Burkes' gamersnexus.net site he does a review of 2 reference RX480s in CF with a 5930 rig so the results will be close.
I think this is the link:
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2...070-and-1080-power-temperatures-fps?showall=1

Yea, I figured it'd be a hassle. I'd also suggest you invest in some QDC's. It's makes swapping gpus easy. Then with a spare set of QDC, you fashion a bypass hose that you can stick in, in place of the gpu to complete your loop without the blocks you just removed. Personally that's what I do but again buying extra QDC on top of the buying QDCs is an expense.

 

[guskline]

I actually have Koolance QD4s for my water cooled 4790k/GTX980TI SC since I use an External MO-RA3-420 Pro radiator. I use 1/2" ID/3/4" OD flexible tube. Your idea though, thesmokingman, makes a lot of sense. I need 2 male and 2 female QD4s and I can quick disconnect the gpu from the loop; connect the loop back just liquid cooling the cpu and run air cooled gpus!

 

[thesmokingman]

I actually have Koolance QD4s for my water cooled 4790k/GTX980TI SC since I use an External MO-RA3-420 Pro radiator. I use 1/2" ID/3/4" OD flexible tube. Your idea though, thesmokingman, makes a lot of sense. I need 2 male and 2 female QD4s and I can quick disconnect the gpu from the loop; connect the loop back just liquid cooling the cpu and run air cooled gpus!

QD4? QD4 = 3/8 NPT. You must be thinking QD3? Anyways, you'd need three sets, two for the gpu. Then a spare set to fashion a bypass hose when needed. That way you don't have to break the containment of your gpu. The third set is optional of course. Btw, it's cheapest getting straight from Koolance.

 

[guskline]

Actually, I went back and checked and the QD4 makes a 1/2"ID/3/4"OD model which I bought 2 sets of (M/F) for my rig that uses the external MO-RA3-420Pro rad. I like your setup idea and may try that on my 5960x rig. Funny thing is, I have a partial watercool setup I was going to use on my 6700k rig but the AIO Corsair H110i GT performed so well I decided to just use it for the cpu cooler and leave the RX480 air cooled.

PC builds are my hobby and I am fortunate to have the money at my age to spend more than when I was raising my daughters and getting them through college, weddings etc.

Kind of hard to justify @$125 gpu block and fittings on a RX480 that cost $240. Different story for my GTX980TI SC ($625 at the time) and the GTX1080 FE-$699.

Now that I have 2 RX480s in CF, heat is more of a concern BUT they are reference blower style fans (better for most cases in CF) and I keep them stock- no sense overclocking the gpus and adding more heat unless I would custom water cool.

Since there are VERY few CF RX480 articles, it would be interesting to see if there are any links showing Aftermarket cooled CF RX480s.

My final reason to hold off watercooling is to see what ZEN brings.

 

[thesmokingman]

Actually, I went back and checked and the QD4 makes a 1/2"ID/3/4"OD model which I bought 2 sets of (M/F) for my rig that uses the external MO-RA3-420Pro rad.

QD4 refers to the internal dia and the threaded fitting, G3/8. You could go QD4 in compressions and never deal with the threaded fitting. However if you ever wanted to use a threaded QDC, like threading right into the mora, you'll run into probelms. PC watercooling has standardized on G1/4 standard. The QD4 threaded fitting is G3/8. Thus if you bought a QD4 threaded fitting, it won't fit onto your mora or any standard pc waterblock which are by and large G1/4. I hope that made sense.

As for custom cf 480 articles... hmm not sure. There's the H article and from that one could extrapolate for custom coolers, but that also gets muddy as custom coolered cards will heatsoak themselves sharing the same used warm air so its a wash imo.

 

[guskline]

Thanks for the explanation on the QD4 ,thesmokingman.

 

[guskline]

480 CFs still chugging away; Waiting for the big ZEN to drop.

 

[Bigbadwu]

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru.../73945-gtx-1060-vs-rx-480-updated-review.html

Them 480s are aging well. Amd drivers are solid now.

 

[guskline]

Good point, Bigbadwu. I also have high end Nvidia cards and they are hard to beat for the highest fps gaming performance. With that said, the RX480 makes a compelling competitor in the 1080 resolution market. It still falls short of the GTX1060 in power efficiency and in some games, fps. However, the gap has really narrowed and price wise it equals or is a bit below the GTX1060.

Since I started this thread talking about RX480 CF this is another distinct advantage for the RX480 vs the GTX1060. As I understand it, you cannot SLI the GTX1060. Just plop in another RX480 and WHAM, CF.
I give Nvidia marketing credit, they want you in the GTX1070/1080 market but this is an advantage for AMD when choosing between a RX480 vs GTX1060.

All in all I'm having fun with the RX480s in CF. I know and agree with a lot of the critics of CF?SLI, generally.

As drivers improve AND more CF profiles get released it gives AMD a fighting chance in the 1440 resolution market vs GTX1070/1080 and most likely soon, GTX1080TI until Vega drops.

 

[amenx]

guskline, you think a dual 480 card (lets call it say, a 490) would be a promising card in AMDs lineup if at $499?

 

[happy medium]

guskline, you think a dual 480 card (lets call it say, a 490) would be a promising card in AMDs lineup if at $499?

I can tell you this, my opinion , this card must be coming.
In the past few weeks we have had our usual AMD followers/marketers pushing crossfire 480's in the Video card forum. They have inside info and are told what to say and how to say it.
I not saying Guskline is, just to be clear.

It is and has always been recommended in any thread on any good forum
that a single card solution is the better solution.
4 main reasons.........
Heat. scaling, compatibility, and lack of consistent smooth gameplay.



Enough with the conspiracy. You're trashing the thread.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[tential]

I can tell you this, my opinion , this card must be coming.
In the past few weeks we have had our usual AMD followers/marketers pushing crossfire 480's in the Video card forum. They have inside info and are told what to say and how to say it.
I not saying Guskline is, just to be clear.

It is and has always been recommended in any thread on any good forum
that a single card solution is the better solution.
4 main reasons.........
Heat. scaling, compatibility, and lack of consistent smooth gameplay.

Where can I get a tinfoil hat like that?

I don't think anyone here on this forum has inside info from amd at all. It's a tiny forum, we're not special.
I don't think anyone has any special info from Nvidia either. People just push their favorite brand at all costs.

And there are instances where cf 480s is better. Like if you're locked into the amd eco with freesync. Otherwise ya obviously a single card is better.

Also I don't think lack of sli matters at all with the 1060 because a 1070 is cheaper than sli and most cases better. It's actually not beneficial to Nvidia to not allow sli on the 1060 unless it actually scales well enough to compete with a 1080 which I highly doubt. You'd actually spend more money for less perf with sli 1060s so that would be a win for Nvidia financially speaking.

CF 480s do have their niche, but I believe it's just mostly amd diehards pushing it and mining enthusiasts. Not some agenda that hints at a new dual chip coming.

With the 1080ti soon to drop I don't think a single card cf solution 480 would even be worth it.

Are the 470s crossfire enabled? How close are they to 480s crossfire?

Edit : if fury x is still a viable solution(not to me but to some people), and if mining is so important along with other amd positives it's hard to believe the 470 cf isn't talked about more

 

[GaiaHunter]

Where can I get a tinfoil hat like that?

I don't think anyone here on this forum has inside info from amd at all. It's a tiny forum, we're not special.
I don't think anyone has any special info from Nvidia either. People just push their favorite brand at all costs.

And there are instances where cf 480s is better. Like if you're locked into the amd eco with freesync. Otherwise ya obviously a single card is better.

Also I don't think lack of sli matters at all with the 1060 because a 1070 is cheaper than sli and most cases better. It's actually not beneficial to Nvidia to not allow sli on the 1060 unless it actually scales well enough to compete with a 1080 which I highly doubt. You'd actually spend more money for less perf with sli 1060s so that would be a win for Nvidia financially speaking.

CF 480s do have their niche, but I believe it's just mostly amd diehards pushing it and mining enthusiasts. Not some agenda that hints at a new dual chip coming.

With the 1080ti soon to drop I don't think a single card cf solution 480 would even be worth it.

Are the 470s crossfire enabled? How close are they to 480s crossfire?

Edit : if fury x is still a viable solution(not to me but to some people), and if mining is so important along with other amd positives it's hard to believe the 470 cf isn't talked about more

Any mid range card CF/SLI will always be a minority, at least at release.

What is the purpose of a 480 and/or 470 CF?
The only reason I can see is triple monitor/4K resolutions (and mining of course) on the cheap, as a CF setup should beat a 1070 handly (if it is worth the drawbacks is another story).

Generally we would know everything about CF/SLI except since NVIDIA decided 1060s can't SLI, it seems all the talk of dual cards setups has died out.

During GTX460 vs 5950 you could find tons of debate about GTX460 SLI.
I seem to recall happymedium here used to run 2x GTX460 but maybe memory is failling me.

If anything SLI and CF became better since those days, although if possible it is better to get a single card vs 2 cards if price and performance is in the same ballpark.

But in a few months time a second 480 might be a very inexpensive upgrade that will give a good performance boost on at least popular AAA titles.

I expect 470 CF to be quite close to 480 CF.

 

[Rifter]

Where can I get a tinfoil hat like that?

I don't think anyone here on this forum has inside info from amd at all. It's a tiny forum, we're not special.
I don't think anyone has any special info from Nvidia either. People just push their favorite brand at all costs.

And there are instances where cf 480s is better. Like if you're locked into the amd eco with freesync. Otherwise ya obviously a single card is better.

Also I don't think lack of sli matters at all with the 1060 because a 1070 is cheaper than sli and most cases better. It's actually not beneficial to Nvidia to not allow sli on the 1060 unless it actually scales well enough to compete with a 1080 which I highly doubt. You'd actually spend more money for less perf with sli 1060s so that would be a win for Nvidia financially speaking.

CF 480s do have their niche, but I believe it's just mostly amd diehards pushing it and mining enthusiasts. Not some agenda that hints at a new dual chip coming.

With the 1080ti soon to drop I don't think a single card cf solution 480 would even be worth it.

Are the 470s crossfire enabled? How close are they to 480s crossfire?

Edit : if fury x is still a viable solution(not to me but to some people), and if mining is so important along with other amd positives it's hard to believe the 470 cf isn't talked about more

You are delusional if you think AMD and Nvidia dont hire people to do viral marketing on forums, and it has 100% happened here in the past and may still to this day. Im sure anyone here at the time remembers Rollo.

I dont usually agree with Happy often but in this instance he is bang on.




Stop with the conspiracy posts. You're trashing this thread by taking it off topic.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[tential]

Any mid range card CF/SLI will always be a minority, at least at release.

What is the purpose of a 480 and/or 470 CF?
The only reason I can see is triple monitor/4K resolutions (and mining of course) on the cheap, as a CF setup should beat a 1070 handly (if it is worth the drawbacks is another story).

Generally we would know everything about CF/SLI except since NVIDIA decided 1060s can't SLI, it seems all the talk of dual cards setups has died out.

During GTX460 vs 5950 you could find tons of debate about GTX460 SLI.
I seem to recall happymedium here used to run 2x GTX460 but maybe memory is failling me.

If anything SLI and CF became better since those days, although if possible it is better to get a single card vs 2 cards if price and performance is in the same ballpark.

But in a few months time a second 480 might be a very inexpensive upgrade that will give a good performance boost on at least popular AAA titles.

I expect 470 CF to be quite close to 480 CF.

Like I said and like you figured out. For people who need high end performance from AMD specifically on the latest generation.

Its a small niche, I didn't say it wouldn't be.

But given the options from amd, you really don't have good options for highend gaming.

This was also in response to happy medium stating that people keep pushing the 480cf. So to me, if you're considering 480cf I'm not sure why 470cf isn't brought up more? It's 75%(ballpark?) the cost of 480cf and 90% of the performance. Seems like the better deal assuming vram doesn't hurt you.

You are delusional if you think AMD and Nvidia dont hire people to do viral marketing on forums, and it has 100% happened here in the past and may still to this day. Im sure anyone here at the time remembers Rollo.

I dont usually agree with Happy often but in this instance he is bang on.

I believe Nvidia does.
Amd?
I find it extremely hard to believe they are that savvy. There are 1000s of lower hanging fruit for amd.
Not much we can do to prove it though sadly so a moot point on what we believe.







Stop with the conspiracy posts. You're trashing this thread by taking it off topic.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[GaiaHunter]

This was also in response to happy medium stating that people keep pushing the 480cf. So to me, if you're considering 480cf I'm not sure why 470cf isn't brought up more? It's 75%(ballpark?) the cost of 480cf and 90% of the performance. Seems like the better deal assuming vram doesn't hurt you.

I'm not sure how many people go out of the box and decide "lets crossfire 480".
I assume it is more like "I have a 480 and I see this great deal so I can add a second one".

If you go for CF from the startup I guess it is quite valid to consider 470CF vs 480CF, although I assume/guess the 470CF is going to be around 1070 performance range while the 480CF will be 10-20% faster.

The problem is we are all guessing because there is very little information about CF/SLI (IMO much less than in the past) and all of it seems to be from release, ie outdated.

And I also assume you can CF 480 with 470. In the past we would have someone going and trying all these weird configurations.

 

[happy medium]

I seem to recall happymedium here used to run 2x GTX460 but maybe memory is failling me.

no I ran 2, 2gb 6870's in crossfire. I had 1 gtx 460 1gb before that.

 

[happy medium]

You are delusional if you think AMD and Nvidia dont hire people to do viral marketing on forums, and it has 100% happened here in the past and may still to this day. Im sure anyone here at the time remembers Rollo.

I dont usually agree with Happy often but in this instance he is bang on.

the difference is Nvidia shills have to tell you in their signatures ,AMD shills don't.

http://www.slideshare.net/socialmed...se-study-amd-presented-by-jon-peters-11470759

http://www.ngohq.com/?page=articles&go=read&arc_id=112

lets keep it on topic though...






You're the one that started with the conspiracy posts. You're trashing this thread by taking it off topic. Stop. It. Now.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director