[H] 6990+6970 CF vs GTX580 SLI triple monitor

[3DVagabond]

ahaa so it was a non reference bios? Why they blame nvidia then? Asus set the performance tables to zero which disables throttling. Now when the driver scans for the throttle entry there's nothing but your overclocked settings. Same when you boot that setting in the bios that will always make your card boot in a sage mode is gone. Remember the Geforce 6800 way back? Asus as well.

I did not insult the reviewer at all? I was asking some questions. If it sounded like a insult then I apologize coz I did not mean it that way at all. Just try to look at it from a logical prospective in mind

So, what does any of this have to do with this thread?

 

[3DVagabond]

ok a 6970 plus a 6990 gives you 36 fps on 3x1080p. Whats 2x6970 going to give you?

About a $700 cost, not $1000, which is what the review was about.

Two cards @ $1000. nVidia gives you 580SLI, AMD gives you 6990/6970 crossfire-X. The AMD solution gives you higher gaming performance.

 

[xAlex79]

About a $700 cost, not $1000, which is what the review was about.

Two cards @ $1000. nVidia gives you 580SLI, AMD gives you 6990/6970 crossfire-X. The AMD solution gives you higher gaming performance.

That. Seriously why is there even a discussion on this? This article is so clear cut that to argue anything just makes you lose credibility.

The value doesn't matter? Mate that is what runs the entire world. 99.9% of PC customers will plan thier rigs with a budget in mind.

Metrics like, the number of GPUs, the amount of VRAM are completely useless.

In my opignon all "comparative reviews" should always compare cards with what they are worth. ie: 200$ vs 200$ 500$vs500$. Anything else does not make any sense at all.

To release a review not taking this into account is un-professional and biased.

Just to outline it, the Anand review on trifire trisli was complete garbage because they promised on the first page to look at value and completely droppped that in the garbage come conclusion. Go firgure why, but that was a very disapointing conclusion following a great review.

 

[1h4x4s3x]

Wow, ridiculous how the thread developed. Good job at completely derailing it without getting an infraction, my hats off to you.

OP: Good read, didn't expect anything else. AMD is unbeatable when it comes to Price/Performance.

 

[wahdangun]

ahaa so it was a non reference bios? Why they blame nvidia then? Asus set the performance tables to zero which disables throttling. Now when the driver scans for the throttle entry there's nothing but your overclocked settings. Same when you boot that setting in the bios that will always make your card boot in a sage mode is gone. Remember the Geforce 6800 way back? Asus as well.

I did not insult the reviewer at all? I was asking some questions. If it sounded like a insult then I apologize coz I did not mean it that way at all. Just try to look at it from a logical prospective in mind

because the OCP should have kick in to prevent the card to blow up, just like amd did, thats why no amd card that blow up, and after the fact that nvdia solution depend on driver really don't help it, especially nvdia send flawed driver to reviewer, so please don't blame the reviewer because stupid nvdia mistake.

and btw asus have promote this voltage tweak since hd 4870/gtx 280 era, and none was blowing up like gtx 590

 

[SlowSpyder]

oh wait here's another
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2010/11/testing-nvidia-vs-amd-image-quality/

Let me go to Amds forums
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=149070&enterthread=y

When did Crysis came out? How long has it been?
http://www.overclock.net/software-news/989821-r3d-new-cap-amd-crossfire-crysis.html
Now would you waste a 1000usd on a company that still struggling to fix their driver not working in a game that's released ages ago? If a Amd user said he never had any problems using a Amd gpu in Crossfire then he probably never played Crysis. Which means......?

I'm sure there are isolated incidents in which people have problems with AMD drivers. I'm sure the same can be said for Nvidia. The point I was trying to make, and appears to have completely flown over your head, is that neither company has 100% perfect drivers for every single user. The links I provided clearly show that Nvidia users have issues as well. You could replace "AMD" with "Nvidia" in probably every negative point you've mentioned and be just as correct. Nvidia users have problems with flickering displays from time to time. Nvidia owners have bad performance with SLI from time to time. Nvidia owners get BSOD's from time to time. All of this applies to Nvidia just the same as AMD.

 

[SlowSpyder]

because the OCP should have kick in to prevent the card to blow up, just like amd did, thats why no amd card that blow up, and after the fact that nvdia solution depend on driver really don't help it, especially nvdia send flawed driver to reviewer, so please don't blame the reviewer because stupid nvdia mistake.

and btw asus have promote this voltage tweak since hd 4870/gtx 280 era, and none was blowing up like gtx 590

Yup, I have two non-reference cards. A lot of other cards from both AMD and Nvidia are non-reference designs. But only the GTX590 and non-reference cards with the 196.75 drivers have had problems...

 

[Idontcare]

Wow, ridiculous how the thread developed. Good job at completely derailing it without getting an infraction, my hats off to you.

It probably has something to do with the verifiable fact that not a single member of this community felt the derailing was so unacceptable as to necessitate it being reported to the moderators...:hmm:

FWIW if you guys were curious as to how I generally handle thread-derails as a mod, it is documented in this post here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=31431997&postcount=40

Idontcare
Super Mod

 

[GaiaHunter]

It probably has something to do with the verifiable fact that not a single member of this community felt the derailing was so unacceptable as to necessitate it being reported to the moderators...:hmm:

FWIW if you guys were curious as to how I generally handle thread-derails as a mod, it is documented in this post here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=31431997&postcount=40

Idontcare
Super Mod

So mods don't act unless someone reports?

Interesting.

What if someone is reported but actually a part of the community feels like it was a pertinent topic?

Can we unreport it?

I'm not sure if I like this system.

 

[Stoneburner]

So mods don't act unless someone reports?

Interesting.

What if someone is reported but actually a part of the community feels like it was a pertinent topic?

Can we unreport it?

I'm not sure if I like this system.

I reported your post. Not to get you in trouble, but to make sure the mods read it.

(YES I'm JOKING)

I'll add a smiley to make sure

 

[thilanliyan]

go look around in all the major forums around the web. you will see. or google the screen flicker issue Amd gpu, or google bad fps in Crysis Crossfire or bsod ati.sys.

Here:
http://www.google.ca/search?client=...rceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest

So uh, looks like nV has problems with drivers too.

When did Crysis came out? How long has it been?
http://www.overclock.net/software-news/989821-r3d-new-cap-amd-crossfire-crysis.html
Now would you waste a 1000usd on a company that still struggling to fix their driver not working in a game that's released ages ago? If a Amd user said he never had any problems using a Amd gpu in Crossfire then he probably never played Crysis. Which means......?

Eh, that is for Crysis 2. It only came out a couple of weeks ago. Didn't DA2 not work properly with nV cards when it first came out? Keep digging. There will be others to refute your "bad drivers" claim too. BOTH companies have driver problems (at least in the recent past). I thought that had been established several times in this forum, but maybe some people didn't get the memo.

 

[bryanW1995]

So mods don't act unless someone reports?

Interesting.

What if someone is reported but actually a part of the community feels like it was a pertinent topic?

Can we unreport it?

I'm not sure if I like this system.

I think that... oh, god NO, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!


Back OT: tri xfire is better than comparable card sli'd. Amazing that this is true...

 

[notty22]

I think that... oh, god NO, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!


Back OT: tri xfire is better than comparable card sli'd. Amazing that this is true...

It takes 3 of AMD's fastest gpu to compete with 2 gtx 580's (nvidia's fastest), that amazing fact is why AMD' priced the 6970 where they did and why market prices are dropping faster than Nvidia's. Oh imo.

edit: Its why Nvidia priced the 590 at 729.00

 

[3DVagabond]

I think that... oh, god NO, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!


Back OT: tri xfire is better than comparable card sli'd. Amazing that this is true...

It takes 3 of AMD's fastest gpu to compete with 2 gtx 580's (nvidia's fastest), that amazing fact is why AMD' priced the 6970 where they did and why market prices are dropping faster than Nvidia's. Oh imo.

Here we are with the whole confusion on compete and compare still. Bryan's got it, but let's try again for notty, shall we? They are comparable because they cost the same amt. They do not compete though because 6990+6970 walks all over 2x590.

 

[Idontcare]

So mods don't act unless someone reports?

Interesting.

What if someone is reported but actually a part of the community feels like it was a pertinent topic?

Can we unreport it?

I'm not sure if I like this system.

Did you read the link I provided?

Idontcare
Super Mod

 

[Lonyo]

It takes 3 of AMD's fastest gpu to compete with 2 gtx 580's (nvidia's fastest), that amazing fact is why AMD' priced the 6970 where they did

Congratulations, you've worked out what can be called "different approaches to the market".
Give yourself a pat on the back.
AMD and NV have different strategies. That means their products are priced differently and perform differently.

 

[SlowSpyder]

It takes 3 of AMD's fastest gpu to compete with 2 gtx 580's (nvidia's fastest), that amazing fact is why AMD' priced the 6970 where they did and why market prices are dropping faster than Nvidia's. Oh imo.

edit: Its why Nvidia priced the 590 at 729.00

Because it comes with bundled fireworks as an addition?


Three of AMD's fastest GPU's are only competing with two of Nvidia's on price, from a performance perspective it doesn't look like much of a competition at all.

 

[Keysplayr]

I think that... oh, god NO, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!


Back OT: tri xfire is better than comparable card sli'd. Amazing that this is true...

Except I'm pretty sure that 6990 + 6970 should be compared to 3x GTX570s.
I mean, if you're comparing price to price that is.
Not 2x 580s. 580s are in a league of their own.

 

[railven]

Ok, let me give it a try...

Screen Ficker

Bad FPS in Crysis

BSOD


Did I do that right? Is that what you wanted us to see?

L.O.L. This made me laugh.

OT: The GTX 590 can't Tri-SLI with a GTX 580?

So if I only had two PCIE slots (which I do) in terms of cost 6990+6790 is feasible, but anything nVidia is out of the question?

Why wouldn't they let you Tri-SLI the GTX 590?

 

[SlowSpyder]

Except I'm pretty sure that 6990 + 6970 should be compared to 3x GTX570s.
I mean, if you're comparing price to price that is.
Not 2x 580s. 580s are in a league of their own.

I said earlier in the thread that I would have liked to see three GTX570's included as well. As much as I would have liked to have seen them for a reference point, it would have been a bit different in needing three PCIE slots... but that's not that big of a deal. But, what I do *think* would have been a big issue is the 1.2GB of memory running out at that resolution.

 

[Keysplayr]

I said earlier in the thread that I would have liked to see three GTX570's included as well. As much as I would have liked to have seen them for a reference point, it would have been a bit different in needing three PCIE slots... but that's not that big of a deal. But, what I do *think* would have been a big issue is the 1.2GB of memory running out at that resolution.

Of course. The only possible issue is the biggest issue. The drama.
But regardless, comparing a $700 + $350 card against 2x$500 is a bit daft. Don't compare 3 GPUs to 2 GPUs. You need to find 3 GPU's of at least close to equal price in this comparison. And if the 1.2GB memory on the 570s turn out to be a handicap or not can be seen then.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Of course. The only possible issue is the biggest issue. The drama.
But regardless, comparing a $700 + $350 card against 2x$500 is a bit daft. Don't compare 3 GPUs to 2 GPUs. You need to find 3 GPU's of at least close to equal price in this comparison. And if the 1.2GB memory on the 570s turn out to be a handicap or not can be seen then.

I don't find the comparrison daft at all. Both setups will have the potential drawbacks of a multi-GPU system. Both require two PCI slots. Both cost very close to the same money. Both use similar amounts of power.

The AMD setup has to be louder (I'm assuming, I don't remember if it was mentioned in the article) and has added complexity due to the third GPU. But, if you want greater than GTX580 SLI performance, well you're going to be louder than 2 GTX580's in SLI and you're looking at a third GPU at the very least anyway.

 

[3DVagabond]

Of course. The only possible issue is the biggest issue. The drama.
But regardless, comparing a $700 + $350 card against 2x$500 is a bit daft. Don't compare 3 GPUs to 2 GPUs. You need to find 3 GPU's of at least close to equal price in this comparison. And if the 1.2GB memory on the 570s turn out to be a handicap or not can be seen then.

Unfortunately, you can't do it with 2 cards with nVidia. Using 2 pci-e slots is a realistic limitation. Maybe they'll make SLI as flexible as crossfire though if enough is said about it. It would be a good thing, right?

 

[Keysplayr]

Unfortunately, you can't do it with 2 cards with nVidia. Using 2 pci-e slots is a realistic limitation. Maybe they'll make SLI as flexible as crossfire though if enough is said about it. It would be a good thing, right?

Not really. Using 2 pci-e slots as an excuse for a realistic limitation.... isn't realistic. Plenty of Tri SLI and Quadfire boards out there if desired. That isn't really a limitation as far as actual performance numbers and price are concerned. So, one does have options and which approach they wish to use. Pairing the 6990 with a single 6970 is obviously advantageous. I like that cards can be mixed and matched, but it's by no means the only way to go.

 

[3DVagabond]

Not really. Using 2 pci-e slots as an excuse for a realistic limitation.... isn't realistic. Plenty of Tri SLI and Quadfire boards out there if desired. That isn't really a limitation as far as actual performance numbers and price are concerned. So, one does have options and which approach they wish to use. Pairing the 6990 with a single 6970 is obviously advantageous. I like that cards can be mixed and matched, but it's by no means the only way to go.

What's unrealistic is using the term "only way to go". I didn't imply that. There are plenty of mobo's though that are not tri-SLI certified.