SLI and Crossfire Support Dying?

[desprado]

What i have experienced this past 7 months is that there was no proper SLI or Crossfire and in fact most of AAA games did not supported SLI of CF.

Example
Fifa 2015
Dead Rising 3
Shadow of Mordor
Titanfall
Watch Dogs(Stuttering)
Sims 4

 

[2is]

Didn't Shadow of Mordor JUST come out? It's not at all uncommon for driver updates to include SLI profiles at a later time. Been a while since I loaded Watch Dogs, but I don't recall any real problems on my setup, but again, it's been a while so my memory might not be 100% accurate. Havne't played any of the other games

 

[desprado]

Didn't Shadow of Mordor JUST come out? It's not at all uncommon for driver updates to include SLI profiles at a later time. Been a while since I loaded Watch Dogs, but I don't recall any real problems on my setup, but again, it's been a while so my memory might not be 100% accurate. Havne't played any of the other games

Any AAA that came out has SLI support from the launch.Last year any AAA game that came out had SLI support 1 month before the release.

 

[alcoholbob]

Anybody who primarily plays launch games over time has known this for a long time--getting the fastest single card is more reliable than running dual midrange cards.

 

[desprado]

Anybody who primarily plays launch games over time has known this for a long time--getting the fastest single card is more reliable than running dual midrange cards.

I have the fastest card though but it is painful that SLI and CF support was awful this year.

 

[2is]

Any AAA that came out has SLI support from the launch.Last year any AAA game that came out had SLI support 1 month before the release.

I don't remember AAA games working that way. Gaming Evolved vs TWIMTBP has dictated who had CF/SLI support out of the box for various titles.

 

[Annisman*]

I went through many CF and SLI setups before finally realizing that whatever fps gains were, it was always cancelled out by increased inconsistencies in the fluidity of actual gameplay. Whether that be from microstutter, games not utilizing multi gpu properly, or just the extra overhead of communicating on extra pci-e slots aka added input lag. I think when people finally step back and discover this for themselves, all but the most extreme benchmarkers will abandon shelling out 2 and 3x the money for an actually inferior gaming experience. That I think would be the death of SLI/CF.

 

[wand3r3r]

Crossfire is pretty impressive now, Idk about the titles in the OP but playing with 4k it's necessary to either drop settings or use crossfire. The XDMA crossfire is excellent and has been shown to have very smooth frame delivery.

The fringe games may not work well and I've only played a limited number of games but where it works well it's excellent.

Looking at the limited 970/980 SLI reviews it looks like there are dropped frames and uneven delivery which will need some tuning.

 

[LtMikePowelll]

FIFA 15 already run great with one card, single 760 already pump out over 100 frame.

 

[x3sphere]

I went through many CF and SLI setups before finally realizing that whatever fps gains were, it was always cancelled out by increased inconsistencies in the fluidity of actual gameplay. Whether that be from microstutter, games not utilizing multi gpu properly, or just the extra overhead of communicating on extra pci-e slots aka added input lag. I think when people finally step back and discover this for themselves, all but the most extreme benchmarkers will abandon shelling out 2 and 3x the money for an actually inferior gaming experience. That I think would be the death of SLI/CF.

Don't know what your last SLI/CF setup was but for me it was the GTX680 and onward that really improved SLI.

Prior to that I had 2xGTX275, lots of microstutter, same with HD5870 CF, and 7990 (before AMD's frame pacing driver).

Outside of minor game glitches I have no stutter issues with my 980s, even at 4K when the FPS can drop down to 30-40. A lot of games are not playable with single card at this res, as soon as I activate the second card it's a clear improvement.

 

[CP5670]

I went through many CF and SLI setups before finally realizing that whatever fps gains were, it was always cancelled out by increased inconsistencies in the fluidity of actual gameplay. Whether that be from microstutter, games not utilizing multi gpu properly, or just the extra overhead of communicating on extra pci-e slots aka added input lag. I think when people finally step back and discover this for themselves, all but the most extreme benchmarkers will abandon shelling out 2 and 3x the money for an actually inferior gaming experience. That I think would be the death of SLI/CF.

I used SLI a long time ago and had the same experience, and pretty much swore off multi-GPU forever. I was spending more time getting games to work properly and smoothly than actually playing them, especially more obscure titles. I guess not much has improved since then.

 

[Pandora's Box]

Fifa 2015 - Doesn't need SLi
Dead Rising 3 - Probably going to take a new driver for this to work.
Shadow of Mordor - SLi works using Fear 3 profile
Titanfall - It works fine in SLi
Watch Dogs(Stuttering) - Shitty port
Sims 4 - Really? It doesn't need SLi

 

[XiandreX]

Fifa 2015 - Doesn't need SLi
Dead Rising 3 - Probably going to take a new driver for this to work.
Shadow of Mordor - SLi works using Fear 3 profile
Titanfall - It works fine in SLi
Watch Dogs(Stuttering) - Shitty port
Sims 4 - Really? It doesn't need SLi

I understand both viewpoints. To most its not worth the hassle, but for those running 1440p, 1600p or even 4k its almost mandatory in certain games.
The tech has come a long way. I laughed when I saw Sims 4 in the list.

 

[Annisman*]

Don't know what your last SLI/CF setup was but for me it was the GTX680 and onward that really improved SLI.

Prior to that I had 2xGTX275, lots of microstutter, same with HD5870 CF, and 7990 (before AMD's frame pacing driver).

Outside of minor game glitches I have no stutter issues with my 980s, even at 4K when the FPS can drop down to 30-40. A lot of games are not playable with single card at this res, as soon as I activate the second card it's a clear improvement.

My last hurrah with SLI was gtx 670 SLI, and I dabbled briefly with Titans in SLI too. Here's the thing. Low fps is low fps, so if a single card is getting thrashed (such as at very high resolution like you mentioned) and a second card can give you that big fps boost into playable territory, then yes that raw fps gain is absolutely worth the added latency/possibility of microstutter that may come with it. I'm not entirely bashing on multi gpu setups, I'm just saying that it's a very flawed system that I think nobody fully recognizes. I mean we are all after smoother gameplay when it's all said and done right ?

 

[BrightCandle]

Watchdogs stuttered with SLI on or off for me, didn't make any difference. SLI worked in the sense it scaled but it didn't fix the problems with the game.

Shadow of Mordor requires a change to AFR 2 and SLI then works, there might not be a profile yet but its simple enough to do that.

Titanfall didn't have SLI for me in beta, that combined with the frame cap and the lacklustre gameplay is why I didn't buy it, but i think they have fixed all these concerns now other than of course the gameplay.

You can probably add the latest F1 game to that list of not working as well, all the previous ones didn't support it, I doubt this one suddenly does.

I always say the same thing about SLI, there is always going to be a few games every year that you play on launch that don't have SLI support, its going to happen. So when you buy it you need to be aware of that and be happy with having just 1 card in that circumstance. Its never going to be the next BF/COD game, its going to mostly be a console port (Shadows of Mordor) or something where it doesn't make much difference due to really low graphics expectations anyway (Sims 4), but it will happen. Doesn't make SLI worthless, it just means its not a 100% solution.

For me at least 680 SLI has solved all the microstutter issues I had with 7970 crossfire. Gsync however really smoothed up the gameplay in a lot of problem games, like far cry 3. The game stutters but because gsync displays the frames at the right time its suddenly nice and smooth all of a sudden. From the data on pcper.com it looks like both SLI and crossfire have shaken off most of the extra variance and are well within tolerance levels (below perception). But without a doubt gsync is what makes SLI awesome because what stutter might remain is fixed by moving away from the fixed cadence of vsync. It doesn't matter if the GPUs are stuttering because the monitor just shows it at the right moment.

I have been using crossfire and SLI now for 5 years, its not all tea and biscuits but aside from one bad purchase its been better than having a single card. Where you really need that performance, like in the latest Crysis or Battlefield or any big graphics game you will have both working well out of the box. The companies that have SLI/xfire matter for them are the ones that ensure the profiles and game support are their from the outset. In the end that I feel is what matters its there on the games that really need it every time.

 

[iiiankiii]

It sucks. Honestly. For the most part, new games just don't work. I'm the type of gamer that want to play new games ASAP. That effectively reduced the usefulness of multi-gpus right off the bat. Of course, if you look hard enough, you can find workarounds to get it to work. However, I just want it to work. I don't want to fiddle around with hacks to get it to work. Bottomline, unless you really, really, really need to get multi-gpus, IMO, it just isn't worth it.

 

[psolord]

Fifa 2015 and Sims? Really?

Personally I buy two good cards at the time (not the greatest, maybe 2nd, 3rd tier but still 600-700 worth both) and dual gpu them. I know for a fact that they will be able to play most games at 1080p in single gpu and I also know for a fact that truly gpu heavy games will support dual gpu in a few weeks. I have patience, no need to jump on X game right away.

What the OP should have said instead, is that engines like id tech 5 and UE4 are real dicks regarding multi gpu. Personally I think the industry should send them to hell.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

Fifa 2015 and Sims? Really?

Personally I buy two good cards at the time (not the greatest, maybe 2nd, 3rd tier but still 600-700 worth both) and dual gpu them. I know for a fact that they will be able to play most games at 1080p in single gpu and I also know for a fact that truly gpu heavy games will support dual gpu in a few weeks. I have patience, no need to jump on X game right away.

What the OP should have said instead, is that engines like id tech 5 and UE4 are real dicks regarding multi gpu. Personally I think the industry should send them to hell.

I will never understand people who do this. Why? If you can spend that same $6-700 and get a single card with none of these issues why would you go sli/xfire? Even if two lesser cards in sli show a slightly higher fps they will not be delivering as good of an experience. Just look at frame time deltas.

I can understand multi-card when you want/need far more than flagship performance but otherwise I think its a terrible decision.

 

[KaRLiToS]

I have the fastest card though but it is painful that SLI and CF support was awful this year.

Did you use AMD cards this year?

 

[Fastx]

I was happy with my 7950 CF, hoping to pick a 290 from e-bay for under $200.00 in the near future so I can CF my current 290.

 

[desprado]

Did you use AMD cards this year?

Yes R9 295X2 but no CF or SLI support for latest games.

Than i give it back after 2 months and bought GTX 780 TI.

 

[psolord]

I will never understand people who do this. Why? If you can spend that same $6-700 and get a single card with none of these issues why would you go sli/xfire? Even if two lesser cards in sli show a slightly higher fps they will not be delivering as good of an experience. Just look at frame time deltas.

I can understand multi-card when you want/need far more than flagship performance but otherwise I think its a terrible decision.

It's not difficult to understand.

2nd tier cards have vastly better performance to cost ratio and two of them will give you close to 90% scaling if no cpu limits come into play.

Take two 970s vs one 980. 60% more performance for 150 usd more. There's no competition.

Personally I never had a problem with frame times, since I always use vsync and if need be, MSI AB'a frame limiter as well.

It's the increased gpu performance pool that's important.

Also
-you can sell them easier when the time comes,
-you can disable one if the extra rendering power is not needed, thus saving power compared to a larger core,
-in case one breaks, you still have the other to go by your business

 

[NTMBK]

Meh. Alternate framerate is a bit rubbish anyway. Extra latency, less consistency... not a fan. Single bigger GPU seems like a better solution.

 

[elelunicy]

Sims 4 - Really? It doesn't need SLi

It does when you play it @ 5160x2160 (or any resolution higher than a single 4k display). It couldn't even maintain 30fps with my single GTX 980. Forcing SLI in the driver the game runs less than 10 fps :hmm:

 

[guskline]

Have CF in rig below and am very pleased. Have GTX670FTWs in SLI in a 3770k rig and am also very pleased.

I agree with BrightCandle's comments.