After seeing the results of AMD CrossFire performances with the new GOOD performance analysis tools I wouldn't touch an AMD card for a while, they have a lot of issues.
I would wait to see if these type of card behave better than CrossFire solution since CrossFire some time even performs lower than one of its composing cards alone. http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-...
I have 2x 6970's so i'm not bias against AMD or anything, but even i will say that AMD's Crossfire sucks. You don't need the new frame interval tools to see frame rate issues/micro stuttering, and what annoys me is that no one ever seems to point it out in reviews when you can see it with your own eyes. Typical USELESS reviewers.
AMD should be releasing a single high-end GPU like Titan to avoid bad press about how much you can see Crossfire sucking with these new tools. Or preferably just release a new GPU. I hate that GPU releases have slowed down, we should have 8970 and GTX 780 by now.
I've got a couple of 6950's unlocked into 6970's. They have been perfectly fine for me in every game I play/played except for Skyrim on launch. Not everyone has issues.
"Not everyone has issues" is sometimes indistinguishable from "not everyone notices issues". The FCAT setup is expensive, but Fraps combined with FRAFS Bench Viewer can give you an inkling if there is something funky stuttering presents going into the front end of the graphics pipe. That is, if you really want to know. Sometimes blissful ignorance is preferred.
FCAT proves without a doubt that they DO have issues, and certain people like yourself just don't notice it for some reason. When it's pretty obvious to myself.
And i can also write a list of games they definitely have/had issues with Crossfire, for everyone, as they're known issues which AMD has also fixed or has not got round to fixing yet. I've also built over a hundred PC's in the last 2 years, which are affected by the same problems. You either just don't seem to play many games, or have something wrong with your eyes, or you're a fanboy.
Of course, if you read the linked article, if you're running vsync and playing certain games, there AREN'T any issues.
That being said, there are definitely a lot of areas that could be improved with vsync off, and some that could still use improvement even with vsync on.
Realistically though, if minor glitches bug you, you're probably running with vsync on to avoid tearing, so the AMD users in this class probably didn't notice problems as much as the nVidia users in this class (As the linked article shows, vsync basically 'fixes' the crossfire scenario in some games, while not really helping the SLI scenario much at all, in any games... so while SLI starts out better with vsync off, it doesn't get much better with vsync on either, while the crossfire setup gets a big boost from vsync)
Your a fanboy also dipshit. No fuck they have issues is Nvidia's drivers perfect? No are they more stable? yes in some cases. Some games run better with AMD cards and some with Nvidia. So its just a matter of preference.
On the plus side, now that AMD has seen those results as well, I would expect them to address them in future driver updates.
I have a triple-monitor setup with 3x 30" monitors, but one of them is a 3007WFP, while the other two are U3011s. That means that nVidia surround doesn't want to work with my setup. I have to modify monitor drivers and mess with sync polarity, and it still doesn't want to work.
Eyefinity on the other hand doesn't have these restrictions, and has other nice features for multi-monitor setups. Odds are I will switch to AMD for the next round of videocards - possibly buying one or two of these.
Looks like this is connected to having large numbers of the card they're using for their GRID-like products, so why not go ahead and release a consumer version, too?
1) AMD is sticking with their 7000 series branding for Sea Islands desktop parts. 2) There aren't too many numbers after 7990, folks.
I feel it is safe to deduce from the above that there will be no high performance Sea Islands desktop SKUs to compete with Southern Islands on the high end. My wallet's going back in my desk.
I would prefer that Nvidia and AMD launch a new series of video cards like each 5 years, to improve quality, and give a good product, not a defective card, whit bad drivers. The games also be good optimized for that series of cards.
5 years?! No way any amount of driver/game optimization would overcome how much performance progress there would be from new architectures over 5 years.
Should be every 2 years, performance gain in 1 year is almost worthless if you own a high end previous card.
Many games need well over recommended specs to play 60fps (i mean all the time, not just some sections) and that's a shame because i hate that new games come out and the framerate can be as low as 30 or 20 for minimum.. we need 60 all the time but it still aint happening even at 1080p, that's the res i play at.I would hate to see framerates on dual or triple monitor setups.
Also i wish they would stop releasing overpriced stop gap cards like Mars and Titan that are only a bit faster than the "real" high end cards they released before it, they aren't even worth the money because say a game runs bad on a 670 or 680 then it will on the Titan as well.. make those cards 2x more powerful than they are then yes they will be worth the money because they will last a ton longer, but as they are nope.
So much hate on dual GPU setups! Just because there are problems doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. Even a GTX Titan can't keep up with two 7970's - there's just no getting around the necessity for multiple GPU setups if you are running several monitors and want good performance.
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Torrijos - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
After seeing the results of AMD CrossFire performances with the new GOOD performance analysis tools I wouldn't touch an AMD card for a while, they have a lot of issues.I would wait to see if these type of card behave better than CrossFire solution since CrossFire some time even performs lower than one of its composing cards alone.
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-...
tviceman - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Agreed. Their single card solutions and bundles are top notch. Mutli-GPU setups are just rife with problems, though.B3an - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I have 2x 6970's so i'm not bias against AMD or anything, but even i will say that AMD's Crossfire sucks. You don't need the new frame interval tools to see frame rate issues/micro stuttering, and what annoys me is that no one ever seems to point it out in reviews when you can see it with your own eyes. Typical USELESS reviewers.AMD should be releasing a single high-end GPU like Titan to avoid bad press about how much you can see Crossfire sucking with these new tools. Or preferably just release a new GPU. I hate that GPU releases have slowed down, we should have 8970 and GTX 780 by now.
StevoLincolnite - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I've got a couple of 6950's unlocked into 6970's. They have been perfectly fine for me in every game I play/played except for Skyrim on launch.Not everyone has issues.
BMNify - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
"Not everyone has issues" is sometimes indistinguishable from "not everyone notices issues". The FCAT setup is expensive, but Fraps combined with FRAFS Bench Viewer can give you an inkling if there is something funky stuttering presents going into the front end of the graphics pipe. That is, if you really want to know. Sometimes blissful ignorance is preferred.B3an - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
FCAT proves without a doubt that they DO have issues, and certain people like yourself just don't notice it for some reason. When it's pretty obvious to myself.And i can also write a list of games they definitely have/had issues with Crossfire, for everyone, as they're known issues which AMD has also fixed or has not got round to fixing yet. I've also built over a hundred PC's in the last 2 years, which are affected by the same problems. You either just don't seem to play many games, or have something wrong with your eyes, or you're a fanboy.
Araemo - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - link
Of course, if you read the linked article, if you're running vsync and playing certain games, there AREN'T any issues.That being said, there are definitely a lot of areas that could be improved with vsync off, and some that could still use improvement even with vsync on.
Realistically though, if minor glitches bug you, you're probably running with vsync on to avoid tearing, so the AMD users in this class probably didn't notice problems as much as the nVidia users in this class (As the linked article shows, vsync basically 'fixes' the crossfire scenario in some games, while not really helping the SLI scenario much at all, in any games... so while SLI starts out better with vsync off, it doesn't get much better with vsync on either, while the crossfire setup gets a big boost from vsync)
JoshButterballs - Sunday, April 7, 2013 - link
Your a fanboy also dipshit. No fuck they have issues is Nvidia's drivers perfect? No are they more stable? yes in some cases. Some games run better with AMD cards and some with Nvidia. So its just a matter of preference.twtech - Saturday, April 13, 2013 - link
On the plus side, now that AMD has seen those results as well, I would expect them to address them in future driver updates.I have a triple-monitor setup with 3x 30" monitors, but one of them is a 3007WFP, while the other two are U3011s. That means that nVidia surround doesn't want to work with my setup. I have to modify monitor drivers and mess with sync polarity, and it still doesn't want to work.
Eyefinity on the other hand doesn't have these restrictions, and has other nice features for multi-monitor setups. Odds are I will switch to AMD for the next round of videocards - possibly buying one or two of these.
jko831 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
That's basically a FirePro S10000.jko831 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
I mean the heat sink design. The S10000 is 2 7950s.jko831 - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Of course, AMD only specified two 7900 series GPUs...HisDivineOrder - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
Looks like this is connected to having large numbers of the card they're using for their GRID-like products, so why not go ahead and release a consumer version, too?silentplummet - Friday, March 29, 2013 - link
1) AMD is sticking with their 7000 series branding for Sea Islands desktop parts.2) There aren't too many numbers after 7990, folks.
I feel it is safe to deduce from the above that there will be no high performance Sea Islands desktop SKUs to compete with Southern Islands on the high end. My wallet's going back in my desk.
aTonyAtlaw - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
Are you kidding?!? There's room for at least 9 more graphics cards in the 799x series!manued08 - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
I would prefer that Nvidia and AMD launch a new series of video cards like each 5 years, to improve quality, and give a good product, not a defective card, whit bad drivers. The games also be good optimized for that series of cards.tipoo - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - link
5 years?! No way any amount of driver/game optimization would overcome how much performance progress there would be from new architectures over 5 years.Welsh Jester - Thursday, April 4, 2013 - link
Should be every 2 years, performance gain in 1 year is almost worthless if you own a high end previous card.Many games need well over recommended specs to play 60fps (i mean all the time, not just some sections) and that's a shame because i hate that new games come out and the framerate can be as low as 30 or 20 for minimum.. we need 60 all the time but it still aint happening even at 1080p, that's the res i play at.I would hate to see framerates on dual or triple monitor setups.
Also i wish they would stop releasing overpriced stop gap cards like Mars and Titan that are only a bit faster than the "real" high end cards they released before it, they aren't even worth the money because say a game runs bad on a 670 or 680 then it will on the Titan as well.. make those cards 2x more powerful than they are then yes they will be worth the money because they will last a ton longer, but as they are nope.
frogger4 - Friday, April 5, 2013 - link
So much hate on dual GPU setups! Just because there are problems doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. Even a GTX Titan can't keep up with two 7970's - there's just no getting around the necessity for multiple GPU setups if you are running several monitors and want good performance.