SLI vs CrossFire: Which Dual-Card Setup is Best?

Brink

Staff member
mvp
SLI vs CrossFire: Which Dual-Card Setup is Best?

We look at dual card graphics and PC gaming. When you add a second card, which cards are faster? Which scale better? And which can you actually stand to have in your system?

Graphics cards have gotten faster and added more features. So we have to ask the question: is it really worth adding a second GPU to your system? Will you get enough of a performance boost to justify the extra power draw and added cost? The answer is more complex than a simple yes or no. It all depends on what games you’re running, how much you dial up features like anti-aliasing, whether you’ve dived into the world of stereoscopic 3D and what monitor you’re running.

Perhaps the most important factor in the decision is display resolution. If you’re running a 1680x1050, 22-inch display, a single midrange or high end card will get the job done. Adding a second GPU is overkill. If you’ve got a 30-inch, 2560x1600 display and want to crank up the AA and postprocessing features, then that second GPU can be a big help.

Stereoscopic 3D, like Nvidia’s 3D Vision, demands more performance as well, since you’re effectively doubling the frame rate requirements of a game. Most 3D displays currently available max out at 1920x1080, however, so the performance demands aren’t overly onerous.

Games themselves are evolving and adding more features. You can see that in a title like Just Cause 2. Still a DirectX 10 title (and it requires DX10 or higher), Just Cause 2 adds a host of postprocessing effects that can demand much from your graphics card. Toss in DX11 titles, like Aliens versus Predator or STALKER: Call of Pripyat, and frame rates can plummet as you add features. So that second GPU can indeed contribute to the overall experience.

With these thoughts in mind, let’s take a look at our SLI and CrossFire X candidates.

Read more at the source. :)
 

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System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
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    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
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    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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