To go MultiGPu or not

sGeek · 02-13-2007, 02:47 PM

When building powerful computers one often wonders whether to go for 2 GPU's
i.e SLi (nvidia) or Crossfire (ati).

Well according to me it isnt worth going the multi-gpu path. The pefromance increase in best cases is less than 25% although theoretically it can give double the performance increase.
However the performance increase comes with increase in power consumption and noise.

The second question is if powering 2 midrange cards in multi-gpu config worthwhile.
The answer is no. The 2 Gpus will be faster only in games supporting multi gpu config.For single gpu optimized games there will be little benefit. Its better to get a highend card rather than pair 2 midrange ones.

As of today only a fraction of the gaming community uses a multigpu configuration.

Zach · 02-18-2007, 08:38 AM

SLI is pretty much overkill for anything, and not all games support the technology. Also, buying two cards for SLI would likely cost more than just one totally superior card, so it would be pretty much pointless.

I have no plans, ever, to have two graphics cards in my setup. I actually think people just buy two identical cards to show off, so they can put "dual whatevers PCI-express in SLI mode"...

02-13-2007, 02:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
sGeek Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 35	To go MultiGPu or not When building powerful computers one often wonders whether to go for 2 GPU's i.e SLi (nvidia) or Crossfire (ati). Well according to me it isnt worth going the multi-gpu path. The pefromance increase in best cases is less than 25% although theoretically it can give double the performance increase. However the performance increase comes with increase in power consumption and noise. The second question is if powering 2 midrange cards in multi-gpu config worthwhile. The answer is no. The 2 Gpus will be faster only in games supporting multi gpu config.For single gpu optimized games there will be little benefit. Its better to get a highend card rather than pair 2 midrange ones. As of today only a fraction of the gaming community uses a multigpu configuration.

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02-18-2007, 08:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
Zach Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 35	SLI is pretty much overkill for anything, and not all games support the technology. Also, buying two cards for SLI would likely cost more than just one totally superior card, so it would be pretty much pointless. I have no plans, ever, to have two graphics cards in my setup. I actually think people just buy two identical cards to show off, so they can put "dual whatevers PCI-express in SLI mode"...