2 GPU vs 1 (2x4gb VRAM, 1x8gb VRAM)

[shikanoa3]

From what I understand, having 2 identical graphics cards (4gbs per) would run better than 1 8gb GPU, for a gaming set up. Is this true? If so/not, to what extent?

 

[Lutfij]

That will depend on which camp you're looking at and what game titles you're planning to tax your newly multi-GPU'd system. Are we talking about SLI or crossfire? What sort of games are we looking at?

 

[shikanoa3]

That will depend on which camp you're looking at and what game titles you're planning to tax your newly multi-GPU'd system. Are we talking about SLI or crossfire? What sort of games are we looking at?

SLI and the most tasking games i play/plan to play are Planet Coaster, PuBG, Ark, Rust, and Rainbow 6 Seige. Not sure what you mean by "Camp"

 

[constantine_99]

there's no 2x4 VRAM in SLI / Crossfire.... the VRAM amount stays the same, even if u SLI 4 Titan XP, they just gonna split the calculating process, which in turns can result in 3 situation depending on how good is the SLI support on those apps:
1. fps / performance increase
2. no performance / gps gain
3. fps / performance loss because the CPU got confused at some point [i think]

i suggest u stick with a single GPU solution for the time being, as the technology [both SLI and Crossfire] has yet to be refined and stablilize...

a single GPU by all means, should perform typically better in some case and also performs much more stable, since all games support single GPU solution, meanwhile, the SLI/Crossfire depends on whether the devs support it in their apps or not...
[unless we're talking about something like RX 580 8 GB vs RX 480 4GB Crossfire.... since both card are on the same tier, the crossfire can exceed the single gpu solution in some case.... again though, some...]

 

[shikanoa3]

there's no 2x4 VRAM in SLI / Crossfire.... the VRAM amount stays the same, even if u SLI 4 Titan XP, they just gonna split the calculating process, which in turns can result in 3 situation depending on how good is the SLI support on those apps:
1. fps / performance increase
2. no performance / gps gain
3. fps / performance loss because the CPU got confused at some point [i think]

i suggest u stick with a single GPU solution for the time being, as the technology [both SLI and Crossfire] has yet to be refined and stablilize...

a single GPU by all means, should perform typically better in some case and also performs much more stable, since all games support single GPU solution, meanwhile, the SLI/Crossfire depends on whether the devs support it in their apps or not...
[unless we're talking about something like RX 580 8 GB vs RX 480 4GB Crossfire.... since both card are on the same tier, the crossfire can exceed the single gpu solution in some case.... again though, some...]

I have a 4gb VRAM that fully supports SLI, I understand neither would be able to push 8gb just because the other is installed. Im thinking (Hypothetically) if a game needed 8gb VRAM, wouldnt the SLI work through it easier, as it splits the load? Im no expert this is just my understanding. Games needing SLI support is a hurdle I didnt expect though, is that a serious concern?

 

[constantine_99]

there's no 2x4 VRAM in SLI / Crossfire.... the VRAM amount stays the same, even if u SLI 4 Titan XP, they just gonna split the calculating process, which in turns can result in 3 situation depending on how good is the SLI support on those apps:
1. fps / performance increase
2. no performance / gps gain
3. fps / performance loss because the CPU got confused at some point [i think]

i suggest u stick with a single GPU solution for the time being, as the technology [both SLI and Crossfire] has yet to be refined and stablilize...

a single GPU by all means, should perform typically better in some case and also performs much more stable, since all games support single GPU solution, meanwhile, the SLI/Crossfire depends on whether the devs support it in their apps or not...
[unless we're talking about something like RX 580 8 GB vs RX 480 4GB Crossfire.... since both card are on the same tier, the crossfire can exceed the single gpu solution in some case.... again though, some...]

I have a 4gb VRAM that fully supports SLI, I understand neither would be able to push 8gb just because the other is installed. Im thinking (Hypothetically) if a game needed 8gb VRAM, wouldnt the SLI work through it easier, as it splits the load? Im no expert this is just my understanding. Games needing SLI support is a hurdle I didnt expect though, is that a serious concern?

well i'm no fledging expert too here, some people out there might have real life experience with these kind of complicated and REALLY expensive thing (dude, i barely had a 1050ti, so SLI is still farrrrr ahead of my budget for now...)

but doin' some research though:
SLI/Crossfire is like a communcation line in order to anticipate and spread the workload around, while both GPU are handling the same problem that are splitted between them, they still uses their own resource, which should means the VRAM count stays the same (4GB in your case)

and also, if the apps supports SLI, they will allow the CPU to spread the workload evenly without getting confused about how things should get done [imo] CPU could get overloaded with all the calculation being transfered so fast [since essentialy 2 GPU working here] while the CPU had to merge those splitted parts back and then sending it to the apps too... *again, this one is my opinion, i might be wrong here and i do apologize if i had any wrongs here XD*

by the way, SLI =/= 2x performance, the performance increase is about 1.6x/1.7x i think...

SLI support is a serious concern or not?
well u're paying for 2 GPU which might or might not increase your performance depending on the games that u play, i'd say it's a serious concern, especially for people with limited budget like me 🙁 unless u have money to burn and u just want to look cool in front of your friend, the single GPU solution is always better and more assuring imho....

 

[4745454b]

Nope. If a game needs 8GBs of ram, which none do AFAIK, then it will exceed your 4GB on the card. When using CF/SLI the data isn't split. So you don't get 2x4=8, you get 2x4=4.

Games needing SLI support is a hurdle I didnt expect though, is that a serious concern?

Games need to support CF/SLI. When GTA4 launched, it lacked any CF/SLI support. Last I heard it finally had support added, but the performance gains are tiny. I think around 25-33%. Some games can do 80%, but most are smaller. Due to the hit and miss of support and gains, many people are shying away from running a CF/SLI setup. Nvidia seems to be seeing the writing on the wall as they are dropping SLI support and making it more restrictive as well. They used to support 4 way SLI, now they are down to two way and only on their best cards. Unless you are running SLI out of the gate, I too suggest to just get the best GPU you can afford right now.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/989882/gtx-1060-sli-/

Edit: I meant to write that neither the 750, 1050, nor 1060 officially support SLI. You have to use the 1070 or better. You are honestly better just running a single big card at this point.