4K Gaming with Crossfire

[Kahun]

Hi guys,

I want to be an early adopter of 4K gaming. I'm currently using a Radeon R9 280X which can handle 4K but the FPS would drop too much I was thinking about getting another R9 280X and going for a crossfire, what do you guys think?

 

[ExKiller]

not a good idea , your electricity bill will be in 4 figures then
If you live out of US then you're good to go

 

[Kahun]

I'm out of US so im good to go 😛

Am I better off going for another 280x or just forget about crossfire and get a new card?

 

[rhysiam]

Little bit outdated now, but here are some 4K benchmarks for 7970Ghz edition - the same card basically as a 280X: http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-radeon-r9-280x-top-review,24.html

If you'd rather go 4K and lower the detail settings a bit you should be okay.

 

[drkatz42]

You may want to check out these benchmarks
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1058?vs=1058

I think it really depends on what is acceptable to you in terms of eye candy etc.
Make sure your psu is up for the task.

 

[Saltymoo]

The problem with crossfire with the 280x is that it only has 2 gb of VRAM and you need more for gaming in 4k. Something like 970 in SLI would do it. But 2 GB RAM limitation is the main problem.

 

[Mike Coberly]

I would check out Tom's own charts for the 7990, as this is a single card with dual GPU's that would seem the most similar to what you're gonna be looking at.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/03-Unigine-Heaven-2160p,3666.html
I would agree with the other answers; it really depends on what you deem playable (you want Low/Medium/High textures, antialiasing, etc.)
I am personally considering another R9 290X for my own setup, and I'm planning on only utilizing a 2560x1440 panel.

 

[TopLuca]

The problem with crossfire with the 280x is that it only has 2 gb of VRAM and you need more for gaming in 4k. Something like 970 in SLI would do it. But 2 GB RAM limitation is the main problem.

3GB of Vram , not 2 .

The 970 will have some problems too in 4k in some games due to the 3.5gb Vram and the slower 0.5 GB ( games like Shadow of Mordor ).

Personally I'd go with a 2nd R9 280X , these things have dropped in price like crazy and it's better to have two of these in CFX in my opinion ( as a cost effective solution ) .

 

[Mike Coberly]

The problem with crossfire with the 280x is that it only has 2 gb of VRAM and you need more for gaming in 4k. Something like 970 in SLI would do it. But 2 GB RAM limitation is the main problem.

R9 280X has 3GB of RAM

 

[Saltymoo]

Indeed it has 3. Sorry about that. It is still important to have a lot of VRAM. Depending on the games played, especially at 4k.

 

[VincentP]

rhysiam and drkatz42 have posted some good benchmarks. A single R9 280X is going to mean very low settings at 4K resolution but 2-way Crossfire should be playable at medium to high settings depending on the game.
Saltymoo is incorrect, the R9 280X is a 3GB card. This is enough for medium to high settings at 4K resolution.

With the current generation of graphics cards, I think you are going to get better looking graphics on a QHD monitor (2560x1440) than on a 4K monitor (3840x2160) because you can run higher detail settings.
I have a Dell U2713HM and while the colours are very good, the IPS glow bothers me in some games (e.g. Skyrim).
The Asus ROG PG278Q is the best for responsiveness and being a TN panel it should not have the same glow as an IPS, PLS or AHVA screen.
I am also interested in the BenQ BL3200PT. Same resolution but in a 32 inch display rather than 27 inch. This is an AMVA panel so the static contrast ratio is about 3000:1 compared to less than 1000:1 for typical TN or IPS monitors. Blacks are very black and colours stand out because of this. Refresh rate is 60 Hz, but this was going to be the case with any 4K monitor as well.

 

[ranij93]

I'm running two 980GTX, when running battlefield 4 with many players at 4k, my GPU uses all 4GB of the memory, so i would recommend at least 4gb

 

[Saltymoo]

I'm running two 980GTX, when running battlefield 4 with many players at 4k, my GPU uses all 4GB of the memory, so i would recommend at least 4gb

I agree. I have the same results.

 

[rhysiam]

I'm running two 980GTX, when running battlefield 4 with many players at 4k, my GPU uses all 4GB of the memory, so i would recommend at least 4gb

Modern games are aware of how much VRAM they have and will often "use" all of it. That doesn't actually mean it needs all of the 4GB to run without paging. It's basically the same principle as Windows caching a bunch of stuff in RAM. If you have the RAM sitting there you may as well use it.

For sure RAM requirements for 4K are high, but I suspect 3GB is okay in most games if you're prepared to drop detail (particularly AA) down a fair way.

 

[-Lone-]

You should be good in most games as others have said, max settings is not 100% necessary for 4k, the different texture levels in 4k doesn't make a huge difference unlike 1080p and 1440p does, you would still get a very clear picture, still better than those two.

Here's some pictures if you wanna compare, there only difference I see is the light and shadow and how far the clear details reach, that's about it really, you would still get that 4k clarity.

BF4 settings: Ultra: http://i.imgur.com/8weImYx.jpg Low: http://i.imgur.com/Nq8fR84.jpg

Crysis 3 settings: Ultra: http://i.imgur.com/KWUETkm.jpg Low: http://i.imgur.com/Nf1Oby6.jpg

I'm not sure if your GPU has mantle but it really helps if you do in games that supports mantle. Also, AA is useless at 4k, so never bother with it, it is not a requirement to make the picture look better like lower resolutions do.

Edit: Or actually you could just switch to a single 290x if you want that 4GB of VRAM and play on high to ultra for most games, I'm pretty sure it has mantle, the only game I have encountered that really needs CFX is Crysis 3, but since there's like almost nothing to do after you beat the game, it's not a big deal. For others like BF4, DA: Inquisition, FC4, you should be able to get up to high+ with that single 290x. You should most likely get a constant 60 fps at high or ultra in older games like Fable Anniversary, Skyrim, Mass Effect Trilogy, those sort of games. So I think this would be a better option for you, because actually that's what I'm running at the moment, only using 1/4 of my GPUs, mantle helps "a lot" with a single GPU in games that supports it. Just make sure you have a really good air flow in your case especially gaming at 4k.

 

[VincentP]

You should be good in most games as others have said, max settings is not 100% necessary for 4k, the different texture levels in 4k doesn't make a huge difference unlike 1080p and 1440p does, you would still get a very clear picture, still better than those two.

Here's some pictures if you wanna compare, there only difference I see is the light and shadow and how far the clear details reach, that's about it really, you would still get that 4k clarity.

BF4 settings: Ultra: http://i.imgur.com/8weImYx.jpg Low: http://i.imgur.com/Nq8fR84.jpg

Crysis 3 settings: Ultra: http://i.imgur.com/KWUETkm.jpg Low: http://i.imgur.com/Nf1Oby6.jpg

I'm not sure if your GPU has mantle but it really helps if you do in games that supports mantle. Also, AA is useless at 4k, so never bother with it, it is not a requirement to make the picture look better like lower resolutions do.

Edit: Or actually you could just switch to a single 290x if you want that 4GB of VRAM and play on high to ultra for most games, I'm pretty sure it has mantle, the only game I have encountered that really needs CFX is Crysis 3, but since there's like almost nothing to do after you beat the game, it's not a big deal. For others like BF4, DA: Inquisition, FC4, you should be able to get up to high+ with that single 290x. You should most likely get a constant 60 fps at high or ultra in older games like Fable Anniversary, Skyrim, Mass Effect Trilogy, those sort of games. So I think this would be a better option for you, because actually that's what I'm running at the moment, only using 1/4 of my GPUs, mantle helps "a lot" with a single GPU in games that supports it. Just make sure you have a really good air flow in your case especially gaming at 4k.

An R9 290X is not a worthwhile upgrade from an R9 280X, and it will still be slower than 2 R9 280X cards in Crossfire.
AMD is due to release a new generation of cards this year. These will cut power usage and increase performance over current generation cards.
They will also push GTX 980 prices down and likely push Nvidia to release something faster as well.
Nvidia won't be far away with a new generation of cards on a smaller process node as well.
Now isn't the right time to be buying a new card unless it is a second R9 280X for Crossfire.

 

[-Lone-]

I'm not talking about speed, it's the VRAM that matters if he wants to play on higher settings. But then again I never do encourage the highest settings, especially in 4k.

 

[Mike Coberly]

I believe the general consensus here is: Get a second R9 280X. That would be my vote.

 

[VincentP]

Maybe.
I think that QHD (2560x1440) is a better option at the moment. A single R9 280X will handle this pretty well and there are some great monitor options available.
If you do go with 4K, you will need to drop settings very low or get a second R9 280X.
If looking at a faster card instead, I would wait until there are better cards available.

 

[Tkconserve]

The problem with crossfire with the 280x is that it only has 2 gb of VRAM and you need more for gaming in 4k. Something like 970 in SLI would do it. But 2 GB RAM limitation is the main problem.

280 x has 3gb vram

Just enough for 4k
4gb is safer though

 

[Tkconserve]

4x AA supersampling at 1080p is in theory 4k.

 

[Akai Miru]

Maybe.
I think that QHD (2560x1440) is a better option at the moment. A single R9 280X will handle this pretty well and there are some great monitor options available.
If you do go with 4K, you will need to drop settings very low or get a second R9 280X.
If looking at a faster card instead, I would wait until there are better cards available.

Or, if you can afford it go with a 290X 8 Gig card, my sapphire is eating up 4k res w/o issues