Crossfire RX 480 vs GTX 1070

[Agemt69]

So I saw this video on YouTube saying that a crossfire RX 480 will perform better in some cases than a GTX 1080, and sometimes the GTX 1080 will perform better than the RX 480 Crossfire.

Since the 1070 is not as good as the GTX 1080, the crossfire RX 480 will perform better in video games that do support crossfire.

What I want to know is if I should take the risk of buying 2 RX 480's or just buy a single 1070.
I think my computer should be able to handle 2 RX 480's

This is my computer specs

i5 3570K
Asrock Extreme4 z77
8GB Ram (planning to upgrade to 16GB)
750 watt corsair bronze
R9 280X

I don't plan on using virtual reality anywhere in the near future, I just want a good framerate and good graphics to upload youtube videos.

Games I play

Counter Strike - Global Offensive
DoTA 2
MineCraft
Modded Skyrim
Call of Duty
Modded Fallout 4

I do have more games, but these are the games that I will play the most. (I am currently playing Witcher 3 on 1080p Medium settings, I have not tried it out on high settings yet.)

I have a good CPU cooler, but my case can only support 3 fans (I only have a fan in 1)

I want some insight as to whether the risk of a crossfire RX 480 is worth it. I have the money needed to buy 2 more fans if it is needed to keep my computer cool for the RX 480. It usually is around 70-75 celsius when running MSI Afterburner and is playing a graphic intense video game (usually on Medium settings.)

Both cards seem to be 8 gigabytes, and I am not buying a card now, probably later when the prices have gone down. If i get the rx 480, I will sell my 280x and buy one right now and crossfire them later after I upgrade ram and probably get more fans.

 

[theyeti87]

I wouldn't put stock into some youtube video making those claims. The single-GPU solution is almost always a better value, and with fewer hiccups.

Not all games are designed to work flawlessly with SLI / XFire.

A 1070 or 1080 will last you longer than 2x RX480's, consume far less power, and produce less heat.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

https://community.amd.com/thread/202410
PCI-E slot died with RX 480

Starting to see more of these reports.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

https://community.amd.com/thread/202410
PCI-E slot died with RX 480

 

[clonazepam]

Crossfire doesn't do much, if any good in Bethesda titles like Fallout / Skyrim. I'd rather have the single most powerful card possible as that's the only peformance you can rely on 100% of the time.

I've been doing 2 way and even 3 way SLI for years. It's not the greatest feeling in the world when you really fall in love with a game that doesn't support the extra cards. That's extra power going to waste. So, you disable them for the time, then fire the extra ones back up when they are needed, and back and forth. That's if you are power conscious. Over time that becomes tedious because sometimes other programs have to be shutdown first in order to enable the feature.

Long story short, there's great value in peace of mind, and you'll get the most, of that, with a single card setup. If you haven't already, I'd read up Tom's thorough review of the RX480. They make some pretty good assumptions about what the higher end AMD cards might look like (in terms of both performance and power draw).

I refreshed and see you already got some excellent responses.

 

[nikoli707]

1070 for sure

 

[NoobyDoobs]

https://community.amd.com/thread/202410
PCI-E slot died with RX 480

Starting to see more of these reports.

This is most likely relevant if you buy reference cards and buy them before amd pushes out the driver update that fixes the problem. Amd has already stated that on tuesday we are getting more information. And I think they also stated that they are already testing the driver in question.

What is more relevant to the question is which games is he going to play and will he be satisfied with the performance that a single 480 gives on games that have bad or no support for crossfire.
I will be going for a rx 480 and later CF 480s because I do not buy new graphics cards every gen and from what I have read from the magical world of the Internet, amd tends to support older cards for longer periods compared to Nvidia.

If you buy graphics cards whenever new generation comes out or every second gen, I think you should buy Nvidia card(s) for their generally stronger performance in games. If you are buying for purposes mainly outside of gaming, you'll need someone wiser to answer.

Edit: Removed irrelevant opinion of mine based on often similar prices of reference and aib cards. Was more of a reaction to the post marked as the solution.

 

[clonazepam]

https://community.amd.com/thread/202410
PCI-E slot died with RX 480

Starting to see more of these reports.

This is most likely relevant only if you are dumb enough to buy reference cards and buy them before amd pushes out the driver update that fixes the problem. Amd has already stated that on tuesday we are getting more information. And I think they also stated that they are already testing the driver in question.

What is more relevant to the question is which games is he going to play and will he be satisfied with the performance that a single 480 gives on games that have bad or no support for crossfire.
I will be going for a rx 480 and later CF 480s because I do not buy new graphics cards every gen and from what I have read from the magical world of the Internet, amd tends to support older cards for longer periods compared to Nvidia.

If you buy graphics cards whenever new generation comes out or every second gen, I think you should buy Nvidia card(s) for their generally stronger performance in games. If you are buying for purposes mainly outside of gaming, you'll need someone wiser to answer.

What kind of person calls a consumer dumb for buying a product? They didn't go to an AMD lab and lift them off the counter during testing or certification. They bought them from a retailer. I think you might be a little kinder to your average consumers who have no reason to believe, in 2016, that buying an AMD product might be hazardous. I can't believe you said that.