Help with Crossfire setup

[sandals100]

Hi guys, I am looking for a new gpu setup. I thought I made my mind up when I decided to get a r9 280 but then stopped and decided to think a little more.

I decided that I would rather go for a dual card in favor of a single card. My budget is currently at $300 AUD. I can only go crossfire as my mobo does not support SLI.

So far I haven't had too much luck as I am not very accustomated with the names of AMD cards. Although I did find this:

MSI Radeon R7 260X Overclocked 2GB
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_877&products_id=25335

Please help me or advise me otherwise! Thanks

 

[clutchc]

Stay away from dual cards in that class. They do not scale well and micro-stutter can still be a bit of a problem. And if your MB only has X16,x4 PCIe X16 slots, stay away from dual cards completely.

 

[sandals100]

Oh ok.. so I would be better off just either sticking with my current 760 or changing to the r9 280

 

[clutchc]

Oh ok.. so I would be better off just either sticking with my current 760 or changing to the r9 280

Yes. If you were thinking of dual R7-260x cards or a single r9-280, the single would be preferred. The 2 x R7-260X will give you higher framerates, but the poor frame times and occasional stutter may be more than you want to put up with.

 

[sandals100]

Oh ok.. so I would be better off just either sticking with my current 760 or changing to the r9 280

Yes. If you were thinking of dual R7-260x cards or a single r9-280, the single would be preferred. The 2 x R7-260X will give you higher framerates, but the poor frame times and occasional stutter may be more than you want to put up with.

How noticeable would the stuttering be on a single 21.5" 1080p monitor?

 

[clutchc]

It depends on the individual. Some folks are very susceptible to micro-stutter and others don't even notice it. M-S is caused by frame time variance. You may be rendering at 60 FPS, but M-S can make it look like much lower.

However...
M-S isn't as bad as it used to be. It is almost eliminated with the latest AMD drivers now that they use Frame Pacing technology. And with Nvidia... they have it solved in firmware and it has been less noticeable for several generations of cards and drivers. So if you want to give it a try, don't let me dissuade you. Here is a video that explains it better than I do, and distinguishes between M-S and similar anomalies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1lcsuJ5Kw