R9 390 crossfire or GTX1070

[quinncooper1988]

Morning

I'm after some advice, probably an it beyond the typical 390 vs 1070 debate.

I've currently got:
2x XFX 390
I5 6600k
Gigabyte Z170
Samsung evo SSD
16GB 2666mhz DDR4 RAM
1440 free sync iiyama monitor

I've had other AMD and GTX cards in the past, and if I'm honest have no preference or bias towards either one.

My problem I'm having at the minute, I'm getting incredibly frustrated with the lack of Crossfire support for the games I play (FPS games mainly, BF1 etc, soon to be titanfall2 and generally AAA title games) .... BF1 for example; despite being Crossfire profiles, it still does not work. I get better frames/performance single card than I do trying to enable crossfire.

Is it worth; selling the two 390's to fund a GTX1070. Or are there equivalent priced/spec AMD cards that I'll benefit from both the free sync, and won't be frustrated with lack of driver support.

Or is it for the games I play, Nvedia will be the better supported card?

All I'm after is something around the 1070 performance/price... that's not going to frustrate me with driver issues/glitches. Whether it's the 1070 or a another card..... what are your suggestions?

Or ride the wave and hope that devs start supporting crossfire;

Thanks all

 

[n0ns3ns3]

There is no AMD card that performs on the GTX 1070 level.
The most powerful card they have is RX 480 which is GTX 1060 level of performance.
If you can do the switch to the GTX 1070 with minimal investment (under 100$) it's totally worth it for the following reasons:
1. no dependence on game to support multi GPU
2. much more stable perfromance - many games have micro freezes/stuttering on multi GPU (both CF and SLI).
3. lower input lag - multi GPU adds lag. sometimes significant.
4. quieter and cooler system - GTX 1070 consumes much less power than single 390. target power is ~154 watt. it can draw more, but targets this value.
GTX 1070 is an awesome card for 1440p gaming.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

I wouldn't be surprised if multi-GPU configurations were completely phased out in the next few years. Nvidia have dropped support for three and four-way SLI and the GTX 1060 doesn't support SLI at all. Crossfire has, unfortunately, always been on the back foot.

At present, AMD have nothing to match the GTX 1070. That could change with Vega, but until those cards are released and benchmarked, we'll never know. The RX 480 8GB is AMD's top offering right now.

What's the exact model of your monitor? Most Iiyama FreeSync monitors I know of are 75hz rather than 144hz.

Personally, I'd wait and see what Vega brings to the table. It'd be a shame to give up FreeSync.

 

[quinncooper1988]

Thanks; it's a ProLite B2783QSU-B1.

And your correct, it is rated 75hz

That's one of the other frustrating moments I'm having; the micro stutters.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

If you're planning to keep your existing monitor then an RX 480 could be an option. I use mine at 2560x1440 60hz and it performs very well.

The micro-stutters are most likely due to Crossfire.

 

[quinncooper1988]

I was hoping with DX12 crossfire/SLI would be better supported. But seems as of late it's going in the opposite direction and being less and less supported.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

From a consumer standpoint, multi-GPU setups are a niche audience and require a more considered approach from game developers and driver manufacturers. I suspect this is one of the reasons why Nvidia have lessened their support for SLI; the cost is too great and the audience isn't really there.

 

[quinncooper1988]

Think it's pretty safe to say; for me and my uses at least... Crossfire isn't for me. Gave it a go, love it when it works... absolute nightmare when it gives sub-par performance.

I was looking into the RX480, but see most results yield only a little more than a 390. Although on a price point, I could pretty much straight up swap the 2x 390s for an Rx. So that keeps it interesting. Though much prefer to get a boost if going through hassle of swapping out and paying etc.... I'll look into Vega and see what's likely and likely launch date, but seriously considering the 1070s at the minute

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Good call.

The GTX 1070 is an easy recommendation, it's just a shame that you'd have to give up FreeSync. That said, if you could get a minimum frame rate of 75 with the GTX 1070 then you could enable VSync and call it a day.

 

[BurgerandChips66]

The thing with Crossfire (or SLI) is that when it works well, it is fantastic.
I have 2 x Fury's and for certain games I play regularly at the moment such as BF3, BF4, GTA, Witcher, Grid 2, Rocket League, Assassin's Creed, Metro Last Light and the much older Streetfighter IV (!) it works like a dream. Superb results at 4K. I have yet to try BF1 with Crossfire, only played the Beta which was 'ok'.

The major downside is lack of support for the majority of games, or at least bad support that often doesn't get fixed.

I'm hoping that DX12 m-GPU improves matters, but the list of games supporting this feature is still pretty small. Although I have a few of those already such as Tomb Raider, Ashes-OTS (Total War Warhammer - doesn't seem to work yet but DX 11 Crossfire does really well) the list is still pretty small.
Vulkan is adding m-GPU support soon, but the list of even Vulkan supported games makes the DX12 list look like the Gettysburg Address! So I'm not holding my breath.

The other issues such as additional power draw and heat are not an issue for me as I built the rig to cope with running SLI/Crossfire and my electric bills are small anyway.
My gripe is the rather poor support of SLI/Crossfire. For that reason alone I recommend a single, powerful card over SLI/Crossfire/m-GPU. I'll stick with my current arrangement for another ~12 months and see if the situation improves before deciding on my next upgrade. But at the moment I'm thinking of flogging off the 2 cards and putting the money towards a single GTX 1180Ti or an RX 590X (or whatever they decide to call them).

 

[n0ns3ns3]

^ VSync adds a significant input lag which is bad for shooters.
The GTX 1070 is able to do well over 75 FPS on 1440p in most games (especially shooters).
In this case, Fast Sync (in nvidia control panel for pascal cards) is much better option.
Though i'd start whithout anything and see if there is a visible screen tearing at all.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

VSync can add input lag, but that's not a universal rule and how noticeable it may be depends on the person.

I agree that if there's no visible screen tearing then VSync should be disabled.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

VSync adds (vs may add) input lag. That's a fact. The lag added by VSync is actually the highest among all "sync" technologies.
FPS (shooters) gamers do notice that. Even me, not a hardcore gamer was very annoyed by it even without knowing the name. until I learned what it is, what are the reasons and how to mitigate it.

 

[quinncooper1988]

I agree burgerandchips66, when it works, Crossfire is awesome!!

What are people's thoughts on the AMD Fury (x). Seems similar to 1070, and enables use of freesync (although would have to limit the gpu to stay within the sweet spot)

But in terms of performance / driver support for AAA titles. It seems to have the horsepower and from what I can gather only driver issues are crossfire related rather than AMD in particular.

Seen a few around the £300 range. I know not cutting edge, but then we're all in the market where anything we buy is not cutting edge after 12months anyway

 

[quinncooper1988]

Re Vsync, I do experience input lag myself, and personally hate having to use it. Hence investing in a freesync monitor. I try as much as possible deactivating V, but screen tearing becomes quite noticeable on FPS games when the GPUs pushing out seriously high fps figures. Otherwise I have off as much as possible.

 

[BurgerandChips66]

I am a big fan of the R9 Fury (non X).
Mainly because they have dropped to around 270€ (new) recently.
Maybe it is because the drivers have matured now, but I get better performance than I had read/seen online in early reviews when the card was first released. Quite a bit better in fact.
Supply is still good, I assume they are still making them, as my second card had a bios dated mid-July 2016. I bought it early September 2016.
The model I recommend is the Sapphire Nitro, seems slightly better than the Asus edition overall.
Obviously they sip more power than more recent cards, but the cooling is good and they actually overclock rather well I have found.
They perform better at 1440p or 4K (relatively speaking) than at 1080p - it is not their forte (although they aren't bad at 1080p ofc!)
Only come with 4GB vram, although it is HBM.

 

[bignastyid]

Why are people saying the RX480 is AMDs fastest available card? That is just wrong. AMDs fastest single gpu card is the R9 Fury X which is a bit slower than the 1070 but definitely faster than the RX 480.

A 1070 is going to give you around the same performance as your 390s(obviosly more though in titles that dont support crossfire) so if you are wanting to move away from Crossfire its not a bad idea especially if you can get enough out of 390s to most of the cost of the 1070.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

If you can get a Fury or Fury X for £300, then I'd recommend it. My only concern would be driver support over the next few years; I wouldn't be surprised if Polaris and Vega were given priority and Fiji was left behind.

 

[quinncooper1988]

That's my concern right now, driver support of the Fury going forwars. I can get a new one for £250; which, ain't bad considering. And since it's freesync too even better.

I want something that's going to last 2 years, headache free, 60fps @1440. The Fury is hugely tempting, but the power consumption and new gen cards swaying me that way (although bit more £) for sake of ensuring 2yr+ lifespan.

Mmmm... some thinking sure to be done!

 

[bignastyid]

Your current cards should be performing well enough you could always wait and see what Vega brings to the table.

 

[BurgerandChips66]

Yes, it cannot be a very long wait until Vega is released in desktop cards. I know if you wait forever then you end up never buying anything, but at this point in time, I would probably wait.

 

[quinncooper1988]

I think you may be right, think that's what I'll do and see what the new AMD card is like. Least that way I can use freesync too.

Just been on BF1. Disabled crossfire so running 1x 390, and hitting 60-65fps constant. Ultra everything (no msaa)... once crossfire works, it'll pull more. But think in the mean time, there's no rush so sensible option is to wait for Vega and there offerings.

I hate being sensible sometimes haha.

Thanks for help all

Happy gaming.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

The only polaris card that is interesting now is RC 470.
Other cards are usually outperfromed by Pascal at the same or even lower price.
So vega might turn to be disappointment. Not to mention that when vega goes live, we will be a month or two from volta launch.