Need feedback from AMD Crossfire users (good?bad?)

Jarnhand

I got a 7970 Amd card. I am considering getting a second AMD card (280x is crossfire compatible with my card), to run them in crossfire. Also get a new monitor, considering going for the Eizo 24" Foris FG2421-BK.

Before I invest the money I would love to hear from people using crossfire, what their experience is. I guess you ran single card before crossfire patch, so did you see a big jump in FPS after crossfire patch?

Would like to hear what you are experiencing, good or bad...

mikescchen

I'm Xfire with 2 7850s.

If you expect to have very high frame rate for that particular Eizo (darn, almost typo as Ezio lol) monitor supports up to 240Hz, you'll have to mind the CPU too.
ESO is CPU bottleneck-ed in complex scenes, such as many-player PvP or large city scenes.

My rig (FX6350 @ 4.4GHz, 7850 x2) maxed at 60fps most of the time, except in large city or in sandstorm / raining weather.

I'd suggest you keep the money first and try the Eizo monitor with 7970, and add the 280x later if the framerate is not enough for you.

PS. know that the Xfire will not increase the usable video memory.

Jarnhand

Any more input on this?
Also please check this thread out, trying to analyze what is causing the FPS drop
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/110967/the-eso-engine-just-what-is-causing-low-fps-in-big-battles-game-does-not-use-computer-resources

Jarnhand

This is a test of Skyrim, basicly same core engine, no?
Crossfire does NOT look to be doing hot:
http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=512173

Jarnhand

Considering instead just take out the AMD 7970 and get a nvidia 780ti. Sceptical to the whole crossfire thing, also the possible heat problem...

Audigy

One 280x or 7970 is enough to run ESO on Ultra with a steady 60FPS. This however is only one part of the story.

ESO is as mentioned earlier, heavily CPU limited and I personally don't know anyone who has not an OC system that runs ESO on Ultra with 60 FPS at any GPU set up.

I would advice to max out your CPU, invest money into a good cooling solution and you should see a much bigger boost than in a SLI set up.

SLI in my opinion only makes sense if we talk about GPU limited games such as Crysis 3 that even a 780TI cant handle at 60 FPS, while the CPU will have about 30% space on an I7 due the great multi core threading of the game.

And exactly this is where ESO currently has its issue´s with and until those are lifted, GPU´s such as a 270x or 280x are more than enough for Ultra settings as the game will be CPU limited long before our GPU´s feel the pressure.

mikescchen

Hm...
Generally Crossfire is for those who like to (possible) increase the GPU capacity, but unable / unwilling to get rid of the current GPU card.
(And of course for those already have a top-notch GPU but still not satisfied lol)
If budget allows, replace with a higher-end card is always a better solution, with less compatibility problems.
But if you can accept the worst that only one card may work on some games, or you're just feeling good / curious enough to play, go ahead.

Back to ESO.
My Crossfire rig was built months before ESO was even launched, and the mediocre (gaming) FX6350 was also a budget choice, so I'm not complaining lol

The ESO framerate drop is definitely a CPU bottleneck.
You may consider upgrade to a better CPU that your board can support.
Have no info on your CPU/board, tho.

Just hope ZOE can improve the resource usage / performance, but I don't think that will happen in few months.

Jarnhand

Audigy wrote: »

One 280x or 7970 is enough to run ESO on Ultra with a steady 60FPS. This however is only one part of the story.

Sorry but that is not correct, I have a thread going on the issue. ESO NEITHER use fully the GPU or the CPU (not even 1 core). I do not feel like repeating myself, so read this thread:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/110967/the-eso-engine-just-what-is-causing-low-fps-in-big-battles-game-does-not-use-computer-resources

In big PvP fights FPS drops to about 20 with a Intel i7 3770 OCed to 3,9 GHz and a slightly OCed AMD 7970. And as I repeat several times in the other thread; ESO NEITHER fully use even 1 core, or the GPU.