cheeky16 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 So I'm sure this is a silly question but I've always been a little curious. What is the difference between SLI and Crossfire? And why do people build computers with these in mind. Is it simply to get better graphics performance for a single monitor or to run multiple monitors? Also does anyone know how to figure out when a graphics card will bottleneck on a PCI express 8x slot and need to run at 16x? Just curious because my mobo drops both slots to 8x when 2 cards are installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobgoblinpie Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 SLi is Nvidia's term for their cards, Crossfire (and Crossfire X) is AMD's term for their cards. They are essentially the same thing, just done in a different way. It is used for both purposes you mentioned. People who need more monitors will use it for that, and those who want ridiculous performance in games on one screen (going to up to resolutions like 2560x1600, for instance) will use either system. POH Agility Course, Please Support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeky16 Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Cool, thanks. I assumed it was brand related. Any idea how to figure out if specific cards will surpass the 8x bandwidth limit? I'm going to do a little searching myself now but I was feeling lazy. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJoe Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Cool, thanks. I assumed it was brand related. Any idea how to figure out if specific cards will surpass the 8x bandwidth limit? I'm going to do a little searching myself now but I was feeling lazy. :PMaybe i'm stupid, but i don't understand this question. Do you mean that you want to see how much bandwidth your card is using? Or in general what cards use? In any case, some of the high-end cards are getting close on the limit of 16x 2.0 (development is under way for new edition). Did you wonder about this...? I don't understand lol. J'adore aussi le sexe et les snuff moviesJe trouve que ce sont des purs moments de vieJe ne me reconnais plus dans les gensJe suis juste un cas désespérantEt comme personne ne viendra me réclamerJe terminerai comme un objet retrouvé Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeky16 Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 I was curious how much bandwidth each card uses. I want to run 3 screens and not necessarily in Crossfire mode with cards. At which point does putting a second card in hinder the main card. The second slot being filled drops my primary slot down to 8x. Would you recommend possibly 2 Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire running at 8x each or something more powerful with more outputs. The 5770 I have now can only handle 2 monitors. It's the ASUS and I didn't realize this before. Trying to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of doing each. Basically what level of cards will get limited on the 8x. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJoe Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I wouldn't run the 5770 in 8x mode. There's one edition of an ATI which has 4 outputs, just can't remember which one atm. Either that (and sell your current one) or buy a new motherboard+2nd card. J'adore aussi le sexe et les snuff moviesJe trouve que ce sont des purs moments de vieJe ne me reconnais plus dans les gensJe suis juste un cas désespérantEt comme personne ne viendra me réclamerJe terminerai comme un objet retrouvé Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I'm pretty sure that the 8x limitation is because of the PCI slot, not the card its self. Very few motherboards have 2 16x PCI slots, IIRC. Right, yeah, misread OPs post :P RIP TET "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJoe Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I'm pretty sure that the 8x limitation is because of the PCI slot, not the card its self. Very few motherboards have 2 16x PCI slots, IIRC.Nerd warning (PCI-E). I understood it as he was asking about the motherboard limitations rather than the graphics card? The more expensive motherboards have 2x16 pci-e lanes. The graphics card will always use the maximum it can. J'adore aussi le sexe et les snuff moviesJe trouve que ce sont des purs moments de vieJe ne me reconnais plus dans les gensJe suis juste un cas désespérantEt comme personne ne viendra me réclamerJe terminerai comme un objet retrouvé Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeky16 Posted April 13, 2011 Author Share Posted April 13, 2011 I'm pretty sure that the 8x limitation is because of the PCI slot, not the card its self. Very few motherboards have 2 16x PCI slots, IIRC.Nerd warning (PCI-E). I understood it as he was asking about the motherboard limitations rather than the graphics card? The more expensive motherboards have 2x16 pci-e lanes. The graphics card will always use the maximum it can. I had looked into the eyefinity cards first for 3 monitors but it turns out mine won't display 3. So I dropped in an old 7600GT into the second slot. And yes the price of the mobo was double to have 2 16x slots. Looking at benchmarks the 16x to 8x does not seem to make much difference in fps and stuff. It's not like I'm running 2 6900s or anything either. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasignhagj Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Last time I was reading up on it, the GTX 460 only lost a tiny amount of performance when in SLI, but the loss increased as you go up the ladder. I would wager you wouldn't notice the loss with 2 5770s, but do some googling first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeky16 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Thanks, from some googling I haven't found any real adverse effects for 8x on a card this level. I'm not a gamer really so I'm not running a pair of top end cards so I'm sure I'll be fine. If you were running 2 cards for 3 monitors and weren't gaming across the three would you recommend SLI or Crossfire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Well SLI/Crossfire are specific to nVidia/ATI, so it's really up to what cards you have or want. I'm not sure how easy it is to compare the actual way the 2 methods compare to each other, you'd need identical cards to do that. AFAIK though, both are fine and work well. RIP TET "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasignhagj Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I'm a Nvidia person, so I'd say get 2 GTX 550s, but for 3 monitors you're probably better with a single Radeon 6850 or 6870 for eyefinity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now