So I got second GTX280

[Vanzagar]

Originally Posted by Blkout

Prices are falling on the 280's right now, but I'm not so sure buying one now is the best idea knowing full well the (280b or 290) is coming in September... can't see buying a 280 right now with the next revision coming so soon.

can you post link or any info on this please....

Thanks,

rh

[Blkout]

Originally Posted by rhuala

can you post link or any info on this please....

Thanks,

rh

http://www.stokedgamer.com/2008/07/n...nching-at.html

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...S284&q=gtx+290

[Vanzagar]

Originally Posted by Blkout

http://www.stokedgamer.com/2008/07/n...nching-at.html

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...S284&q=gtx+290

Awesome, thanks... that may very well be my next card... I hope it's a 10-20% performace gain...

with the release NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 280+ (if that is what it will be called). It has been important to NVIDIA to have a high end product released around the time schools start again. Expect the pricing war to be very fierce right from launch this time around.

edit: Although the more I read the more I'd say this is far from "knowing full well", there's an aweful lot of assumptions/guessing/predicting...

[CaptNKILL]

Originally Posted by Blkout

http://www.stokedgamer.com/2008/07/n...nching-at.html

tikiman?

[Lfctony]

Originally Posted by Blkout

Has it ever occured to you that not every game scales the same? No card is going to do any better right now because the game itself is coded so poorly. Nvidia did the best they could with the game code they had to work with. The proof is in the framerate results compared to the Radeon 4870 which tanks in Crysis yet runs 90% of the speed of the 280 in almost every other game. Two different architectures, Nvidia chose the one that was more Crysis friendly. Hopefully that explains it better for you.

I haven't seen any reviews where the 4870 tanks vs the GTX280 in Crysis.

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14990/12
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...nce/page11.asp
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=13

It's just as close as in every other game...

[Nkd]

I see people concerned about microstutering, let me assure you guys I think it does exist but the situation is sort of blown out of proportion, because I personally only notices in lost planet extreme condition at high resolution and AA with 9800gtx sli and fps was 50 average, but in other games where the frame rates were sky high I never noticed it, it only seems to happen when the games are really taxing your hardware, and I dont think there is any situation with current games where the game would bring the gtx 280 sli to its knees, sometimes it is just simple stuttering that is confused with microstuttering, but when microstutter happens you can see it happening, it is hard to explain but you can see it happening, It does exist but not to an extent that it exists under all circumstances. now I have gtx 280 but I really dont see the need for sli right now as the single card even plays crysis at high and gives me close to 50fps average at 1920x1200 overclocked at 700

[Lfctony]

Originally Posted by Nkd

I see people concerned about microstutering, let me assure you guys I think it does exist but the situation is sort of blown out of proportion, because I personally only notices in lost planet extreme condition at high resolution and AA with 9800gtx sli and fps was 50 average, but in other games where the frame rates were sky high I never noticed it, it only seems to happen when the games are really taxing your hardware, and I dont think there is any situation with current games where the game would bring the gtx 280 sli to its knees, sometimes it is just simple stuttering that is confused with microstuttering, but when microstutter happens you can see it happening, it is hard to explain but you can see it happening, It does exist but not to an extent that it exists under all circumstances. now I have gtx 280 but I really dont see the need for sli right now as the single card even plays crysis at high and gives me close to 50fps average at 1920x1200 overclocked at 700

Mate, think about something... Why would anyone need a second card? -> For situations when 1 card is not enough... However, in these situations, as you have noticed yourself, micro-stuttering is more pronounced. With very high FPS you don't need SLI, at very low FPS you need SLI but you suffer from obvious micro-stuttering... The only situation where SLI actually matters, is the only situation where its problems are quite obvious...

Take my recent system for example... 2 GTX280s maxed out Devil May Cry 4, 230+ FPS. Naturally, there was no micro-stuttering... Does it matter if I run it with one card, since I'd be getting 100+ FPS? Not really.

Then take Crysis at V.High. Here the game is unplayable with one card, playable with 2 cards. SLI matters here, but it suffers from hitching and micro-stuttering...

In situations where SLI becomes useful, its not working that well besides increasing the reported framerate...

The same goes for Crossfire btw... Before anyone jumps the gun...

[Xion X2]

I swear, this "microstuttering" thing is becoming the biggest urban legend of our time. It will probably run for president and &$^! several Hollywood starlets before we hear the end of it.

I don't know where most of you guys are getting this from. Does a game running at 40-50fps on a multi-GPU setup feel slower than single? It might (MIGHT), although it's still not that big of a difference. But if you're running a couple of high-end cards in that config--how often are your FPS actually dropping that low (40-50fps?) anyway? Almost never.

In every game I have tested so far with a Crossfire profile (90% of games) Crossfire is SMOOTHER and FASTER than a single GPU. I don't care what the game is--it has been very consistent. Now maybe SLI is different this gen than Crossfire.. I dunno. But when I had my G80s in SLI I felt most games ran better, as well. There was a tad more lag there than with a single card when running at identical FPS--something I am not seeing with Crossfire--but games were still smoother since the framerate was usually 60-80% higher than a single card in my games.

Games like Oblivion, which drop down to 35-40fps in the middle of heavy foliage with high amounts of AA, are silky smooth on a multi-GPU setup and are choppy as hell on a single GPU--even today's high-end GPUs like the 280 and 4870.

My advice to anyone considering a multi-GPU setup is this: Ignore most of the yammering about this "microstuttering" as it's an issue that may pop up 1% of the time in your games.

[Shocky]

Originally Posted by Xion X2

My advice to anyone considering a multi-GPU setup is this: Ignore most of the yammering about this "microstuttering" as it's an issue that may pop up 1% of the time in your games.

My advice is to ignore Xion X2, microstuttering exists and can ruin gameplay in any title where the framerate is below 60fps. Only reason users might not be noticing it now is because there hardware is overkill for the games there using or they just don't know what to look for.

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by Shocky

My advice is to ignore Xion X2, microstuttering exists and can ruin gameplay in any title where the framerate is below 60fps. Only reason users might not be noticing it now is because there hardware is overkill for the games there using or they just don't know what to look for.

And my advice is to ignore Shocky, because he's wrong. I have tested games around or 10-15fps below 60fps, and this "microstuttering" is not noticeable when comparing to a single card. So, I call bull#$&%.

In fact, when enabling high amounts of AA in games like Oblivion, a single GPU setup actually ruins the experience by dropping into the 20s which is very choppy compared to a two-card setup that cruises along at 40+fps. During these tests there was no "lagging" or "stuttering" at all when ~45fps on the Crossfire setup. But there was tons of it on the single GPU:

[Lfctony]

Originally Posted by Xion X2

And my advice is to ignore Shocky, because he's wrong. I have tested games around or 10-15fps below 60fps, and this "microstuttering" is not noticeable when comparing to a single card. So, I call bull#$&%.

In fact, when enabling high amounts of AA in games like Oblivion, a single GPU setup actually ruins the experience by dropping into the 20s which is very choppy compared to a two-card setup that cruises along at 40+fps. During these tests there was no "lagging" or "stuttering" at all when ~45fps on the Crossfire setup. But there was tons of it on the single GPU:

Again man, what someone doesn't notice, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. People perceive things others don't. Other people experience things others don't notice until told... Again, if you don't notice it, it doesn't mean its not there. As I said, I have taken out my second GTX and I'm only using one. Wouldn't you think I'd notice if the dual card setup was smoother or the same as my single card? The hitches are gone, the sudden frame rate drops are gone... Sure, I can only run Crysis on High now, but it's not as if the experience on V.High was much better... In fact, it was worse... The issue exists, it's been documented again and again... Is everyone making stuff up?

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by Lfctony

Again man, what someone doesn't notice, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. People perceive things others don't.

It can also work in opposition. What one perceives may be all in their head.

If I perceive a pink elephant across the room dressed in polka-dot boxer shorts, does it mean that he exists?

Other people experience things others don't notice until told

Precisely the point. It's a lot easier to see something after someone else puts the idea in your head, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's an accurate perception.

For the record, I'm not saying that microstuttering does not exist. I've seen the research and graphs and can follow the logic. But this issue is way, way, WAY overblown to the point of being ridiculous now. People are paranoid about an issue that rears its head maybe 1-2% of the time on multi-GPU configs in a way that can be perceived. And even when it does occur, it's usually a productive tradeoff since 35-45fps--the point it seems to occur at--is still about double the framerate they would get on a single card in that situation.

The bottom line is that if your setup is strong enough to push 45+ fps on a consistent basis in the games you play, then you will probably NEVER notice this issue.