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Is a second video card in Crossfire worth it for this mobo?
Deathenger
Member UncommonPosts: 880
I have a little bit older system but it does just fine. I have a few bucks to spend to do some upgrades. Going from an i5-750S to a i7-880 (80$!), upgrading the memory and getting a SSD cause I currently have a crappy 1TB normal hard drive.
My motherboard is a GA-P55-USB3 rev.1. It says that Crossfire is supported, but there is a note that says The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x4 mode when ATI CrossFireX is enabled. Does this mean that if I get another video card and run it crossfire that I will actually have reduced performance for gaming? I'm not sure how to take that. I mean, why support Crossfire, but reduce the bus speed?
My motherboard is a GA-P55-USB3 rev.1. It says that Crossfire is supported, but there is a note that says The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x4 mode when ATI CrossFireX is enabled. Does this mean that if I get another video card and run it crossfire that I will actually have reduced performance for gaming? I'm not sure how to take that. I mean, why support Crossfire, but reduce the bus speed?
Comments
I Bought this in 2011 and I was curious if I needed to upgrade??
You would do better getting a new more powerful card.
It's up to you to decide if you need an update or not. That system is still good enough to run games, but on the other hand if you updated it it would run those games a bit better. It's up to you to decide.
If you decide to update, I'd recommend new GPU + SSD hard disk. New GPU would increase FPS in graphically demanding games, and SSD hard disk would dramatically decrease all loading times and make the computer feel more responsive. Your CPU + mobo + RAM are still good and they shouldn't need any updates.
@Deathenger
According to Gigabyte's spec webpage your second PCIe slot is only capable of PCIe 2.0 running at 4 lanes
http://www.gigabyte.fi/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3440#sp
That's about 2 GB/s of bandwidth to the graphic card if you go crossfire. Radeon 270 would be capable of PCIe interface 3.0 running at 16 lanes, or about 16 GB/s bandwidth. While it shouldn't ever need anything close to that 16 GB/s bandwidth, I would not attach a second Radeon 270 to your motherboard.
OH and while i remember. When running a AMD system (Which doing this would turn your computer into) You can start looking at games that run Mantle instead of DX. Now realistically speaking Both have their ups and downs, not to mention Mantle is only really available on games made for AMD, But DX still works fine on the others.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2109596/directx-12-vs-mantle-comparing-pc-gamings-software-supercharged-future.html
For a idea
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
Of the three games I was playing, only one had SLI support. That means the 2nd only was adding about 5-10% performance over a single card. I got a great deal on those two cards, getting them for a total of $360.
But, the single card I could have gotten for $360... was far faster in the two non-SLI games. And it was even a little faster with the one game that was SLI supported. So, I could have gotten a really good card instead of the two that went obsolescent for gaming about three years later. The card I could have gotten would still be a capable card for gaming now. The two I got would have been door stops now individually; a lot of modern games minimum requirements would have excluded them.
What I am saying is that SLI and Crossfire are not worth it. Investing in an AMD R9-380X would be a lot more profitable than getting a 2nd R9-270, and the 380X is not that much more money.
That said, when games start releasing that support DX12, every video sub-system will be used, so having a pair of cards, even mismatched, will help your system performance. Even the lamo onboard video helps with DX-12!
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
A good single card toward the high end of the line - not necessarily the Cadillac - is what I've been using and I'm quite happy with that.
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