nVidia Dual GPU Cards

[Sam DeathWalker]

I would not get 2 GPU if you only have one monitor though but I guess if you run 4 tiled on one monitor and 1 main on another monitor, getting 2 GPU if your card allows duel output, makes some sense.



Still one gpu with 2G ram is going to be better then two gpu with 1G ram each I thinks, as I would assume that neither of the two gpu's can access the others ram space.

[Sajuuk]

I would not get 2 GPU if you only have one monitor though but I guess if you run 4 tiled on one monitor and 1 main on another monitor, getting 2 GPU if your card allows duel output, makes some sense.



Still one gpu with 2G ram is going to be better then two gpu with 1G ram each I thinks, as I would assume that neither of the two gpu's can access the others ram space.

What the hell are you spouting? Stop it, you'll confuse the masses.

Things to do with multiple gpus, using one/two screens.
Assuming five clones, run three clones on GPU1 and two on GPU2. BAM. Overall performance increase since the load is distributed. You don't need one monitor for each output on the cards. The card/GPUs will be detected just fine.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Assuming five clones, run three clones on GPU1 and two on GPU2. BAM. Overall performance increase since the load is distributed

What you mean is run 3 clones with 1G of video memory and 2 clones with 1G of video memory. Then combine the output of the two GPU's and send to a single monitor?

I don't think thats more bang for the buck (of coruse you get a better single gpu then a two gpu card for the same price) then getting a better gpu with 2G of memory and run 5 clones with it (load is also distributed with one gpu its all distributed to the one gpu ...).


GPU speed only effects the quality you can run the game at its the video ram that limits your fps (assuming you are not running the game at effects greater then what your gpu can handle). You don't need full shadows and some other usless effects in which case you really dont need more then 460 or so. Lack of full effects is a lot less bothersome then lack of fps. Thats why I run only one client main on my main computer (full effects) and the others on other monitors with way less effects.

The only time I can see using 2 gpus is if you have two monitors to one computer and run 1 on one monitor and 4 on the other (tiled).

Not to say one way is 100 times better then the other we are arguing over 5 percent differeneces if that. If you get a cheap deal on a 2 gpu card then go for it. You don't pay 10 percent more to get a 5 percent increase.

[Sajuuk]

What you mean is run 3 clones with 1G of video memory and 2 clones with 1G of video memory. Then combine the output of the two GPU's and send to a single monitor?

Single, Dual, Tri, Quad, Penta scheme monitors IT DOESN'T MATTER, OR HAS NEGLIGIBLE REAL WORLD IMPACT (unless you're running on XP for some reason, I remember the spanning desktops workaround for that.)

I don't think thats more bang for the buck (of coruse you get a better single gpu then a two gpu card for the same price) then getting a better gpu with 2G of memory and run 5 clones with it (load is also distributed with one gpu its all distributed to the one gpu ...).

Other considerations aside in the multi-vs-single gpu debate (power consumption, temperature, etc, two lesser gpus with 1gb of memory each working in tandem (in theory) perform better than one high-end gpu with 2gb of ram. Since workload is split between them, say, 2/5 and 3/5, that much ram is also freed up for various things 3/5 // 2/5 respectively. Issues with this will come up when we are rendering multiples of large areas (say 5x 3240x1920, something I did just fine with a 5850 (WITH 1GB OF RAM). NO ISSUES THERE. More headroom allowed by a card with 2GB of ram is fine and good, but does it translate into more performance? Not necessarily. Far as rendering large areas, I fairly sure you don't do that, what with your silly 26/36/whateverthehellyou'reboxingrightnow. For performance with your dated hardware you scale things down. We all do that for better performance.

GPU speed only effects the quality you can run the game at its the video ram that limits your fps (assuming you are not running the game at effects greater then what your gpu can handle). You don't need full shadows and some other usless effects in which case you really dont need more then 460 or so. Lack of full effects is a lot less bothersome then lack of fps. Thats why I run only one client main on my main computer (full effects) and the others on other monitors with way less effects.

You should know that we go for performance rather than "omgshinies" when we're boxing. Latency/FPS is important. GPU speed and ram are both important.

The only time I can see using 2 gpus is if you have two monitors to one computer and run 1 on one monitor and 4 on the other (tiled).

Shut up. Sometimes I think you're incredibly limited intellectually. Why in the world would I dedicate one gpu per monitor? Todays cards are powerful. They can handle putting things on multiple monitors. This is not 1986.

Not to say one way is 100 times better then the other we are arguing over 5 percent differeneces if that. If you get a cheap deal on a 2 gpu card then go for it. You don't pay 10 percent more to get a 5 percent increase.

There's more to getting a dual gpu card than just a 5ish percent increase. Form factors are one thing. Say I wanted to be really stupid and build a 25 boxing machine that would run things nicely - I would distribute the load. And in a limited space I would do that with dual-gpu cards.

[Sam DeathWalker]

25 boxing on one computer isnt what we were talking about. 10 Boxing is what we were.

You have no links to any of yur assertations.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...D_6950/29.html

You seems to think that you will get double the performance with 2 gpu as you would with 1 gpu simplly because you are 5 boxing.

Most of the time the 2nd GPU seems to add like 30 percent increase, on single boxes.

You have a single buss. If you have to feed data to two GPU yur buss is twice as busy. Ya if all the data is avalable to both GPU's the instant they need the data for the next instruction you will get substaintial performance benifit but that just not going to happen at all in real world applications. Even a single GPU if all the data is available when needed will blaze though wow. It not how fast the GPU returnes the result of that instruction, its how fast that the data is available for that instruction after the last instruction is completed. And having two gpus dosnt help that much at all.


If the gpu's cannot access the other gpu memory space you have to load the SAME TEXTURE into VIDEO RAM TWICE. I don't think they would specify it as 2X1G if the gpu's can access the others memeory space. With two cards we know for sure that one gpu cannot accress the other gpu's memory space. If you have to load the same texture to video ram twice you are mitigating any potential benifits of two gpus.

If the gpus CAN access the total memory space then one will be waiting while the other is useing the texture if they both need the same one.

And "distribution" of 3 on one vs 2 on the other means that one gpu is working 1.5X the other meaning that one gpu is doing nothing 1/3 of the time.



The 6970 according to that artical is 370

The 5970 is 589

No doubt prices are outdated but should still be relitivly equal. You will not get 589/370 more performace from the duel GPU under any set of conditions. Note that the single gpu has higher speed also.

Look at the performance per dollar graph .... The single GPU is 100, the duel GPU is 69. Higher is better ....




Just buy the cheapest 2G video card you can .... then spend the money you saved on system ram.

If we both have X dollars to spend and you buy a duel gpu and spend the rest on system ram and I buy a single gpu and spend the rest on system ram (and have more system ram then you do), my system will run 5-10 boxes of wow for sure better then yours. There is NO QUESTION about that. If you give any other advise you are 100percent wrong.

My junk systems are fine for 7 boxing on one computer cause I play in full screen and only stress my gpu as if I was playing one box ....


Lets say we ahve 800 to spend you spend 589 on the duel gpu and get 21G of system ram. Figure $10/1G for system ram.

I spend 370 on single gpu and get 43G of system ram.

My system will blow yours out of the water, assuming all the rest of both systems are equall.

"I be frag'en while you be lag'en" - SDW '11 (copywrite Sam Ferris 2011 all rights reserved)


LMAOROTFL

I ain't brag'en
but I be frag'en
while you be lag'en
and my epen be DRAGON!

LOLOL

[Vociferate]

I am taking sides with Sajuuk on this one.

"I be frag'en while you be lag'en" - SDW '11 (copywrite Sam Ferris 2011 all rights reserved)


LMAOROTFL

I ain't brag'en
but I be frag'en
while you be lag'en
and my epen be DRAGON!

LOLOL

Really?

.... REALLY?