CrossFire vs SLi

If you're gaming at a higher resolution, or with games that sport High res textures (like crysis) the 1gb X2 would generally give better when the memory becomes a bottleneck. The 512mb 3870's are just that; 512mb. VRAM doesn't add up in Crossfire or SLI.
 
But based on the specifications given by Asus, the clock rate for 3870 is might higher at 2.25GHz as compared to 3870X2 at only 1.8GHz. Wouldn't this affect the performance as well?

Since talking about adding up values, does the clock rate adds up when running at CrossFire? That is to say, 2 3870X2 runs at 1.8GHz or 3.6GHz?
 
yoongkc said:
But based on the specifications given by Asus, the clock rate for 3870 is might higher at 2.25GHz as compared to 3870X2 at only 1.8GHz. Wouldn't this affect the performance as well?
Click to expand...

It would, that's why I mentioned the X2 performing better only when the memory becomes a bottleneck, because when this happens performance can go right down the toilet.

yoongkc said:
Since talking about adding up values, does the clock rate adds up when running at CrossFire? That is to say, 2 3870X2 runs at 1.8GHz or 3.6GHz?
Click to expand...

It's easier to say you have two of such-and-such running at 1.8 each. But as both cards/cores are working as one all the time (unlike dual-core processors), I guess you can say such..
 
Last edited:
hermeslyre said:
It would, that's why I mentioned the X2 performing better only when the memory becomes a bottleneck, because when this happens performance can go right down the toilet.
Click to expand...

Actually I don't quite understand what you mean by "performing better only when the memory becomes a bottleneck". What does this statement really means?
 
Memory (VRAM, video memory) Is a supporting spec, first thing you have to know. Having alot of memory means squat shit if the GPU (the graphics card) itself is underwhelming.

Memory is used to store textures, frame buffers, geometrical data, the works. The amount it can store is finite, based upon the capacity of the onboard video memory. When it runs out, it has to stop, remove data, load new data onto memory. This can cause stuttering, frame drops, performance problems in general, when this happens alot it can be very noticeable. It is referred to as a memory bottleneck. Having more memory means it can hold more data and this obviously leads to fewer stop/reload cycles.

You read me? =]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top