Which GPU? Help!

D

Dulcis Ultio

New member
Hey folks.

Sorry if this has been asked before but if it has, I couldn't find it. I'm trying to decide between a single GTX 1070 or 2 RX480's in crossfire.

The thing that's doing my head in is that reviews of crossfire are seriously mixed with some being positive and others not. Additionally, the differences in performance between the two options seems to be heavily dependent on which game is being played.

In short then: Is it worth going Crossfire with the 480's or should I rather stick to a better all-round single GPU solution?
 
The answer really depends on what title you're trying to run. Some titles prefer a single GPU where others see a performance increase running an SLi/CrossFire configuration. Most of the time you'll have little or no benefit from SLi/CrossFire in the majority of games you run.
 
As the psychotic shark says: it depends.

What's your budget, what res do you want to play at, and how future-proof should this setup be?
 
I'd love to go the SLI route but budget doesn't allow that. I have around R10k budgeted for the GPU/s so either will do. As far as future proofing goes, i'd like to make it as future proof as possible really. The total budget for this build exceeds R30k and will end up around the R40k mark but it doesn't allow for two 1070's or a single 1080 :(
There's too much other hardware and mods to take into consideration, hence my question regarding the 480's vs the 1070.
However, I will take a look at the vids mentioned above and thanks very much for your input [MENTION=24178]Sweepslag[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6600]PsychoFish[/MENTION] :)
 
Jeepers, that's a lot of money... If gaming is your primary aim, then don't skimp on the GPU. Have you decided on the other parts yet?
 
Sweepslag said:
Jeepers, that's a lot of money... If gaming is your primary aim, then don't skimp on the GPU. Have you decided on the other parts yet?
Click to expand...

Yup. Here's the list:
Asus Maximus VIII Formula
i7-6700k
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 2800MHz
Corsair H115i CPU Cooler
Corsair RM850x PSU
Asus Strix GTX 1070 or 2 x RX480's
Samsung 850Pro 256GB SSD
Phanteks Evolv Enthoo ATX TG
Thermaltake Riing Yellow x 8

The current total for those parts is R35k. The choice of parts may seem odd since I can get a cheaper mobo as well as using an i5 instead of i7.
However, the motherboard was chosen because of the "armour" as it fits in precisely with the build and the i7 was chosen as I do use the PC for work and I do want to future proof as much as possible. I don't plan to upgrade for at least another 5 years if I can help it.
 
Dulcis Ultio said:
Yup. Here's the list:
Asus Maximus VIII Formula
i7-6700k
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 2800MHz
Corsair H115i CPU Cooler
Corsair RM850x PSU
Asus Strix GTX 1070 or 2 x RX480's
Samsung 850Pro 256GB SSD
Phanteks Evolv Enthoo ATX TG
Thermaltake Riing Yellow x 8

The current total for those parts is R35k. The choice of parts may seem odd since I can get a cheaper mobo as well as using an i5 instead of i7.
However, the motherboard was chosen because of the "armour" as it fits in precisely with the build and the i7 was chosen as I do use the PC for work and I do want to future proof as much as possible. I don't plan to upgrade for at least another 5 years if I can help it.
Click to expand...

You don't need the i7 for gaming, rather get an i5-6600K if you're planning to overclock, if not just get the i5-6600
Consider a smaller SSD
 
PsychoFish said:
You don't need the i7 for gaming, rather get an i5-6600K if you're planning to overclock, if not just get the i5-6600
Consider a smaller SSD
Click to expand...

I hear you on the i5 but the ssd is about as small as I can go. Just spoke to my supplier about it and he's suggested the Evo rather than the Pro which saves R600. Not much in the grand scheme of things but it helps :D
 
I would not go smaller than a 250GB SSD either. It's very handy to have space in case you want to install a few apps on C for a speed boost.
 
Sweepslag said:
I would not go smaller than a 250GB SSD either. It's very handy to have space in case you want to install a few apps on C for a speed boost.
Click to expand...

Yep. I'm currently using 288GB of space on my C drive. I might be able to get away with uninstalling a few things but I don't generally like to have my drives more than half full. There's no real reason for this other than my own preferences. That'll have to change with a 250GB though.
 
I try to keep as little as possible on the SSD, literally the OS and one or two applications. Games and crud goes to my RAID 5 array (3 x 1TB)
 
Dulcis Ultio said:
Nice! Actually, I didn't even consider RAID for the other drives. I have 2 x 2TB drives I can use. Thanks for that :D
Click to expand...

I prefer running my data drives in RAID 5. Touch wood, to date I have not lost any data. Rebuilds on 1TB 7.2k drives take a while, but it's worth it in the end. As soon as I have money I'll get another SSD and mirror (RAID1) my SSDs.

BTW, read performance is much better on RAID5 compared to a single drive or JBOD config
 
PsychoFish said:
I prefer running my data drives in RAID 5. Touch wood, to date I have not lost any data. Rebuilds on 1TB 7.2k drives take a while, but it's worth it in the end. As soon as I have money I'll get another SSD and mirror (RAID1) my SSDs.

BTW, read performance is much better on RAID5 compared to a single drive or JBOD config
Click to expand...

Hmmm... Might consider dismantling my external 2TB to do that. I must say, i've yet to have a hard drive fail on me as well. Just lucky I guess.
 
Dulcis Ultio said:
Hmmm... Might consider dismantling my external 2TB to do that. I must say, i've yet to have a hard drive fail on me as well. Just lucky I guess.
Click to expand...

Granted, my last drive failure was a preemptive failure due to a SMART alert (Reallocated Sector Count) so just replaced the drive BEFORE it actually failed.
 
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