Crossfire - any benefit?

[bug]

Yours explicitly said it was dead. The others were either, expressing their distaste with it or explaining why it didn't work for their situations. Which I felt didn't need a direct response.

Crossfire and SLI aren't dead in the sense you are describing. Its just matured and gotten closer to the hardware.

Yes, it always will be until some of the latency layers are removed. Hence, MCMs coming down the pipe for GPUs.

They are explicitly dead. Neither Turing nor RDNA2 cards list SLI/Crossfire capabilities anymore.
We have mGPU now, but lo and behold, as soon as work has been shifted to the developers, the developers refuse to do it (like Mantle and Vulkan before). You might get support in some professional application that actually needs it, but for consumers, all forms of GPUs working together are effectively dead. Imho, they were never actually alive, their market penetration was never more than 2%.

 

[qubit]

They are explicitly dead. Neither Turing nor RDNA2 cards list SLI/Crossfire capabilities anymore.
We have mGPU now, but lo and behold, as soon as work has been shifted to the developers, the developers refuse to do it (like Mantle and Vulkan before). You might get support in some professional application that actually needs it, but for consumers, all forms of GPUs working together are effectively dead. Imho, they were never actually alive, their market penetration was never more than 2%.

Indeed it's dead - try finding an enthusiast mobo nowadays that supports SLI / CrossFire.

I'll bet someone will, bless, but it will be an offbeat product, not mainstream support for it.

 

[bug]

Indeed it's dead - try finding an enthusiast mobo nowadays that supports SLI / CrossFire.

I'll bet someone will, bless, but it will be an offbeat product, not mainstream support for it.

I think mobos still list support, but it's a checkbox feature, in case you run older cards or smth.

 

[qubit]

I think mobos still list support, but it's a checkbox feature, in case you run older cards or smth.

Perhaps. I'm only basing my comment on some Z690 mobos I looked at the other day which didn't have those features in their feature list. I haven't done a comprehensive search, but I think it's pretty indicative.

 

[Flyordie]

Again, profile based multi-GPU technology (which is what SLI and CF were) is indeed dead.

It's worth to read articles before you link it, as it does highlight the difference.

"With AMD pushing DX12 so heavily though, establishing the distinction in marketing copy may be worthwhile. And yes, this is a branding change, not a technical one." - Article

Apparently you didn't?

Indeed it's dead - try finding an enthusiast mobo nowadays that supports SLI / CrossFire.

I'll bet someone will, bless, but it will be an offbeat product, not mainstream support for it.

Mine does. Last I checked X399 was an enthusiast platform. It also supports SLI. In AMD's mind, they wanted to move away from the "bridge" style thinking that Crossfire was and to the new and updated bridge-less setup they have now. Crossfire and SLI at its core is mGPU. It always has been and always will be. I am sorry you think mGPU is dead, but if it was, there wouldn't be HEDTs and compute servers running them.

 

[bug]

"With AMD pushing DX12 so heavily though, establishing the distinction in marketing copy may be worthwhile. And yes, this is a branding change, not a technical one." - Article

Apparently you didn't?

It's clearly not a branding change. SLI and Crossfire were profile based, mGPU is not.

Here's a better source: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...gives-up-the-ghost-as-nvidia-ends-sli-support

 

[DR4G00N]

I can attest to that with my two 780 Ti cards in SLI for a year. What a PITA.

My two always 780 Ti's worked great together with the games I played. Only running one now because of my current mobo. Sure it can be a bit fiddly at times but the performance made up for that (Which was unmatched by any single gpu at the time of purchase).

I never got why multi-gpu was so disliked. I used to run Tri-Fire HD 7950's and had very little issues other than heat, I've also tried Quad-Fire HD 5970's & Quad-SLI GTX 295's and with games of their period I had near 100% usage on all gpu's and it was smooth too which was surprising.

 

[Flyordie]

It's clearly not a branding change. SLI and Crossfire were profile based, mGPU is not.

Here's a better source: https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...gives-up-the-ghost-as-nvidia-ends-sli-support

Its not dead because its dead.

"Modern GPUs that support DX12 support two forms of SLI: implicit and explicit. Implicit SLI is the mode used in DirectX 11, as well as previous versions of Microsoft’s 3D API."

Implicit SLI is going away. As games move to DX12, that version of SLI will die. The matured version for DX12 lives on. Your views that its dead are based on devs not wanting to support it. Just because some devs don't support it, doesn't mean the technology is dead. It just means the devs have priorities and mGPU isn't one of them.

 

[bug]

Its not dead because its dead.

"Modern GPUs that support DX12 support two forms of SLI: implicit and explicit. Implicit SLI is the mode used in DirectX 11, as well as previous versions of Microsoft’s 3D API."

Implicit SLI is going away. As games move to DX12, that version of SLI will die. The matured version for DX12 lives on. Your views that its dead are based on devs not wanting to support it. Just because some devs don't support it, doesn't mean the technology is dead. It just means the devs have priorities and mGPU isn't one of them.

Explicit SLI is not SLI at all. SLI is registered trademark of Nvidia, mGPU is a generic term.
And if you insist they're alive, please find me a reference to SLI on a Turing card official documents.

 

[Toothless]

Its not dead because its dead.

"Modern GPUs that support DX12 support two forms of SLI: implicit and explicit. Implicit SLI is the mode used in DirectX 11, as well as previous versions of Microsoft’s 3D API."

Implicit SLI is going away. As games move to DX12, that version of SLI will die. The matured version for DX12 lives on. Your views that its dead are based on devs not wanting to support it. Just because some devs don't support it, doesn't mean the technology is dead. It just means the devs have priorities and mGPU isn't one of them.

You literally proved what everyone has been saying. Devs don't want to support and the traditional method is gone. It's literally a dead technology and you're arguing for the sake of arguing.

This guy gonna be trying to SLI 3070Ti's with DX12 and call it a win.

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

"With AMD pushing DX12 so heavily though, establishing the distinction in marketing copy may be worthwhile. And yes, this is a branding change, not a technical one." - Article

Apparently you didn't?

LMAO. You skimmed it and missed above

“CrossFire isn’t mentioned because it technically refers to DX11 applications,” an AMD PR representative told PCWorld. “In DirectX 12, we reference multi-GPU as applications must support mGPU, whereas AMD has to create the profiles for DX11. We’ve accordingly moved away from using the CrossFire tag for multi-GPU gaming.”

The article literally describes the technical nature of change that happened, and yet later insists it was just a "branding change" LMAO.
To be more detailed, they're not quite correct here either, as CF was not limited to DX11 only. I'll give them benefit of the doubt and assume they meant to have had "DX11 or earlier" written instead.

 

[Mussels]

Indeed it's dead - try finding an enthusiast mobo nowadays that supports SLI / CrossFire.

I'll bet someone will, bless, but it will be an offbeat product, not mainstream support for it.

I mean, x570 does


It's less advertised, but it's still around
DX12 mGPU really needs to take off

 

[qubit]

My two always 780 Ti's worked great together with the games I played. Only running one now because of my current mobo. Sure it can be a bit fiddly at times but the performance made up for that (Which was unmatched by any single gpu at the time of purchase).

I never got why multi-gpu was so disliked. I used to run Tri-Fire HD 7950's and had very little issues other than heat, I've also tried Quad-Fire HD 5970's & Quad-SLI GTX 295's and with games of their period I had near 100% usage on all gpu's and it was smooth too which was surprising.

Yes, performance was very similar to a GTX 1080 at the time, really fast. It still tended to have niggles though and that's the general experience with SLI, not just me.

 

[AusWolf]

Mine does. Last I checked X399 was an enthusiast platform. It also supports SLI. In AMD's mind, they wanted to move away from the "bridge" style thinking that Crossfire was and to the new and updated bridge-less setup they have now. Crossfire and SLI at its core is mGPU. It always has been and always will be. I am sorry you think mGPU is dead, but if it was, there wouldn't be HEDTs and compute servers running them.

Compute servers running mGPU and SLI/CF in a gaming setup are two entirely different things.

Its not dead because its dead.

"Modern GPUs that support DX12 support two forms of SLI: implicit and explicit. Implicit SLI is the mode used in DirectX 11, as well as previous versions of Microsoft’s 3D API."

Implicit SLI is going away. As games move to DX12, that version of SLI will die. The matured version for DX12 lives on. Your views that its dead are based on devs not wanting to support it. Just because some devs don't support it, doesn't mean the technology is dead. It just means the devs have priorities and mGPU isn't one of them.

If it's not a priority, then it's probably not gonna be one in the future either, which essentially means it's dead. Or would you happily buy two graphics cards for a technology that's extremely scarcely supported, if at all? Just because it exist and it's a possibility doesn't mean it makes sense.

 

[Flyordie]

You literally proved what everyone has been saying. Devs don't want to support and the traditional method is gone. It's literally a dead technology and you're arguing for the sake of arguing.

This guy gonna be trying to SLI 3070Ti's with DX12 and call it a win.

Well funded devs support it just fine. Far Cry New Dawn has a "Crossfire" mGPU profile for it. That game came out in 2019. As did the game before it, Far Cry 5. Far Cry 6 also supports it and does it well.

LMAO. You skimmed it and missed above


The article literally describes the technical nature of change that happened, and yet later insists it was just a "branding change" LMAO.
To be more detailed, they're not quite correct here either, as CF was not limited to DX11 only. I'll give them benefit of the doubt and assume they meant to have had "DX11 or earlier" written instead.

Yet they are still releasing profiles for DX11 games... *facepalm*

Compute servers running mGPU and SLI/CF in a gaming setup are two entirely different things.


If it's not a priority, then it's probably not gonna be one in the future either, which essentially means it's dead. Or would you happily buy two graphics cards for a technology that's extremely scarcely supported, if at all? Just because it exist and it's a possibility doesn't mean it makes sense.

Its still mGPU. Its the same whether its SLI or Crossfire. It is mGPU at its core. 80% of the games I play on my PC support mGPU very well.

 

[Toothless]

Well funded devs support it just fine. Far Cry New Dawn has a "Crossfire" mGPU profile for it. That game came out in 2019. As did the game before it, Far Cry 5. Far Cry 6 also supports it and does it well.


Yet they are still releasing profiles for DX11 games... *facepalm*

Its still mGPU. Its the same whether its SLI or Crossfire. It is mGPU at its core. 80% of the games I play on my PC support mGPU very well.

Well that was a fast google search.

Y'know Farcry 5 and New Dawn are basically the same game? FC6 they probably recycled quite a bit in. Also multi-GPU isn't SLI or xfire, really. It CAN use multiple cards however you're literally picking and choosing the smallest of examples. Just because the 8/10 games you play support it doesn't mean EVERYTHING supports it. Both companies even said they're not doing profiles anymore and that was a while ago.

It's dead. Admit it. Going on into the future less and less games are going to support it properly. Multi-GPU is better off with production work.

 

[Flyordie]

Well that was a fast google search.

Y'know Farcry 5 and New Dawn are basically the same game? FC6 they probably recycled quite a bit in. Also multi-GPU isn't SLI or xfire, really. It CAN use multiple cards however you're literally picking and choosing the smallest of examples. Just because the 8/10 games you play support it doesn't mean EVERYTHING supports it. Both companies even said they're not doing profiles anymore and that was a while ago.

It's dead. Admit it. Going on into the future less and less games are going to support it properly. Multi-GPU is better off with production work.

They dropped it because of install base which dropped off a cliff due to GPU pricing. AMD still supports mGPU and assists developers in writing their code for their engines to support it. The goal always was and always has been to get the software as close to the hardware as possible, so when that change over happened in DX12 they passed the mantle over to developers and are assisting them in optimizing their code. So its not dead, Just not actively invested in due to overworked developers and investors that want higher and higher profits. (So game devs have less time to optimize their game engines to support mGPU) If it was dead, it wouldn't be possible or work at all.

 

[Toothless]

They dropped it because of install base which dropped off a cliff due to GPU pricing. AMD still supports mGPU and assists developers in writing their code for their engines to support it. The goal always was and always has been to get the software as close to the hardware as possible, so when that change over happened in DX12 they passed the mantle over to developers and are assisting them in optimizing their code. So its not dead, Just not actively invested in due to overworked developers and investors that want higher and higher profits. (So game devs have less time to optimize their game engines to support mGPU) If it was dead, it wouldn't be possible or work at all.

Multi-gpu isn't SLI or xfire. It's software to support multiple cards, which barely anyone is supporting. Do you get 2x performance? Do you get smooth frames in every DX12 game that supports mGPU? Profiles aren't being made, AMD is helping with DX12 (so does NVIDIA, duh) and you're still here even with EVERYONE ELSE agreeing with me, it's dead. If you're going to argue, argue with everyone that agrees with the same side.

It's dead. Let it stay dead. You're not bringing multi-card back. This is just sad at this point with the thread derailed so hard from your "omg its nawt DED."

 

[Flyordie]

Multi-gpu isn't SLI or xfire. It's software to support multiple cards, which barely anyone is supporting. Do you get 2x performance? Do you get smooth frames in every DX12 game that supports mGPU? Profiles aren't being made, AMD is helping with DX12 (so does NVIDIA, duh) and you're still here even with EVERYONE ELSE agreeing with me, it's dead. If you're going to argue, argue with everyone that agrees with the same side.

It's dead. Let it stay dead. You're not bringing multi-card back. This is just sad at this point with the thread derailed so hard from your "omg its nawt DED."

I'm sorry you think multi-gpu software support is dead. Agree to disagree.

 

[Toothless]

I'm sorry you think multi-gpu software support is dead. Agree to disagree.

Everyone else in this thread thinks the same. Don't just tag me in this.

 

[Mussels]

I'm sorry you think multi-gpu software support is dead. Agree to disagree.

It is dead.
The tech exists for it to come back, but showing maybe 3 working titles is not an example of the tech working mainstream.

Vulkan, DX13 or an update to DX12 ultimate is how they need to fix it, code up a better simpler way for mGPU support. Until that happens, we wont see it.

 

[Flyordie]

It is dead.
The tech exists for it to come back, but showing maybe 3 working titles is not an example of the tech working mainstream.

Vulkan, DX13 or an update to DX12 ultimate is how they need to fix it, code up a better simpler way for mGPU support. Until that happens, we wont see it.

Thats the whole point. Game engines made for DX11 are getting outdated and devs are currently working on Vulkan and DX12U supported game engines which should rev mGPU back up. The point I am trying to make is one you made in your very post. It is happening, just not as fast as you'd like. During the pandemic a lot of games were purchased. So over the next year or 2 you will see a lot of new game engines pop out that support DX12 and mGPU natively. Especially as the chip shortage dies down.

Its there, but the economics just aren't there yet to bring it into the spotlight again.

Wolfenstein II
Wolfenstein Youngblood
Battlefield 1 (in DX12 mode)
Gears of War 4 DX12
Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12 mode)

Just those modern games supporting DX12 well show its not dead. Just not being pushed due to the economics of it. Once more people get multi-GPU setups and it claws marketshare for 8K gaming, you'll see a resurgence.

 

[Toothless]

Thats the whole point. Game engines made for DX11 are getting outdated and devs are currently working on Vulkan and DX12U supported game engines which should rev mGPU back up. The point I am trying to make is one you made in your very post. It is happening, just not as fast as you'd like. During the pandemic a lot of games were purchased. So over the next year or 2 you will see a lot of new game engines pop out that support DX12 and mGPU natively. Especially as the chip shortage dies down.

Its there, but the economics just aren't there yet to bring it into the spotlight again.

Just because games were purchased doesn't mean they're going to be putting in mGPU features. That's like saying a lot of trucks were purchased, so more people are going to tow their horse trailer more.

It's not gonna happen.

 

[oobymach]

Most devs (ubisoft for example) don't support it but some devs (rockstar) do though it was more beneficial when it first came out with 256mb cards now with 16gb cards a single card can do 4k gaming so sli/crossfire is not needed for most setups. You can still do it but most games won't make use of it so it's pretty much just bragging rights rather than a useful thing.

 

[Mussels]

Thats the whole point. Game engines made for DX11 are getting outdated and devs are currently working on Vulkan and DX12U supported game engines which should rev mGPU back up. The point I am trying to make is one you made in your very post. It is happening, just not as fast as you'd like. During the pandemic a lot of games were purchased. So over the next year or 2 you will see a lot of new game engines pop out that support DX12 and mGPU natively. Especially as the chip shortage dies down.

Its there, but the economics just aren't there yet to bring it into the spotlight again.

Wolfenstein II
Wolfenstein Youngblood
Battlefield 1 (in DX12 mode)
Gears of War 4 DX12
Rise and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12 mode)

Just those modern games supporting DX12 well show its not dead. Just not being pushed due to the economics of it. Once more people get multi-GPU setups and it claws marketshare for 8K gaming, you'll see a resurgence.

Because uhh... DX12 is 7 years old.


That's not slow progress, that's less than one working title a year.

You do know it doesnt automatically work in DX12, right? I cant just throw in another GPU and DX12 games magically enable the feature?