Back in 2011, we believed that SLI and Crossfire were really interesting configurations that could benefit a lot of PC gamers. However, and despite the ability to use GPUs from different manufacturers thanks to DX12 and Vulkan, it appears that the gaming industry is moving away from multi-GPU systems. Or at least that’s what AMD claims.
And to be honest, we strongly agree with the red team. After all, there are still engines that do not scale well – or even at all – on multiple GPUs. And while a 4-way SLI system will give us a glimpse at the future of PC gaming, it simply does not justify its enormous cost.
According to GamersNexus, CrossFire wasn’t once mentioned during any of a day-long media briefing that it attended. And when the topic of CrossFire came up, AMD noted that the value is rough when considering limited developer support.
Ironically, DX12 and Vulkan were supposed to make it possible for game developers to take full advantage of multiple GPUs, regardless their models. Naturally, this means that the game developers will have to invest extra time in order to support such a feature. So while this DX12/Vulkan feature is pretty interesting for PC gamers, most game developers are not interested in spending any extra time in order to implement it.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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I predicted this prior to launch of ps4/xb1
In related news i got a hair a$$
We all know. Stop showing it to us. Some of us now have nightmares.
You should see mine…
And AMD would be right. Some developers are moving away from SLI/ Crossfire support altogether because there are so few gamers using it anymore that it’s not worth their time and effort.
I think Nvidia no longer supports more than dual SLI on Pascal in their drivers even with high end cards.
SLI/ Crossfire was a cool thing in the past but not so much anymore.
The future of computer graphics IS multi-GPU, imbecile. Microprocessor fabrication technology will slow down DRASTICALLY in a few years.
Let’s stop with the name calling here. It’s immature and makes you look small and uneducated (unless you are small and uneducated) Just because you have an opinion, doesn’t mean anyone else is wrong. In fact, the industry as a whole seems to disagree with you.
I would counter with the idea that the future is simply larger GPUs. It seems a far more efficient method for rasterization.
Don’t want to be called names? Then use your brain and do some research instead of following w/e a corporation tells you. In case you haven’t noticed, AMD will not be able to keep up with the “simply larger GPUs” strategy. Multi-chip modules and multi-GPU optimization are AMD’s best recourse.
Lazy developers who refuse to optimize for multi-GPUs will go out-of business.
You can literally make larger GPUs until basically infinity. What’s the problem? It seems to be working just fine with processors. They aren’t dumping multiple processors onto boards. They’re simply making larger ones. GPUs are basically thousands of tiny single function cores that simply work together to create the image. Going larger just requires a larger heatsink, more connections and power. It’s not complicated to do. They already do it.
It’s strange how you assume the companies that actually make these things know less than you do. Or else they would be doing it.
Now look who seems uneducated…
You.
…said the simpleton.
It looks like he educated you.
He doesn’t understand how GPU production works, so I’ll let him dwell in his ignorance like the rest of you corporate slaves.
The irony is that he schooled you and you actually think you’re the one that came out of this exchange victorious. You got rekt, son. Calling someone names on the Internet won’t change that.
Dude, you’re as simple as the rest of them. Bugger off, son. No one went to school here. I’m in a special-ed comments section.
“They will have smaller but more dies on a gpu but it will be handled automatically.” You STILL need a way to synchronize those multiple GPU dies, dude: “CrossFire.”
AMD promotes 4K UHD, but lacks any hardware that can drive modern games at 4K UHD and if you have never used multi-GPUs, you cannot assess a proper position on multi-GPUs.
In other words, you have NO IDEA what you’re talking about.
leave it to this guy to dissagree with everyone else and call them idiots. Never fails to deliver.
It was terrible anyway, so whats the difference. SLI at least works in sensible amount of games, if you are an enthusiast that is not obsessed with price/perf then you will get enough out of second card. But generally the chase for resolutions will slow down significantly soon, nobody will really go above 4K or 21:9 4K for gaming, and since performance jump from generation to generation for GPUs is humongous, at least for Nvidia, in like 2 or 3 years from now GPUs will be really powerful and single GPU should be enough for those resolutions and the need for multiGPU will decrease. Thats assuming that game requirements won’t increase proportionally.
4K UHD is not even worth it. 1440p is “the sweet spot.”
Have you actually tried it?
I can assure you running most modern games maxed out in native 4k is stunning. I mostly game on my 3440×1440 g-sync monitor however, I do occasionally run them on my 4k screen and the difference in image quality is very noticeable.
Yes and performance-wise, the industry is not ready yet…and with AMD downplaying the importance of multi-GPUs, b/c their drivers suck, it will be even longer before native 4K UHD becomes the new 1080p.
What are you on about I have been gaming at 4k for the past three years as have many others. Yes it isn’t mainstream yet but we are not far off.
You still need more than one GPU to properly drive a 4K UHD panel for modern games.
I have the perfect solution for people who want to buy an extra graphics card: give the spare one to me. 100‰ scaling in ALL games, guaranteed!
Nope, it still would not scale 100% because of these same developers who would not support multi-gpu set ups. Now you wasted your chance XD
“Ironically, DX12 and Vulkan were supposed to make it possible for game developers to take full advantage of multiple GPUs, regardless their models. Naturally, this means that the game developers will have to invest extra time in order to support such a feature.”
the feature is being implemented all wrong. developers will always forget about owners with more than 1 GPU. Owners of multiple GPUs (including on board) should be able to take advantage of their setups independently. Either Windows or overclocking tools should let users the option to enable more than 1 GPU.
>Either Windows or overclocking tools should let users the option to enable more than 1 GPU.
Multi GPU support requires a game engine to be written in a certain way, which makes it impossible to use a lot of techniques that developers like to use, for example deferred rendering which relies on information from the previous frame to make the current one.
You cannot create a universal switch, unless you hold ever game dev to gunpoint and force them to write near identical renderers.
It also increased the work required to get it working on their game by loads and the responsibility for it in their support/patching of it.
And they are right. Until scaling is truly effective without diminishing gains at 4-way SLI, it’s useless. VR is the only use-case where 2-way SLI can be justified.
Always was and always will be a gimmick. I never understood why people like SLI or crossfire as its terrible on frame-times. Most of the time you don’t even get the most out of it and you have to constantly worry about what title supports it and what doesn’t.
Side note that is also why i hated piledriver so much had to always worry if the title was optimized for it, if not expect massive drops and stutters.
I pity anyone who believes Multi-GPUs is the way to go in gaming, we get better support and stability with a single powerful GPU.
Nobody believes what, but it is necessary when a single top end GPU isn’t enough, what is so difficult to understand?
Excatly, I dont think there was ever a case for dual low end/mid range cards, imo SLI was always for top end cards when one card wasn’t enough power.
no. some people honestly believe that multi GPU is the future. they said multi GPU being supported directly into 3D API is one of the proof (though i think that will be the last nail in killing multi GPU future). when nvidia did not support SLI on 1060 they said it was because of greed so they can push user to much more expensive 1070/1080 if they want faster performance. though i believe majority of these people did not look at 960SLI result vs 970 and 980. and then compare the result to GTX460 SLI vs GTX480 in past.
SLI on lower end cards is a terrible exprience
No it is not necessary cause there’s almost no support for Multi-GPUs in Gaming, meaning having two GPUs will only decrease the performance further in most games.
If the most powerful Gaming GPU available on the market today is not enough to run a game, it means the game is beyond poorly optimized (poor Ubisoft).
>there’s almost no support for Multi-GPUs in Gaming
Please stop spreading misinformation.
I used SLI 780 and SLI 980 for 2 years each, virtually all AAA releases had decent SLI support, my only issue then was the low VRAM.
>If the most powerful Gaming GPU available on the market today is not enough to run a game, it means the game is beyond poorly optimized
Or maybe I like to push the quality beyond max via cfg tweaks, or by using Reshade to extra enhancement, or by running at 4K or greater.
One 1080ti is still not enough to get maxed out 4K at 60 fps locked in all games, and I also like to play some games in 5K, the difference in image quality makes 4K look like crap.
It’s already not enough for me, right now the only thing keeping me from getting a second one is the messed up prices due to mining, and i’d also have to invest in a custom water loop to avoid thermal throttling the cards.
mGPU/SLI/CF = Plug and Pray
SingleGPU = Plug and Play
The Metro series, the recent Tomb Raider reboot series, Shadow Warrior 2; Gears 4, the Battlefield series, Crysis 3 and the Middle Earth: Shadow series (to name a few) are ALL “Plug and Play” with 2-Way SLI.
Gears of War 4..After how many months ?? Give me a break..
If these feature is came with the game when start will make sense but,always came months after launched. It is a waste of money for the game developers. The only who make money with the is amd or nvidia and amd don’t wanna lose time with that anymore. Make sense for me and for the market.
AGREE! I never tried SLI/CF and never will…a single powerful GPU any day over multi-GPU config!
It’s kinda weird of you to agree about something you’ve never tried.
In other words rains in summer and snows in winter.
I know this is off topic Anyone want a Mass effect Andromeda game code apparently I won it Nvidia gave me a free code and I don’t want this game.
Both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided have really poor multi-GPU optimization and neither will have a sequel.
Not sure if you’re a troll or a stubborn jerk. The lack of multiple GPU support has nothing to do with the reception those games got which is the reason for their downfall.
Considering what a small fraction of gamers actually use multiple GPUs because they’re fine with one, can’t afford/don’t want multiple, or play on console it’s not surprising the industry isn’t focusing on it. Studios who don’t support it won’t be punished for it. The amount of people who don’t partake in it absolutely dwarfs the ones that do.
I’ll take it
waiting for previous comment approval
Alright
i always love free game 😀 if you had another i’ll take it
also in today’s news: sky is blue
…and AMD is clueless.
Its pure FUD. I just bought two 1080s and 80% of my triple-A games are optimized properly for multi-GPUs.
on that AMD, we can both agree
developers nowadays are being pushed around by publishers to release the game as soon as possible, completely ignoring optimization or even bug-fixes, SLI/CROSSFIRE is an afterthought
just buy a TI every 2-3 years and you’ll be golden regardless of which resolution you play with
as long it’s not a crappy stock cooling that is…
Good to hear.
I’ve been doing multigp use for going on 20 years now. It saddens me that this day has come
Agreed I ran two 980ti classifieds last year and have now switched to a single 1080ti and I’m so glad I did. Better thermals, performance, acoustics and compatibility.
Translation: “Crossfire sucks and we don’t know how to make drivers for it, so that means SLI sucks too” Sad AMD
Not at all. CF has more games that have 100% scaling then Nvidia does with SLI. And CF does not need a “Bridge”
CrossFire is a microstuttering mess.
The amount of hassle that comes with multi-card solutions is frustrating. Very few games support crossfire/sli properly at launch and it’s really annoying to have to wait sometimes months for a patch or driver update. Nvidia themselves stopped supporting more than 2 gpu’s with Pascal. Both companies are slowly moving away from multi-card solutions, AMD are the first ones to say it out loud.
P.S: You’ll notice I used the term multi-card instead of multi-gpu, as multi-gpu, aka on the same card or even same die, might still be a thing. Who knows.
“AMD claims that the PC gaming industry is largely moving away from multi-GPU configurations”
AMD , always the last to realize.
Just sent a friend request on steam. Name is Negative Zero
I suppose those of us pushing the boundaries with triple 1440P 144hz monitors or 4k monitors just have to wait for the next best GPU huh….? This is ridiculous… mGPU is not the same as Crossfire or SLI which are more dependant on the Drivers compared to the Devs with the former.
Dev’s that want to push the boundaries of GPU tech are surely to implement a form of Crossfire or SLI, I don’t feel that’s ever going away.
If you want to try a multi-GPU system, do it now before it becomes obsolete.