MultiGPU Update: Two-GPU Options in Depth
by Derek Wilson on February 23, 2009 7:30 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Crysis Warhead Analysis
Crysis Warhead, the sequel to the original that follows the same story from a different perspective, does a great job of improving on the Crysis engine in terms of balancing performance and improving playability with a still-forward-looking engine (though we lack the native 64-bit runtime of the original game). We push the settings pretty high in spite of the fact that we don't turn them all the way up. Everything is set to "Gamer" quality with the exception of Shaders which are set to "Enthusiast" level.
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Like CoD, Crysis favors NVIDIA hardware. The settings we're rocking require more than a single Radeon HD 4850 or GeForce 9800 GTX+ even at 1680x1050, so it's likely that many gamers will be running at lower settings than these. As with CoD, SLI sweeps this benchmark in terms of performance. The Radeon HD 4870 CrossFire pushes up against the GeForce GTX 260 SLI setup, but the core 216 or an overclocked GTX 260 setup would easily put some distance between them.
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In terms of scaling, SLI looks better at lower resolutions while CrossFire puts the heat on as resolution increases. Despite the fact that the 4850 scales at over 77% (which is very good), the higher baseline of the NVIDIA cards keeps this from making the impact that it could. At the same time, configurations with two 4850 cards perform on par with the GTX 285 and offer much better value.
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Our performance data and our value data show that in this case, AMD's approach to single card multiGPU on the high end is effective. The 4850 X2 2GB can be had from newegg for less than $300 which is more than $50 cheaper than a single GPU NVIDIA solution that gets you the same performance where it counts.
It's interesting to note that AMD two card solutions tended to scale better than the single card multi-GPU options here. Where memory is a limiter, we see our higher memory single card options scaling better. In this case, it looks like memory isn't as large a bottleneck as something else. We can't say for certain, but our guess is that it's the PCIe bus: with both cards getting a full x16 slot, each GPU is able to communicate more efficiently with the host and it seems that this is beneficial to Crysis performance.
At 1920x1200, the only single card solutions that remain playable are the GTX 280 and GTX 285. Getting good performance on a 30" monitor requires either a GTX 295 or 2x GTX 280/285s. Nothing else passes the test at the highest resolution we tested.
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MamiyaOtaru - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
So we have to be perfect in every way to point out errors? NBA players shouldn't listen to their coaches because their coaches can't play as well as they do? Game reviewers shouldn't trash a game because they couldn't make a better one?ggathagan - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
When it comes to grammatical errors as insignificant as the ones pointed out, yes.If you're going to be that critical, then you best check your own grammar.
cptnjarhead - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
Grammar shmammar, you guys need to move out of your mom’s basement and get laid. :)bigboxes - Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - link
+1stym - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
I am curious to see how a pair of radeon 4830 would perform in this lineup. A single one is quite weak at those resolutions, but I am willing to bet a pair of those would hold its own against a single GTX280.Oh, and it would be much cheaper, too ($180 including the bridge).
Could you possibly include that setup next?
DerekWilson - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
You are right that a single 4830 won't be enough perform on par with these guys ... but I don't think two of them would really be worth it against the GTX 280 except maybe at lower resolutions. The 1GB 4830 will run you at least $145, so you're looking at $290 for two of them and the 4850 X2 2GB is the same price. The 512MB 4830 will be limited by memory usage at higher resolutions just like the 4850 512MB.We might look at the 4830 in CrossFire internally and see if it warrants an update, but so far it isn't in the roadmap for the rest of the series.
stym - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
I was thinking 512MB 4830s, which are in the $90~$110 price range. That price range is the only reason I mention them, because it puts the price tag of a pair of those in the exact same range as a Radeon 4830 512MB or even a GTX260.You said that a 4850 1GB doesn't make sense, and that's even more obvious for a 4830.
pmonti80 - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
I find too that this would be an interesting match at the $200+ pricetag.wilkinb - Monday, February 23, 2009 - link
why not just drop AoC, it was bad when it came out, has always had issues and odd results and no one i know played for more then 2 months...If you want to have a mmo, why not use one that people play? and maybe even more mature in development...
I know you will say it adds value, but you dont know its it bad code or showing a different view.
ajoyner - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - link
Most of the issues with the game are gone. There are currently no other MMO's out there that have the graphics or combat system to tax a gpu like this game. Your comment on testing a game that people play is very subjective. There are many MMO's out there that I would not touch....WOW, cough, cough.....but that doesn't mean other people don't enjoy them. I think having this game as one that is regularly benchmarked adds a great deal of value to the article.