AMD Radeon RX 590 Crossfire and the State of Multi-GPU Technology

It always surprises usa how oftentimes nosotros get requests for Crossfire and SLI benchmarks. Despite flatout telling readers not to invest in either applied science for years now, there still seems to be quite a lot of interest. It's even more surprising given AMD, and in particular Nvidia, have made no secret about the fact that they are pulling dorsum on multi-GPU technology.

On our end, we've been stubborn well-nigh it and for the by year we have basically refused to check it out. But recently two RX 590 cards came our manner and nosotros thought, why not?

The last time we ran a multi-GPU comparison at TechSpot was back in 2015 when we tested a GeForce GTX 980 Ti SLI configuration against Radeon R9 Fury Ten Crossfire. The Fury X cards came out on top by a minor 4% margin across the 10 games tested at 4K. After that we institute less reasons to practice a comparison and nosotros went in the pursuit of achieving playable frame rates at 4K.

So we tested two GTX 1080s in SLI and afterwards in 2016 we coupled two Titan X cards, which we called the ludicrous graphics test because the cost of the graphics cards alone was up of $2,400. Little did we know, GPU prices were going mad shortly thereafter.

For today's test we accept a dozen modernistic games and nosotros're going to see how well two RX 590s compare to individual cards in 1080p and 1440p. For comparing nosotros have ix other graphics cards including high-end models such as Vega 64 and the RTX 2070. Our exam bench arrangement consists of a Cadre i7-8700K congenital inside the Corsair Crystal 570X packing 16GB of DDR4-3400 retentiveness.

Benchmarks

Battleground Five was the beginning title nosotros tested and we're seeing no Crossfire in this championship. No actress performance from the 2nd card at 1080p, and the same is also true for the 1440p resolution.

That was really surprising as Crossfire worked in Battlefield 1.

Here nosotros meet a 33% proceeds for the average frame rate at 1080p. Not swell but a large improvement over zilch, and scaling improves at 1440p where the RX 590s in Crossfire boosted performance past 46%.

The best example of Crossfire scaling that we came across in this new batch of games was seen in Strange Brigade. Hither the Crossfire RX 590s boosted the average frame rate by almost ninety%... and amend even so frame fourth dimension performance was notwithstanding very proficient.

Then at 1440p nosotros see over 90% scaling hit 94% so this is an exceptional result for the Crossfired 590s.

Radeon GPUs perform poorly in Assassinator'due south Creed Odyssey so unsurprisingly Crossfire back up is non-existent in this championship. Whereas the 590s were faster than the RTX 2070 in Strange Brigade, here they are 44% slower.

Moving on to Hitman ii, yet another title that lacks Crossfire support and therefore running with the applied science enabled actually slightly reduces functioning. This is also seen at 1440p.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gets us a 48% performance boost at 1080p and this placed the RX 590s alongside the GTX 1080 and Vega 64. Scaling is dramatically improved at 1440p and now we're seeing a 61% performance heave, this placed the 590s on par with the RTX 2070. A solid outcome for this game.

Forza Horizon iv is another championship where Crossfire isn't supported and therefore we saw no gains at 1080p or 1440p. In fact, we saw a slight functioning regression.

To my suprise Monster Hunter Globe did back up Crossfire though the frame time performance at 1080p was a petty sketchy. We saw a 32% heave for the average frame rate, but only a 14% improvement in frame time performance.

Jumping upwards to 1440p helps ironing this issue out, but even so scaling is below twoscore% which is weak given the investment, inappreciably justifying a second graphics card.

Here we have an example of a title that "looks practiced" when focusing on the average frame rate, but the experience was actually horrible. Despite averaging 100 fps in Star Wars Battlefront Two at 1080p, the frame time performance was shocking, dropping downwards well below the outcome of a single 590. The game was basically unplayable and buggy with Crossfire enabled and in this instances a abiding 30 fps provides a nicer gameplay experience.

The frame time issue persisted at 1440p. Nosotros didn't arrive in researching a set up, but out of the box Crossfire does not piece of work and thus you're amend off with a single RX 590 in this title.

Frame time performance was besides a little sketchy in Deus Ex Mankind Divided, though nowhere about equally bad as what we saw in Battlefront 2. The issue was a little more noticeable at 1440p and although the boilerplate frame rate is much improved with a second 590, the overall experience wasn't and due to the disparity betwixt the boilerplate and ane% low issue when using Crossfire, we'd rather play this title with a unmarried 590.

There was also a little chip of stuttering going on in Far Weep five and this was nowadays at both 1080p and 1440p.

Project Cars 2 was another championship where we saw functioning gains, but the frame time performance wasn't great and much worse than that of college end unmarried GPU graphics cards.

Power Consumption

All graphics bill of fare configurations with the exception of the Crossfire cards were tested in Crysis 3 to measure power consumption. Nevertheless Crossfire doesn't piece of work in Crysis 3, so we used F1 2018 equally it was one of the better games for scaling. Typically you're looking at a total system power increase of around 60% when using a 2d RX 590 and that leads to a pretty brutal consumption figure.

Here the Crossfire 590's pushed total system describe to 576 watts and I did observe simply over 600 watts in Foreign Brigade. This is quite a bit more than even a Vega 64 Liquid graphics bill of fare and well-nigh twice that of a single RTX 2070, then pretty horrible stuff when it comes to ability consumption.

Putting Information technology All Together

When compared to a single RX 590 nosotros saw a 37% boost to average frame rates at 1440p, merely (and this is a big but) that figure alone is misleading. Frame time performance in Star Wars Battlefront II and Deus Ex Flesh Divided was and so bad that I preferred to play with a single menu. Stuttering was likewise an issue in Far Cry 5, Project Cars 2 and The Witcher iii.

Normally I also test with Dirt 4 but that title suffered serious graphical glitches with Crossfire enabled and then I had to drop it from the batch of games tested.

So are y'all better off ownership a faster unmarried GPU graphics menu or two cheaper graphics cards?

If you lot oasis't worked that one out nonetheless, here is your answer: The RTX 2070 costs $500 while ii RX 590s will be a little more than that at $280 each. Even if you compared the RTX GPU to a pair of $200 RX 580s the outcome would be much the same. Become the more than expensive higher-end graphics card.

When everything is going right for the multi-GPU plan, the RX 590's killed it, beating the RTX 2070 past a whopping 25% margin. But out of the 20 games tested, we saw that kind of margin only once. The next best was a 14% win in F1 2018, nine% in Prey, five% in Project Cars 2 simply frame time performance was poor, equally was in Deux Ex and The Witcher 3.

Closing Remarks

Three years later we discover that once more multi-GPU engineering science seems like a skillful thought on newspaper, but in practice it'south a bit of a neglect. In our opinion SLI/Crossfire only makes sense for those with money to burn down. For instance, correct at present RTX 2080 Ti SLI graphics cards are nigh the only multi-GPU configuration that makes sense. If yous're at the end of the route and there is nothing faster, nonetheless you want more than and tin spend the large bucks, you can get a second RTX 2080 Ti.

But it doesn't make sense to run RTX 2080 SLI cards, for example. Merely get a single RTX 2080 Ti and you'll receive smoother operation in the vast majority of titles.

Equally for the RX 590s in Crossfire, we'd much rather have a single Vega 64 graphics bill of fare. Information technology's extremely rare that ii 590s will provide higher frame rates than a unmarried Vega 64, while as well offer stutter-free gaming.

If you lot're only ever going to play a game like F1 2018 that supports Crossfire really well, then getting 2 RX 570s for $300 volition exist a hard combo to beat. Merely who buys a graphics card to only ever play 1 or two games?

Other drawbacks that are as well part of this conversation include oestrus and ability consumption. Those two RX 590s were dumping and so much heat into the Corsair Crystal 570X example that you could justify spending more money in case fans and fifty-fifty then you'll still exist running hotter due to the way the cards are stacked. You'll as well lose out on the power supply. The RTX 2070 works without an issue with a 500w unit, and 600w would be more than than enough. The Crossfire 590s though volition need an 800 watt unit, 750w would be the minimum.

Ultimately, it'southward the poor software back up that kills these multi-GPU setups and it's why we feel no one should burden themselves with SLI or Crossfire today.