HD 5870 DX 11 Performance and Antialiasing Scaling
ATI Radeon HD 5870 Single, Crossfire and TriFire
Page 5 / 5 10/23/09
I did some investigation (using MSI Afterburner tool) and found that in all three modes, the GPUs were being utilized efficiently. Each active GPU was being stressed to 90-95%. This made me think that something else might be broken.
I re-ran all the Dirt 2 benchmarks, but this time also utilized Fraps to compare the final FPS as reported by Fraps and the built in benchmark. It turned out that single and dual CFX modes were consistent with what the benchmark reported, but Trifire scores were vastly different. This is evident from the results on the previous page. It is weird how the benchmark reports incorrect FPS only when in TRI fire. Interestingly, at the options screen Fraps displays the same frame rates as the game engine...it is just the final FPS that are inconsistent. I encourage readers with Trifire setups, especially 5870 Trifire to look into this, and if my findings are consistent with other Trifire users, it won't hurt bringing this to Codemaster's attention.
Final thoughts
Multi GPU set up is built for Ultra high end 3D performance. This is a fact. When you are running a video game at 2560 X 1600 and the highest image quality settings, extremely high levels of antialiasing might not be important or even noticeable for most people. However, there still is the option to play your games at AA levels beyond 4 X AA. Trifire can certainly help under such extreme image quality settings. Running 12 X CFAA is not something a single card can handle. Heck, even dual 5870's would struggle to provide consistently smooth FPS at 12 X CFAA.....this is where that third card can be utilized to get the most out of it. Whether or not 12 X CFAA is any more noticeable than 8XAA, or for that matter, 8XAA vs 4XAA, is a different, subjective debate which I will not get into. The purpose of this article was primarily to compare AA scaling with some of the best GPU hardware out there...the rest is up to the readers.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time. ..Happy Benching !!
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