How many users have SLI/Crossfire?

[HeavyHemi]

Originally Posted by Stublerone

Just want to say, that there is a main feature on videocards, which could always destroy your intention: nowadays, it is about vram as texture load and the games itself require this to run extremely fast. So, you can do sli and max out some values and your graphics power, but as soon as you have insufficient 1.5gb cards, you simply cannot compete with the others. You want to play in higher res and with more detail. And if a game like bf3 require at least 1.5gb for sufficient running and you buy quad sli with 1gb vram, you will have this bottleneck. You cab add 100 cards with 1gb and it will be again only 1gb vram, when u sum it up.

So it is not inbetween. Your 4x 580 with 1.5 gig with not have a single bit more thab 1x1.5 gb. That is sli and that needs to be changed. Otherwise ab upgrafe is simply getting by far more expensive than a new single card! Here in clod, you can add 4 more 580 and still have the bottleneck and you will not run a real high resolution or a triple monitor rig sufficiently. And to fire 1 card on 100% and effectively (with the vram issue integrated) 60 - 70 % of all other 3 cards is not very intelligent. It is like buying four cars and directly throw one into trash. Additionally you pay for fuel for 4 cars, although 3 of them are full. You leave this additional fuel untouched forever, except one third which you will burn in your garden for nothing as well.

Sounds weird and funny, but noone with the intention to upgrade an old system with sli additional card should ever think about that. It is simply for enthusiasts, who pimp their goid running rig with an second card for an extra bang (to run for example higher res or triple monitors). These guys know, what they have to do and they know, that sli would only work after having a look over the current card and its abilities. Would it be to slow or of a too low vram for example, they wouldn't use it to built up a sli rig. And I just want to tell these facts to you, before you all think, that it is a good idea to built up an sli with 2x 460, because it is cheap. It is simply a bad idea for most of the innocent guys out there not kbowing the facts of sli and what you have to think about it or how to validate

Sorry, but please do not all buy sli because some bf3 kiddies tell you. It could happen that you are very upset about your invest.

Exceeding your frame buffer is equally applicable to single GPU, SLI and Crossfire for that matter. It's essentially an irrelevant point. If you're exceeding your frame buffer you need to reduce your settings. This is independent of single or multi-gpu setups.
Maxing out BF3 at 1920x1080 and maintaining a min FPS of 60 requires a decent i7 and SLI 580's or better. SLI/Crossfire is not a bad idea IF you understand what SLI/Crossfire is and the advantages/disadvantages.