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- Date:
- Tuesday , July 20, 2010
- Author:
- Brent Justice
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
NVIDIA Surround Technology Performance Review
NVIDIA’s new multi-display Surround Technology is put to the test with GeForce GTX 480 SLI video cards in 3x1 Surround mode. We compare directly to AMD’s Eyefinity technology and the same three displays with 2GB Eyefinity6 HD 5870 CrossFireX and 1GB HD 5870 CrossFireX.
GTX 480 SLI Is Fast
It is disturbingly obvious in our testing that GeForce GTX 480 SLI is superior to Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 2GB and Radeon HD 5870 1GB CrossFireX configurations in 3x1 multi-display gaming. GeForce GTX 480 SLI is a powerhouse of performance at high resolution multi-display gaming. In every game we played it didn’t just come out on top a little, it completely owned the two HD 5870 CrossFireX setups.
What’s causing GeForce GTX 480 SLI to perform that much better than Eyefinity6 2GB HD 5870 CrossFireX? We think it might be down to efficiency of SLI versus CrossFireX. We know that head-to-head, a single GTX 480 versus HD 5870 isn’t that much different in real-world gaming. The GTX 480 edges out in some games and the HD 5870 edges out in others. But put two GTX 480 together and somehow the GTX 480 SLI is able to just completely blow away the HD 5870 CrossFireX.
From what we see here, and based on what we have seen in gaming with SLI and CFX over the years, SLI seems to simply scale more efficient than CFX technology.
Pros and Cons
It is clear that NVIDIA has caught up to AMD in multi-GPU multi-display gaming with NV Surround Technology. There are pros and cons to NV Surround versus AMD Eyefinity.
From the NV side of things NV Surround only works with SLI, you cannot run it with a single video card like with AMD's ATI Eyefinity. However, it can also be argued that of course you would want dual-GPUs or more when running at these high resolutions anyway. Still there are plenty of Eyefinity configurations that can be run just fine with single GPUs as many of our readers have been doing for months and months now.
Interestingly, NV Surround Technology doesn’t just work on the latest generation of video cards; it also works on the previous generation. This means that gamers with these video cards can already utilize this technology, whereas with AMD’s ATI Eyefinity they are limited to just this current generation.
NV Surround can also be done with just DVI monitors not requiring new DisplayPort or adapters like AMD Eyefinity demands.
When you are in your game and it is spread out on all three displays there is no way to tell if you are running NV Surround or AMD’s ATI Eyefinity. The two technologies are "identical" in that sense.
We will have to see what turning on 3D Vision Surround does to performance though. Kyle documented some of the performance hits in his Experience Article's final page. Many times he found the 3D aspect to cripple his gaming performance. That will be explored in our next performance evaluation specifically comparing 3D Vision Surround versus NV Surround performance. We are looking forward to sharing hard numbers with you in that comparison. Also, we will be looking into GTX 460 SLI and GTX 470 SLI real world performance as well.
The Bottom Line
If you just want the best performing multi-display gaming experience you can buy with the highest level of image quality, nothing surpasses GeForce GTX 480 SLI with NV Surround. (Except quite possibly 3-Way SLI!) GTX 480 SLI is going to give you the highest framerates and allow you to enable more in-game graphical features and antialiasing levels.
Will it cost you more money? Maybe, maybe not. GeForce GTX 480 SLI is going to set you back about $920 currently for the two video cards. Two 1GB HD 5870 video cards will set you back $800 right now. Radeon 5870 1GB cards are definitely the way to go if you want the "cheapest" multi-display multi-GPU gaming setup; but of course, it is also the slowest configuration. Two 2GB Eyefinity6 video cards are even more expensive, setting you back $1000 for the pair. There are some other 2GB 5870 cards out there like the ASUS ROG Matrix, and those can be had for about $960 a pair. As we saw no major gaming experience advances with the 2GB 5870 video card, this configuration holds little value for CrossFireX in 3x1 multi-display gaming since you can get 1GB HD 5870 video cards for less money and the better performing GTX 480 SLI is less expensive as well.
While we fully expected this scenario to play out this way, we did not think the performance difference would be so pronounced. Our initial experiences with GTX 480 SLI Surround were great. We knew then that the performance was superior to what AMD had in its CrossFireX bundle. Seeing the data in real world gaming being so lopsided is not something we experience every day. NVIDIA's GTX 480 SLI simply blows everything that AMD has in terms of multi-GPU multi-display gaming out of the water and even proves to be a better value when compared to a 2GB 5870 configuration.
If you are looking for the ultimate high-end multi-GPU setup for 3x1 multi-display gaming, NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 480 SLI wears the crown. Should you be deciding to go this route, I highly suggest you contain these beasts in a chassis that will give these great airflow, so much that it actually makes the GTX 480 SLI easy on the ears. Since these cards are still quite power hungry and hot, we suggest you give our Fermi PSU Guide a look too.
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