Today we’re diving into the tech graveyard to exhume a couple of old-school gaming buzzwords (aka Corpses): SLI and Crossfire. Remember those?
Yeah, neither do most gamers these days. So, grab a shovel, and let’s dig into why these multi-GPU setups have gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Back in the day, SLI by Nvidia and Crossfire from AMD was the ultimate flex. To simplify, with these technologies, you had the power to attach two or more GPUs making an unbeatable beast. But there were some problems too.
- Micro-stuttering: Ever watched a movie where the frame rate suddenly changes like hiccups sometimes? That’s micro-stuttering. Despite giving you the power of multiple GPUs, this was one notorious side effect of SLI and Crossfire making it not exactly ideal for a smooth gaming experience.
- Driver Issues: While getting multiple GPUs to play feels good and like an accomplishment, driver updates were often needed, and sometimes they made things worse instead of better.
- Not All Games Supported: So even if you spend your luck to get a multi-GPU setup, there’s no guarantee that your game will support SLI or Crossfire hence making it not worth the money.
- Diminishing Returns: Setting up a multiple-GPU setup doesn’t always mean double performance. Sometimes, you’d only see a minor boost and other times, it was negligible – not giving justice to the investment, hassle, or expense.
Fortunately, Nvidia and AMD soon realized these limitations, and as technology marched on. We got ‘SUPER’ individual GPUs that handle even the most demanding games. Suddenly the need for SLI or Crossfire became irrelevant as the new GPUs were already power efficient working with less generated heat. So who else would spend 2 times more to get half the performance? SLI and Crossfire died that day.
But wait! Despite SLI and Crossfire becoming irrelevant, the multi-GPU configuration continued beyond there. There was still one area where they still hold relevance and that is 3D rendering, video editing, or scientific simulations where the raw power of Multi-GPUs changes the game. In addition to that, Multi-GPUs fastens your workflow by speeding up rendering times, video processing, and doing complex calculations.
In recent years, the relevance of these has gone even further (thanks to Jensen Huang) for usage in training large AI models, performing complex simulations, and running data-intensive workloads with the benefit of its parallel processing capabilities. While a single unit can handle some AI tasks, more complex projects often require the combined power of several GPUs.
So while Nvidia SLI and AMD Crossfire were the ULTIMATE treats for gamers seeking maximum performance, the availability of power single-GPU solutions has more or less replaced them.
And if you want to build a Gaming PC while staying within budget with a single top-of-the-line GPU OR build a PC putting all your rich money into SLI and Crossfire – then you should visit TheMVP.
At TheMVP, we specialize in building high-performing vGPU servers according to your needs. So if you’re looking for the same – then you can visit our stores in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Mumbai where a team of configuration experts help you do so.
And even if you’re not in one of those cities, Don’t fret, we have been doing national shipping since 2015.
