As we all know, AMD have disabled the ability run Crossfire (multi-GPU) configuration some time ago. Sadly, that decision was announced around the end of 2017. This means that all of their latest Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards, which include RX 5500, 5600 and 5700 series (Navi), do not support Crossfire.
However, if you’re lucky enough to own AMD’s previous generation of graphics cards, such as the Radeon RX 570, RX 580 or a RX 590 (Polaris)… then you’ll be able to run 2 of these card in Crossfire mode (ideally matching models of course). Sadly, these RX 500 series will be the last graphics cards from AMD that can support Crossfire.
Before we start, let us visit AMD’s website for a quick overview of Crossfire …
AMD CrossFire™ is a multi-GPU (MGPU) technology which combines the processing power of graphics cards (GPUs) with the aim to improve performance by speeding up the rendering of 3D graphics. The performance gains using AMD Crossfire are dependent on the application and can deliver increased performance than a single GPU configuration.
With DirectX® 12 and Vulkan® 3D Applications, multi-GPU support is exclusively handled by the application and should be available as an option in the game launcher or within the graphics/video settings menu. The 3D application must support MGPU technology in order for AMD CrossFire™ to work. Under DirectX® 9, 10 and 11, an AMD CrossFire™ driver profile is required. The AMD CrossFire driver profile provides unique instructions and optimizations to enable optimal performance and compatibility with the 3D application.
When AMD CrossFire™ support is enabled, one GPU acts as the primary GPU whereas the additional GPUs act as secondary GPUs. Graphics rendering tasks are divided among each GPU to drive a single display connected to the primary GPU. If a second display is connected to the primary GPU, the current desktop can be extended to it, allowing AMD CrossFire to support multiple displays. Displays connected to secondary GPUs are automatically disabled; to enable these displays, AMD CrossFire support must first be disabled.
There are many questions when it comes to building a multi-GPU system. Is it worth it? What are the benefits? Let’s begin with …
Is it Worth it?
This question get asked all the time … is it worth having a multi-GPU system? Well in today’s current market, you’ll only ever need one single graphics card to be honest. Most applications or games won’t utilize multi-GPU, besides the multi-GPU capability is completely controlled by the graphic card drivers. So if the graphic card drivers is optimized for multi-GPU … then you’re out of luck.
But having said that, those who have a fat wallet and plenty money to burn, and don’t mind spending extra money for only a marginal increase in performance … then why not. It will mean buying two graphics card of the same spec and model, and that means doubling your budget. You may not get the performance increase you’re expecting … but it will look damn good for sure!
What are the Benefits?
Installing two or more graphics cards in Crossfire mode can provide a marginal increase in performance over a single graphics card. But expect too much. Multi-GPU performance all depends on the graphics drivers and how optimized they are. The other real benefit is the ability to run games at higher resolutions such as 4K (3840 x 2160), that’s 4 times the resolution of your standard 1080p monitor, or run multiple monitors at the same time. I’ve listed some of the benefits below …
- Support and run at higher resolutions (4K and beyond)
- Run games at slightly higher frame rates (if graphics card drivers allow it)
- Looks AMAZING and impressive!
Things to look out for …
Benefits aside, you’ll also need to look out for the following …
- Two graphics cards installed closely together inside your case will produce more heat, and produce more noise. Extra cooling is recommended.
- Also, two graphics card will draw more power, so we recommend a minimum power supply of 750W or higher.
- Make sure your motherboard fully supports Crossfire. Also be aware of the PCIE slot configuration (refer to your motherboard manual).
- Not all games support Crossfire. And this all depends on your graphics card driver, not the game itself. AMD will often update their drivers to include multi-GPU support for new games. But if the game isn’t supported, then you’re out of luck … the system will only use one GPU.
Now, I’ve explained some of the advantages and disadvantages of having Crossfire … let’s continue and build our test rig with 2 x Radeon RX 590 in Crossfire mode. Let’s begin with some photos.
Photo Gallery
Installation
Test Rig
For our tests, we used a new test rig which is comprised of a ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X Motherboard, along with an AMD Ryzen 7 – 3700X (Matisse) @ 3.6GHz / Boost @ 4.4GHz, as well as 16GB of DDR4-3200 ram in dual channel mode.
All tests were conducted at default clock speeds at a resolution of 1920×1080. High or Ultra settings enabled.
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 – 3700X (Matisse) @ 3.6GHz / Boost @ 4.4GHz |
| Cooling | Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 PG edition |
| Motherboard | ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X |
| Ram | 16GB Adata XPG Spectrix D60G RGB DDR4-3200 |
| HDD | Patriot Viper VP100 512GB PCIE M.2 SSD |
| PSU | Cooler Master 850W |
| VGA card | 2 x ASRock Radeon RX 590 8G OC Graphics Card (8GB GDDR5) in Crossfire Mode |
| Nvidia Drivers | Latest Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 |
| OS | Windows 10 |
We’ll be comparing the performance difference between the following systems …
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with single RX 5500 XT)
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with single RX 590)
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with 2 x RX 590 in Crossfire mode)
Windows System Properties
GPU-Z Information
Radeon Software Adrenalin – Crossfire Configuration
Make sure you’ve installed the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers and that you’ve enable Crossfire in the Control Panel.
Now that we’ve configured the two cards in Crossfire mode… it’s time to run some benchmarks 🙂
Benchmarks
We’ll be comparing the performance difference between the following systems …
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with single RX 5500 XT) — 1st Column
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with single RX 590) — 2nd Column
- Ryzen 7 3700X (with 2 x RX 590 in Crossfire mode) – 3rd Column
PassMark – Performance Test 9.0 (3D Test)
Test the speed of your 3D video card by selecting from options such as fogging, lighting, alpha blending, wire frame, texturing, resolution, color depth, object rotation and object displacement. Separate tests for DirectX 9,10,11 & 12. With support for 4K resolution.
3DMark v2 – Time Spy (DX12)
3DMark Time Spy is a new DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built “the right way” from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards.
3DMark v2 – Firestrike (DX11)
Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark designed for today’s high-performance gaming PCs. It is our most ambitious and technical benchmark ever, featuring real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.
3DMark v2 – Firestrike Extreme (DX11)
For Multi-GPU systems and overclocked PCs. Fire Strike Extreme is designed for testing PCs with multiple GPUs (minimum 1.5 GB graphics card memory required). It raises the rendering resolution from 1920 × 1080 to 2560 × 1440 and improves the visual quality.
Unigine 2 – Superposition (1080p Extreme)
Extreme performance and stability test for PC hardware: video card, power supply, cooling system. Check your rig in stock and overclocking modes with real-life load! Also includes interactive experience in a beautiful, detailed environment.
Unigine 2 – Superposition (4K Optimized)
FINAL FANTASY XV Benchmark – High Settings
The FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION Official Benchmark application can give you a score to indicate the level of performance you can expect from your PC environment when running FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION. It does this by displaying several of the events, maps and characters used in the game.
Basemark GPU
Basemark GPU is an evaluation tool to analyze and measure graphics API (OpenGL 4.5, OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan and Microsoft DirectX 12) performance across mobile and desktop platforms. Basemark GPU targets both Desktop and Mobile platforms by providing both High Quality and Medium Quality modes. The High-Quality mode addresses cutting-edge Desktop workloads while the Medium Quality mode addresses equivalent Mobile workloads.
Forza 4 Benchmark
Forza Horizon 4 features dynamic seasons that change gameplay, unlocking new events and routes, impacting driving conditions, and transforming open-world exploration – all in native 4K and HDR. Experience beautiful, historic Britain in spectacular native 4K and HDR, collect over 450 cars, and become a Horizon Superstar.
Final Words and Thoughts
As you can see from the benchmarks in the previous page, having 2 x Radeon RX 590 in Crossfire mode offers only a marginal increase in performance over the single RX 590 as well as the RX 5500 XT cards.
For Timespy, we managed a score of 9654 which is big improvement over the other single card. For Firestrike the score was 23,047, again a big boost in performance. And finally in Firestrike Extreme, we got a score of 12,384 which is another big boost.
Bear in mind that the Futuremark benchmarks are synthetic tests, for real-life gaming tests the results will be different.
Next we have unigine 2 superpostion benchmark in 4k optimized mode. The RX 590 in crossfire produced only a 4 point increase over the single RX 590.
For Final Fastasy 15, the score was oddly lower than the single RX 590 at 4,437 vs 4,477. And this the same for Basemark GPU benchmark, which produced a score of 4,259 vs 4,285.
And finally for Forza 4 benchmark, the pair of Radeon RX 590 could only muster 84 frames per second vs 87 frames per second for the single card.
The increase my be small, but it’s still an increase nevertheless. This falls in line with what I had expected. So no surprise here.
On the upside, if you’re running a 4K monitor, then having a pair of Radeon RX 590 in Crossfire mode will definitely help. 4K resolutions or above require a lot of graphics power, especially if you have two 4K monitors.
As with most multi-GPU setups, you’re not going to see any real improvements in terms of performance over a single card during gaming. Even if there are … the improvements are probably only marginal or even negligible. And there’s also the fact that the graphic drivers need to be able to support multi-GPU for those games that you’re going to be playing.
Users of Adobe suite or any content creator software, may not see any real benefit of a Crossfire multi-GPU setup. However having said that, Adobe did mention that some of their applications will work with Crossfire, while others don’t. Go here for more.
It’s a sad fact that AMD have discontinued its support for Crossfire and multi-GPU. And I can see why, especially when approximately 99% of the software out there, don’t support multi-GPU. And what’s even disturbing is the fact that all of their latest Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards, which include RX 5500, 5600 and 5700 series (Navi), do not support Crossfire anymore. It seems that Crossfire is now only available on the previous generation of graphic cards, such as the Radeon RX 570, RX 580, and RX 590 … these will be the last graphics cards from AMD that can support Crossfire.
It’s unfortunate that AMD have retired Crossfire technology … I’ve always like having a multi-GPU system, even though there are many games or software that didn’t show any real benefits. To be honest, it’s not really worth it … but at the end of the day, it just looks so GOOD!
You can buy the previous model the ASRock Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card (8GB GDDR5) from various online retailers including Amazon – https://amzn.to/2T57Efm
Not sure what components you’ll need to build your perfect system. Try our Rig Builder™ an exclusive system configurator by Funky Kit,
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