Dual graphics or a dedicated GPU?

[Rosiv]

This is a extension to a degree, of my previous post on what GPU to get. Although since it is a different topic i decided to make a new one.

I have a a10 6800k richland APU, and a 600w psu. I want better performance for games so i cant decide between the benefits between doing a dual graphics which have alot of stutter, or so i hear, or a dedicated card, which would cost more, but have more reliable performance.

Any experts want to chime in?

 

[DoPo]

Why do you think you'd need dual graphics cards? That's a serious question. It's not that you don't - not necessarily, anyway, but that setup is more specialised than having a single video card.

A single video card would work fine in over, like, 80% of the cases. It's why it's the normal thing to have, else kits with two cards would be way more widespread.

 

[Supernova1138]

Single card is much better unless you are on an extremely tight budget and can't afford a midrange to high end graphics card. You can only do dual graphics with lower end GPUs, leading at best to performance roughly equivalent to an entry level gaming graphics card. Dual graphics also has a lot of microstuttering issues, leading to not particularly great performance, especially in DirectX 9 games, where AMD Driver updates have not improved the frame pacing. If a game doesn't support Crossfire, you're also pretty much stuck with running on a single GPU, either your IGP or your discrete card, whichever one is faster, leading to significantly reduced performance.

 

[Rosiv]

Why do you think you'd need dual graphics cards? That's a serious question. It's not that you don't - not necessarily, anyway, but that setup is more specialised than having a single video card.

A single video card would work fine in over, like, 80% of the cases. It's why it's the normal thing to have, else kits with two cards would be way more widespread.

I was tryin to save money on my card by using dual graphics. I suppose I'll have to go dedicated, but I really can't make up my mind between gpus. Id appricate your input. I was eyeing the gefore gtx 960, its 200$ and comes with a free copy of the witcher 3, plus, the version I was looking at is small in length. Could I even run the wticher 3 though, my total specs on in my other thread, and I only run at 1440x700, so I was hoping the gameplay would be smooth, but I've read the min req is a gtx 650 so...

 

[Rosiv]

Single card is much better unless you are on an extremely tight budget and can't afford a midrange to high end graphics card. You can only do dual graphics with lower end GPUs, leading at best to performance roughly equivalent to an entry level gaming graphics card. Dual graphics also has a lot of microstuttering issues, leading to not particularly great performance, especially in DirectX 9 games, where AMD Driver updates have not improved the frame pacing. If a game doesn't support Crossfire, you're also pretty much stuck with running on a single GPU, either your IGP or your discrete card, whichever one is faster, leading to significantly reduced performance.

Yea I was scared of the microstuttering issues. Thanks.

 

[Aramis Night]

I would go single card. Besides 2 cards would likely be pushing it with that power supply which means that you would be offsetting the money you might save on not just getting one really good card if you also had to buy another higher watt power supply. Plus you may have to spend money for extra cooling in the case since a 2nd card would increase the heat that your machine generates. Given the amount of video ram available on modern graphic cards, it hardly seems necessary to utilize more than 1 card. People seem to just have crossfire/sli for the sake of bragging rights more than any actual need would indicate.

Also to your decision about the GTX 960. It's way ahead of the GTX 650 in terms of capability so it shouldnt have any trouble with the witcher 3. I looked up the recommended specs on it and the GTX 960 is a little better a card than even the suggested GTX 770.