I've always thought that using multiple GPUs was just a cost issue. However, I've learned that it's quite unstable and often requires older software to make both GPUs work together in a single setup. Even powerful setups, like a 5090 running at 4K, often struggle to exceed 70 fps in many AAA games. So, I was wondering, why can't we simply add two 5080s and combine their power? What are the technological challenges that prevent GPUs from pooling their resources effectively? Also, why isn't there a single GPU that can consistently deliver 150 fps at 4K for any game, even hypothetically if it could handle 10K resolution?
4 Answers
You can definitely use multiple GPUs for tasks other than gaming. Historically, even with technologies like Crossfire and SLI, the gain was typically only around 20% in performance, so it wasn't really worth the trouble.
While it's technically possible for GPUs to work together, real-time games pose a unique challenge. Unlike CPUs, GPUs don’t share memory effectively for gaming. Because each GPU has its own VRAM, textures and other resources need to be duplicated, leading to inefficient performance. That's why pooling performance isn't straightforward in gaming contexts.
Right! I was surprised to find out that they can't just combine their power before rendering. It seems like a niche problem that isn't worth heavy investment to solve.
Using multiple GPUs used to be common with SLI, but support has faded due to the difficulty in optimizing it. People found it tricky to manage performance benefits. Also, many found that instead of double FPS, it often just doubled the GPU costs with minimal gains in performance. That's why Nvidia shifted focus away from developing SLI further.
Yeah, I remember dealing with tons of micro stutters when trying SLI, which often made it a worse experience than just running a single card at a lower frame rate.
Totally! Plus, as GPUs became more capable on their own, maintaining sync between two was more complex and less efficient.
Synchronizing multiple GPUs effectively for gaming is a real headache. That's part of why it hasn’t been pursued more aggressively. It didn’t provide the massive performance boosts people expected.
Exactly! It ended up causing more latency, which made it feel slower in some cases. I tried it once and it was a total waste.