Official multi-GPU support?

[Bumrush]

Hey guys!

So after lots of forum searching, I've deduced that DDO does not officially support multi-GPU setups (SLI/CrossFireX). Is this a planned feature and if so, when is it expected to be released?

If it is not planned, may I respectfully point out that while DX11 support was recently added (thanks, by the way), it is only a 1-year old technology, while SLI/CrossfireX has been around (in some form or fashion) since 2005. I'm sure that the majority of your users are on single GPU setups - which might justify the low priority afforded to multi-GPU support - but I would also gather that the majority of your users are still running DX9 cards as well despite your recent DX11 upgrade. Doesn't multi-GPU support seem like a worthy addition by this point?

Thanks for your time!

[Lundivar]

When I used to have a sli system, sli worked in the "failsafe" AFR mode, so... DDO is not optimized for multi-card configs, but it works if you need it to.

Mind you, the games is not all that graphics intensive (even if can make cards run hot with no FPS limiter or v-sync.), so 1 medium/high end card easily runs everything at dx11 max settings.


L.

[Bumrush]

I recently ran some tests with 2x Radeon 5850 (stock settings, using Catalyst 10.11) using the following test scenario:

Graphics set according to "Detect Optimal Settings"
V-Sync off
Camera zoomed in to first-person perspective
Standing at entrance of Searing Heights
Wait 10 seconds, then monitor fps for 30 seconds

My results were:
CrossFireX On
Catalyst AI Off: 65fps
Catalyst AI Standard: 56-70fps
Catalyst AI Advanced: 55-65fps

CrossFireX off
Catalyst AI Off: 73fps
Catalyst AI Standard: 73fps
Catalyst AI Advanced: 73fps

As you can see, the CrossFireX setup demonstrated degraded performance, which is obviously the exact opposite of my expectations and has compelled me to return the second GPU (since DDO is really the only game I'm playing lately). However, if there was a plan in place at Turbine to add multi-GPU support that would provide the expected scaling I might reconsider, since my goal is to be able to run highest settings at a steady 60 fps in all scenarios (including Marketplace, lol).

[Lundivar]

I know sli worked.

Nice testing you did there. I'm surprised to see negative crossfire scaling on an AMD "sponsored" title (DDO used to nvidia sponsored, would like to hear the story behind that one!)

As for the marketplace... I dunno... just doesn't seemed like optimized code there, or packet management is an issue with that many players. CPU not maxed out, video card not maxed out, and FPS still stutters & dips.

*shrug*

L.