Radeon 6850 2GB Crossfire

frizbee

I currently have a single XFX radeon 2GB card running 4 monitors, 2 from the DVI ports and 2 from the mini displayports. It lets me have 3 screen surround for gaming and let me put a a TV on the side monitor.

I'm looking to buy a second card to run crossfire, before they are no longer available. There is a card available, but it has different outputs, 2 DVI and 2 HDMI. Will this matter since it will be the secondary card in the crossfire setup and won't have anything plugged into it?

Thanks,

Frizbee

DarkSayianSilva · *Last edited by DarkSayianSilva; 09-14-2012 at 06:17.*

Simply put no It will not matter as when crossfire x is enabled one of the cards is automatically disabled from showing anything from the display ports top card I think. As long as you plug everything into the bottom card you should be fine. Best scenario is to get same exact card so specs are the same and you don't louse any performance. Also make sure you current 6850 is the dedicated card when you install the new one so you can use your cords that run to the monitors as is.

Having ran 2 6870's on a 750 ultra psu make sure you have something better like an 850 watt psu or what not, as when I switched em out for a gtx 570 as I saw little to no real performance gain and noticed most games not running as smoothly as they should or I liked, the psu died shortly there after. keep in mind you will need to wait some time (for most games) for amd to come out with drivers for Crossfire x, another reason why I switched most app don't natively support sli or crossfire x and issues occur as a result. Also they call em cap profiles update and install em often on main page of Guru3d nowadays. JUst a heads up but good luck I here when it works the performance is sweet

frizbee · 09-14-2012, 20:12 | posts: 179 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Thanks,

I have a 950w PSU, so I should be good there. The game I'm currently playing, and hope to play for a while, SWTOR already has crossfire support, so I should be good. Sounds like I'll be trying it out.

Frizbee

mikeysg · 09-15-2012, 04:22 | posts: 1,791 | Location: Babylon 5

Seriously, I know of a couple of guys running 2x HD7970 in CFX, with a quality 850W Seasonic or Corsair PSU. So, your TX750 is more than able to handle 2x HD6870.....as long as the 2nd card has 2gb of VRAM like the card you already have. Keep your present card as the main card, uninstall Cat driver, place the new card below, attach the CF bridge, power up, install Cat driver and reboot again. Clockspeed is of little consequence as the cards adjust to the different speed. I have three HD7970, one is an OC Ed while the other two are at reference speed, I have no issue with stability at these different clockspeed. I have since OCed all my card to 1000/1425 w/o issue, can't get too ambitious with my OC as i believe my HX1050 PSU is barely handling them.

rogue221979 · *Last edited by rogue221979; 09-16-2012 at 20:30.*

I have the same 750 watt Corsair PSU and I run 2 5870s I7 920 @ 4 ghz, which use more juice than a 6850. You'll be fine.

Its rated at 750 but it will do over a kilowatt, it just makes more heat, but mine is at the bottom and I cut a hole underneath my case to vent it out.

I've been ruining it hard for 4 years come February.

Don't go by the wattage of a PSU go by the quality brand and certification.
They only putt the wattage they rate it at. They garrentee it will perform as spec up to a said rated wattage anything after that and they won't garrentee and in some cases voids your warranty.

Like everything else, you can potentially shorten the lifespan is all. No different than a OCed CPU or video card.

A top level quality 500watt PSU can out do a cheap 1000watt PSU.

@Mikey

Your PSU will push to 1.5 it will get warmer, but it shouldn't trip if you push it a bit, but with 3x 7970s I don't think you need to push it any farther, lol.

mikeysg · 09-19-2012, 13:11 | posts: 1,791 | Location: Babylon 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue221979

@Mikey

Your PSU will push to 1.5 it will get warmer, but it shouldn't trip if you push it a bit, but with 3x 7970s I don't think you need to push it any farther, lol.

LOL! Yeah, but I'm slowly pushing my GPUs whilst leaving my CPU at default speed. Right now, I have my GPUs at 1050/1450, still stable as heck. I game in EF mode, so I'd really need the pixel crunching power of these cards. Played BF3 'Going Hunting' mission @6036x1200, Ultra + 4xMSAA + High FXAA and it was simply spectacular.

Now, working on getting a mech KB (CM Storm Trigger)......and perhaps a Seasonic X-1250 just to be on the safe side.