To Crossfire...Or Not to Crossfire?

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by Vorstoss, Nov 24, 2011.

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  1. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    Okay guys, I have an ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 mobo; it has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots.... and a XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit gpu. Do you think I would get more performance with a crossfire setup, or going out and buying a XFX HD Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit?

    I have never crossfired before so I am a complete noob at this. Let me know if you need any more details on the gpu's. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. FearFactory

    FearFactory Guest

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    I have the same motherboard, the second PCI-E run's at 4x... you will not get the max performance of the second card if you go with crossfire
     
  3. andersondiaz

    andersondiaz Master Guru

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    you cant, you need another mobo.
     
  4. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    Okay thanks for the fast response guys; I do see now that its blue@ x16 mode, black@ x4 mode. I over read and figured because I had 2 PCIe x16 Slots that both the modes would be x16. So like Fear said I wont get max performance out of the second card....okay that makes since. So do you guys have any suggestions for a mobo that runs both slots at X16 mode?
     

  5. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Unless you have money to burn it's prob not worth it.
    You'll need a new gfx card, a new motherboard, and most likely a new PSU- Raidmaxx aren't exactly quality gear..., and after all that you'll still only have 1GB vram...

    Best to wait till 7xx series comes out imho...
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2011
  6. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    Yeah I looked all over newegg, don't have that kind of money. I guess ill go with a new gpu. I'm looking to run BF3 on ultra with 50-70 FPS at all times....I can only do that on High settings @ the moment. Hows that 6950 Phil? What FPS to you get on BF3 if you play it? Ive got your CPU @ 3.7 also so whatever FPS you get now should be what I should expect to get.
     
  7. jellysheep

    jellysheep Guest

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    want to run at ultra at those fps?

    get a GTX 580 and oc to 850+
     
  8. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    I run all Ultra, 4xMSAA at 1600x1200 and avg about 50-60fps....dips to maybe 45fps. It runs really smooth, my 6950 is overclocked to 6970.

    Clock speed doesn't have much impact on performance in BF3, the number of cores is more important...
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2011
  9. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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  10. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    If that's your motherboard I say get another 6870 those things run great in crossfire and you'll be able to max out BF3 for sure which looks great by the way.
    I have 3 6950's in Crossfire and they run that game over a 100fps maxed out @ 1920x1080 but at 6048x1080 it will only do high.
     

  11. LifeInferno

    LifeInferno Guest

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    my advice if you wanna buy something get the HD6990 nothing less..
    if you had a HD6970 you can see a gain in perfomance with a another one!
     
  12. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    Come on man! Of course a 6990 is the best card on the market but he has a 6870 and another would be allot cheaper with super performance.
     
  13. LordJummy

    LordJummy Guest

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    You could always sell your 6870 and get a 6870X2. I, however recommend getting a 6950 2GB and unlocking / overclocking for your current platform.

    Your CPU just isn't going to cut the mustard with a 6990 or 6950 crossfire. BF3 is a CPU dependent game.

    6870X2 is plenty of power and can be had pretty cheap right now if you get it while it's still on sale.

    In my opinion though I would start with an entirely new platform if I were you. Get rid of the AMD setup and go Intel, then start adding extra GPU's...
     
  14. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    If I am also reading the description right that is the way I see it and this is what I am looking for if that is the case.

    It said PCI Express 2.0 x16 ---> 2.

    It seams reasonable in price, how is this board running for you? any problems? it has 3 of 5 eggs on newegg and thats one egg to low for my skepticism. I always try to purchase my items 4egg and above.


    Also id love to go intel but $$$$$$$$$$$$ is all I can say.:bang:
     
  15. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    So far its been great i havent had any problems with it what so ever now amd's drivers are another thing all together haha as we all know. heres a review http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/11/22/whats-the-best-bulldozer-motherboard/4 I can play battlefield 3 with everything on ultra with 2xmsaa 60 fps rarley drops to like 55 thats 2x 6850s. When crossfire works it works great. Also crysis 2 is another great game with crossfire maxxed settings 60fps. The witcher 2 and skyrim though waiting for profile udates the witcher plays alright 60 fps until theres alot of people on the screen. Also with that board you can go into the bios set oc genie and it gives you a minimul over clock to everything took my 3.2 to 3.4 set my ram at like 1700 mhz only takes a sec and can turn it on and off. My 1090t has turbo core so i shut it off and oced the ram. I would give it a thumbs up
     

  16. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    Also will just add its a am3+ board so you could use your current cpu until you have more cash and upgrade to one of these new fx processors later
     
  17. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    Cool thanks for the info and link. Its says right there for the PCIe one 16x, one 8x...oh well, It must be rare to find one @ 16X 16x in that price range. It seems like a nice board though. I need to do some more research on crossfire and decide if I even want to do it now.

    I found an intell board im interested in...just need to save for it

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128497

    Does anyone here have an AMD board running FULL 16X acceleration for BOTH gpus when in a Crossfire configuration?

    Id like to look your mobos up to do some comparisons.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2011
  18. Krogtheclown

    Krogtheclown Master Guru

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    Whatever you do dont listen to this guy! Your CPU and system is fine spend money on the GPU's that's were gaming PC's need the extra power! Read this
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2011
  19. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    Sorry about that review if u look up that board most other places say its 2x 16 and i was curious and checked with gpuz http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/lowki/gpuz2.pnglook at the bus interface Both are at x16 so dont go rushing to intel yet lol
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2011
  20. Vorstoss

    Vorstoss Guest

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    Great Article thank you! I'm thinking about at this point selling my 6870 and going with a 6970 2g and not going crossfire. Seems to be the most practicle option.

    This is what I had in mind.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125371
     

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