2 different makers of my 7850's

[Mereinid]

Hey everyone, I am adding a crossfire card to my desktop. I am running a single Gigabyte 7850 card now (Here; http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4155#ov)
I can only find one other same Gigabyte card out there and they want 500.00 for it. So I am looking at other 7850's from different makers. XFX, HIS, Vison Tek, etc etc..
The issue I am having is the core clocks and the Memory clocks do not match. Am I S.O.L., or is there a way I can bump those specs to where I need them to be inline with my current GIGABYTE 7850?
Thanks so much for your advice.

Regards,
Mereinid

 

[mlga91]

As long as the other card is a 7850 you should be fine.

 

[getochkn]

2 of the same cards are optimal but you can mix cards. The crossfire setup will run at the lowest clock/memory speed and use the lowest amount of VRAM. So If you had a 3GB card and 2GB card, only 2GB would be accessable. Same with speeds. If one is 1000/1400 and the other is 950/1300, both cards will run at 950/1300. Now if the other card you get can overclock a bit, then you can bump it up to the Gigabyte speeds. If not, it's not like a 30mhz or something is that much of a boost anyways. OCing is 90% bragging rights, 10% actual performance. lol.

 

[getochkn]

Also, I'm not sure with the 7850 as to it's different models, etc, or chips, but I know with the 7870 I think, it can either be a Pitcain or Tahati GPU or something. It was one of the cards made an old chip and transfered over to a new one. I'm not sure if this makes a difference or if the 7850 is subject to it, etc.

 

[Mereinid]

A quick question..what is the Memory Clock? The difference in that and the Core Clock? This Vision Tek card at TigerDirect. ( http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2313500&CatId=7387 )

The Core Clock is; 860MHz
The Mem Clock is; 4800MHz

Mine is
Core Clock; 975MHz
Mem Clock; 1200MHZ

The lowest of each, seems like I am would actually lose power? Am I reading that correctly?

 

[Mereinid]

to- getochkn
Well I am not certain what GPU tupe my card has. I had use SLI in the past, however I bought two the same cards from the same manufactuers right off the bat, when i was building it from scratch.
2 XFX 8800 GT OC's, (*sniffle* Loved those cards!)

I might just have to put it off a year or so and save the money and just get me a single Titan or some other god-awful expensive, house rental amount, card. *shiver* ....

Regards,
Mereinid

 

[mlga91]

A quick question..what is the Memory Clock? The difference in that and the Core Clock? This Vision Tek card at TigerDirect. ( http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2313500&CatId=7387 )

The Core Clock is; 860MHz
The Mem Clock is; 4800MHz

Mine is
Core Clock; 975MHz
Mem Clock; 1200MHZ

The lowest of each, seems like I am would actually lose power? Am I reading that correctly?

The memory clock is the speed of the dedicated memory on the video card, the operating frequency is 1200MHz in both cards, and 4800MHz is the efective frequency, both cards have the same memory speed, its just a marketing trick. And the core clock is the speed of the GPU. A 100MHz lose is not a big deal, and you can always use msi afterburner to raise a bit the speed.

 

[Mereinid]

Copy that MLGA91, then I suspect I will just get the Vision Tek one, unless I can find another 7850, that is closer to my stats GIGABYTE card, I have never used Afterburner to *up* my speeds. I would not feel comfortable doing it.

Thanks so much, mlga91 and you as well, getochkn.
I am getting excited to see how these boys handle upcoming games. I hope Witcher 3 puts my build to the test and if they ever release another Crysis game again.


Regards,

Mereinid