$500 - one gpu at $500 or two gpu's at $250?

[axlrose]

So I'd like to upgrade from my gtx 280 ftw for BF3. I am thinking I might be able to scrape together about $500. I am running a 30" monitor so I have 2560x1600 native resolution. Because of this I have wanted to try crossfire/sli for the first time. I am thinking about getting two 6950's. Does that seem like the right thing to do or should I go for one $500 card instead?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[ragenalien]

Its benchmark proven that two cards in SLI/crossfire will give you much more bang for your buck than a single card at resolutions like that. Two 6950's can easily beat a single Nvidia 580 or AMD 6970 and in fact are just as good as their flagship cards the 590 and 6990.

 

[themissingpiece]

2 6950's will definitely give you better performance than one more powerful one (say, a GTX 580) However, it's worth noting that you can add up to 2 of the latter card later on, while you can only add one card with the 6950's.

 

[mdd1963]

A pair of 6950s in XFire closely rivals the reference 6990 in performance, and is a very logical choice for 2560x1600, IMO....

 

[axlrose]

I bought my gtx 280 ftw with thoughts that I could add another one later (no regrets as it still runs everything without issue) but when I did go to buy a second at one point, I couldn't find my ftw anywhere and buying anything less would have dragged down my original ftw to lower speeds...it just didn't work out. plus this time around, by the time i have need of another graphics card (if i were to go with a 580 for example) i'll need a new motherboard, processor and memory. I'm glad to hear there are good results with scalability now as there were not when i purchased my gtx 280.

Thanks guys.

 

[axlrose]

Best answer selected by axlrose.

 

[axlrose]

Alright, stupid question if you can just straighten me out here...?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372

I'm looking at 6950's and I can't quite seem to get my little, tiny head around something. When I look at this picture and most others I'm running across...I feel like the pretty cover is going to be on the bottom of the car when I install it. Am I just visualizing this wrong? I'm trying to picture the side that inserts into the motherboard and where the external connections are for the monitors, and I just keep thinking the pretty side will be down. That doesn't make sense...HELP.

 

[axlrose]

Anyone know anything useful to tell me about saphire trixxx while I'm at it? I'm reading reviews that say it moves the card from the 6950 numbers to the 6970 numbers automatically. That sounds pretty good to me as I've never messed around with oc'ing before.

Also reading about card with dual bios and people switch to the second bios and it's automatically unlocked???

Thanks.

 

[axlrose]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127575

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102929

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102951

Been looking at these, but I can't seem to find if a card actually has the dual bios or not. It doesn't seem to be listed (that I see).