Adding a second 7950, what else may I need?

[bpnelson]

Here is my current setup:

120gb SSD
8gb RAM
Sapphire 7950
AMD FX-6300
Corsair 750W

I've been thinking about crossfiring my 7950 and getting a second one. But I'm wondering if any part of my build would hold me back from seeing the benefits of two cards. Also, do I need to exactly match the speeds/bits of my current GPU if I get a second? Thanks!

 

[Danbuscus25]

well, as long as your psu has enough pcie cables, it will work. and the speeds do not need to be the same, but the faster one will slow down to meet the slower one. and try to get the same amount and type of ram too.

 

[coolcole01]

the only thing i would be worried about is the psu give it a shot and see if the psu holds up.

 

[coolcole01]

what motherboard do you have

 

[ak47jar3d]

To avoid problems, get the same exact 7950 if you can. Also make sure your power supply can handle it. Make sure you have two pci e ports. And connect both cards with crossfire and you should be all set. If you crossfire 7950, your processor will bottleneck the cards. At the least fx 8250 to avoid it.

 

[Danbuscus25]

fx 6300 will only bottleneck you in cpu-intensive games. but i agree, try to get a new cpu. if you live my a microcenter, you can get a fx 8320 for $99, but only if your mobo supports 125watts. so, please give us your current specs 😛

 

[coolcole01]

The fx 6300 will run two hd 7950 cards fine just make sure you use the hotfix to unpark the cpu and that you disable ulps and you will be straight. All i ever heard from people including my friends was that an 8350 would bottleneck my cards when i got them. I am getting 160fps in multiplayer on bf4 max everything 4xmsaa now and my friends with their better cpus (I5 3570/4670/3770) are barely getting that or the same. You just wont get as high a fps as you would with a more cpu intensive games but trust me your fps will be more than good.

 

[bpnelson]

Okay total list is:

Sapphire 7950 3GB w/boost, 384bit (I will almost certainly be getting this EXACT same card)
AMD FX-6300 (not OCed)
MSI 970A-G46
8GB Kingston HyperX BluRed 1600 (2x4gb)
Corsair CX750

No additional cooling.

Currently I am getting stable 50+ fps (maxes at 60 due to v-sync) in BF4 with max everything, max AA, etc.
Am wanting to play in 2.5k (2560x1440) at still max everything, and am hoping this upgrade can get me there.
Thoughts?

 

[Danbuscus25]

yeah, bf4 is very gpu intensive, not cpu.

 

[coolcole01]

fx 6300 will only bottleneck you in cpu-intensive games. but i agree, try to get a new cpu. if you live my a microcenter, you can get a fx 8320 for $99, but only if your mobo supports 125watts. so, please give us your current specs 😛

I recently bought two 8320 chips from microcenter for said 99 bucks but the sell ended now they are 129

 

[coolcole01]

you have the 970 chipset so you wont get the benefit of 2x16 slots but should still be a very healthy boost but not the boost it would be i dont really know a lot about 970 chipset but you will probably be better off selling the hd 7950 and putting the money toward a better single gpu solution

 

[Danbuscus25]

yeah, your crossfire will work 😛

 

[ak47jar3d]

Both cards will do great at 1440p and I would not change the 7950 becuase the upgrade would be that great. Crossfire makes a lot more sense for 1440p than 1080p.

 

[Danbuscus25]

yeah, try 1440p 😀

 

[coolcole01]

Crossfire will definitely work but because of the chipset you will get 16/4 so you will not get the full benefit of what your paying for.

 

[Danbuscus25]

the speed difference is very small, and almost unnoticeable.