Crossfire 6850 or a single 660ti?

tree319

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Jan 9, 2011
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So I've been considering upgrading my graphics for awhile now and I've come to a fairly vague conclusion. I was looking at EVGA's gtx 600 series and found the 660 and 660ti both to be pretty nice cards, but would it be worth totally scrapping my 6850?

My second option (which would save me some cash) would to be to buy a second 6850 and run it in crossfire with my current card.
Here are the gtx 660s I was looking at:

EVGA 660 ti 2gb ($280)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3755049&CatId=7387

EVGA 660 FTW edition 2gb ($240)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7455434&CatId=7387

XFX 6850 1gb in crossfire ~$150 (I haven't really searched around for a good price)
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-3D-Ready-Graphics-HD-687A-ZHFC/dp/B005C31F2M/ref=sr_1_fed0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355901717&sr=8-2&keywords=xfx+radeon+6850


I run programs like Reason for music, but usually I play fps games like Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty. I figured if I run my card in crossfire it will save me some money for the liquid cooling and SSD I've wanted to add, but will it make a big enough difference in performance to save the cash? Also, if I do end up choosing between the 660 and 660 ti, which of the cards posted is the better bang for your buck?

Thanks a ton in advance to any responses =)

Here are my specs if it helps at all:

CPU: AMD phenom II x4 965
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6850
Mobo: Asus M5A97
RAM: G. Skills Ripjaws 1600 8gb (4x2)
PSU: Corsair TX650 v2
HDD: Hitachi 500gb 7200rpm
All air cooled at the moment but soon moving to liquid for OCing and adding an SSD drive if that's a concern
 
You can always just resell the 6850 on ebay or craigslist. I recommend that you get a single card. Because your board will runs 4x speed on the second card when both pci slots are in use. Not a huge loss in performance but a 5-10% dip is not too small to be ignored.
 
The settings and taking time to set stuff up doesn't bother me I'm a pretty patient guy when it comes to this stuff. I'm just looking for the best performance to money ratio lol. I am leaning towards the 660 FTW edition right now though
 
If you want it you can go for GTX 660 FTW Edition 2GB.
It certainly wont dissapoint you!!!
According to my opinion do not go for AMD Radeon.(AMD's graphic cards mostly suffer from micro-stuttering and it certainly doesn't have a good perfomance in Battlefield 3)


GTX 670
you can buy a better card than all the three mentioned above.
If your budget is flexible then go for GTX 670

This card is the beast and it beats GTX 680 in many areas.
Even with less CUDA cores this card is more overclockable than GTX 680 and if we compare with overclocked GTX 680 then it gives only 3-5 FPS less in all modern game for INR 8000 less price and that is huge saving. No wonder this one got so many award...even more than GTX 680.
Its more clock frequency compensates its less CUDA core than GTX 680.
Conclusion: This card in marker broke GTX 680's value all the way. Now its wise decision to buy this one instead of GTX 680 or GTX 660 Ti or GTX 660 FTW Editon




AMD Radeon HD 6850 micro - stutters .

+1 iam2thecrowe

no matter how much you play around with the settings you wont get over micro - stuttering in 6850 hd

i suggest you to get GTX 670 for hassle free gaming ( the best thing it's worth it)

 
Hey OP, what did you wind up doing? I am in the same exact position as you right now with a Gigabyte 6850 in my machine. Was thinking of going Crossfire, but am now leaning towards the EVGA 670 FTW 2GB on Amazon.

Any new developments?
 



i ended up going crossfire with my 6850. ive seen a pretty good increase in frame rates and i definitely run games smoother, but i only got the 6850 because a friend had one he was willing to sell to me super cheap.

in your case, id say go for that 670 if u have the cash. for me, the savings made the deal. i figured a 660ti was a descent comparison to xfire 6850s, but a 670ftw should be a step above