Crossfire xfx 5830 or xfx 5870?

[jakewestgomila]

im just wondering what would be best: two 5830s in crossfire or one 5870?

they should both be xfx as well as they appear to have amazing deals on these cards

 

[Gamer-girl]

Guessing your from the U.S.?

If so then I would get two 5850s in crossfire they are only $10 more each and no rebate hassle

 

[Tamz_msc]

If you already have one HD 5830, then crossfire it.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

I would always recomend a single card solution though, it generates less heat, consumes less power and has less compatibilty issues. I currently have a single HD5870 along with my spec in my signiture, and I have very little touble maxing out the majority of games at 1980 x 1080. Then of course have the option to crossfire the HD5870 in the future which would heed far superior results than a HD5830 crossfire. Although why is the HD5870 your only option, perhaps a HD6950? It scales far better in crossfiring if you ever wish to do so.

 

[jakewestgomila]

no, im not from the u.s they have great comp stuff there in england

and it depends how much the hd6950 would cost - because i was wondering, for around £150 - £200 what would be better in the long run but i dont think crossfire would be too hard to set up

if you want ill post you my current parts e.t.c

 

[cronos177]

I would agree with tamz_msc Get a 6950, newer hardware, and better for the long run. Some of them you can make it a 6970. That offer comparable performance to CF 5830, at much less power consumption.

 

[wolfram23]

Sapphire 5850 Xtreme is out for $150 here, and in crossfire they easily attain 5970 performance with a little tweaking... that's at the cost of less than a 6950 2gb.

That said, England prices are pretty darn high. I would probably take the 5830 CF if it's the same price as a 5870, but on the other hand maybe you can get a 6870 or 6950 1gb? The 6870 is a tad slower than a 5870 sometimes, but waaaayyy faster other times (check Metro 2033 benchmarks) so it's a good card and would be really nice in crossfire. A 6950 1gb is also a really good card for the money, or the 2gb version which you can often unlock to a full 6970.

 

[megamanx00]

You know, the 6870 and 6950 have been out for a while now. The 6870 preforms almost as fast as the 5870 while consuming less power and often being cheaper. The 6950 is generally faster than the 5870 (while a little slower in a few select cases) and would be a better option. If you already have one 5830, then add another one while you can assuming you have a decent PSU of course ^_^

 

[jakewestgomila]

of course, i have a certified psu ok, ill have a look at the prices of the 6950.... im still favouring a little towards the crossfire or 5870 route though just because i know of their performance and that xfx do amazing deals with them.

thanks for all the great suggestions so far though

 

[TitonLon]

last year I built my first gaming rig with a gigabyte 5830 dual fan model. I played along happily at 1920 by 1080 until I popped in Metro 2033. Ouch... demanding game! So, I grabbed an xfx 6950 and saw marked improvement at my resolution. By the way, the 5830 is still humming along like a champ in my wife's sandybridge build.

Specs: amd1055t @3.7Ghz, Asus Crosshair IV, Coolermaster storm sniper, WD cav blacks 640x3, 64GKingston SSD, XFX 6950