Crossfiring Sapphire 2GB 6950 TOXIC

[_head_shot_]

Hey boys and girls,

I'm building a new gaming rig for christmas to enjoy those sweet games such as BF3, COD3, SC2. Originally i was planning to just stick with one 560 ti hawk priced at about $289 Where i live in AUSTRALIA lol But now i realize this isn't going to be enough to max out bf3 and I want my rig to be quite future proof. Therefore ive decided for the moment to crossfire 2xSapphire 2GB 6950 toxics costing $349 where i live.

Apparently the sapphire toxic is the best 6950's out there? Can anyone confirm that and can someone please confirm if this build will be a very solid crossfire that should dominate most games on max for a while?

are there any other better suggestions for better results in xfire but not any more pricey? I will not buy my second toxic for a couple of months. Waiting for the 7xxx series to come out so the 6950 prices drop till i buy the second one =]

I was planning to initially use the HAF 912 advanced, but i don't think these two babies will fit in? Any suggestions on a better case that has similar or even better air flow while not being soo expensive? =]

Cheers,

 

[kajabla]

Well, depends what you mean by "max". My definition is 60fps, and you won't get that on the highest settings in the games that are the hardest to run (Crysis 2). You'll be able to max most, but not all, games on 60fps for a while, yes.
That seems pricey to me, seeing as 2gb 6950s are ~USD $270 on Newegg US. For $700 you can go 2x6970. What I'm saying is that you'd do better to go up a GPU model instead of getting the most expensive instance of a certain model.

 

[_head_shot_]

Yeah by Max i mean all video settings pretty much on full but getting atleast 45-60 fps minimum.

Yes i was originally thinking of getting a 6970 or a gtx 570, but i realise the 6950 toxic from reviews say it is pretty damn close to both of those cards in performance. And apparently 2x6950 in crossfire beats a gtx 580.

I honestly don't mind spending the extra cash cause there is a slightly better performance with the toxic as well as it being able to switch to the 6970 and unlock those shaders.

I won't be buying the second toxic for a while so prices should drop, espeaciially when the 7xxx series comes out =D

I don't wan tto spend about $400 where i live on a gtx570 or 6970. $350 is my max budget and the toxic fills that gap atm =]

 

[monsta]

If you want to go with a GTX 570 here in Aus, you could always get one for $375 delivered http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/info/ACH-VGAGNW5701GA/1896/

 

[_head_shot_]

2 6950's in crossfire scale much better than the gtx 570's. Their cheaper and will perform better in xfire so i dont c y i would go with the 570

 

[ilysaml]

2 6950's in crossfire scale much better than the gtx 570's. Their cheaper and will perform better in xfire so i dont c y i would go with the 570

That's right, AMD HD 6K series scales much better than nVidia current GTX 5K series.

The sapphire HD 6950 Toxic cards are great, also if you don't know you can unlock them to HD 6970s easily. But the Toxic edition is much more a reference card, so i guess 2 in CF will run hotter and noisy over the time.

For the case thing, HAF 912 can take up to HD 5970 and longer than that (by removing the HDD cage), i fit my HD 6950 in the HAF 912 just nice without removing anything so no problem at all.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

2 6950's is a pretty sweet setup. just make sure you have a good quality 700w power supply and an ample CPU. If you have a slow cpu, it doenst matter how many 6950's you have, you will be limited by the cpu.

 

[kajabla]

Sapphire 6970s are $320 USD after rebate...just sayin'. It makes more sense to go that route.
I've heard that it's become much harder to unlock 6950s now that manufacturers have caught on. Research carefully, but go for it if it seems likely.

 

[dechy]

My brother just got an i5 2500k @ 4.5GHz & a pair of XFX 6950 2GB, and it was mainly for BF3 (3 year old system, needed an upgrade anyways!).

I've seen the game in action and at 1920x1080 he's pushing ~70FPS on Ultra, but after reading the article about BF3 performance on [H]ardOCP, there's a single setting that brings this setup to "its knees"; (not that 70FPS is bad lol) the MSAA settings in BF3. Checking the before and after pictures on the review and doing our own tests, FXAA really does look better and opens the cards up nice and wide; depending on the map, he can easily break the 100FPS AND make the game look BETTER.

MSAA is nasty on AMD cards it seems?

 

[_head_shot_]

That's right, AMD HD 6K series scales much better than nVidia current GTX 5K series.

The sapphire HD 6950 Toxic cards are great, also if you don't know you can unlock them to HD 6970s easily. But the Toxic edition is much more a reference card, so i guess 2 in CF will run hotter and noisy over the time.

For the case thing, HAF 912 can take up to HD 5970 and longer than that (by removing the HDD cage), i fit my HD 6950 in the HAF 912 just nice without removing anything so no problem at all.

Ok this is going to sound stupid But by removing my hard drive cage where do i put my hard drive? LOL and also SO YOUR SURE that 26950's will fit if i take out the hard drive cage?

 

[_head_shot_]

HEres my baby, Is the PSU any good? I picked it at random LOL

CPU- Intel Core i5 2500K
RAM - G.Skill- ripjaws 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600
PSU- Silverstone Strider Plus 850W ST85F-P
Case- Coolermaster HAF912 Advanced
VGA- 6950 2GB Sapphire toxic
MOBO- Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
HDD: Samsung SJ 1TB
ODD: DVD burner
CPU COOLER: Hyper 212 EVO
MONITOR: 24" BenQ G2420HD

 

[ilysaml]

First of all the HD 6950s will fit without removing your cage, secondly there's still you can put up to 2 drives without the HDD cage (there's a small cage that takes 2 drives).

 

[ilysaml]

Is the PSU any good? I picked it at random LOL

PSU- Silverstone Strider Plus 850W ST85F-P.

You're good to go.

 

[neon neophyte]

Sapphire 6970s are $320 USD after rebate...just sayin'. It makes more sense to go that route.
I've heard that it's become much harder to unlock 6950s now that manufacturers have caught on. Research carefully, but go for it if it seems likely.

go on newegg and check out the user reviews. looks like most these cards unlock.

 

[_head_shot_]

Best answer selected by _head_shot_.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar