GPU upgrade question

[teh ham]

Hello, trying to decide on my next upgrade before skyrim.
I am running a 5770 w/ 1gig of ram
and my question would be what kind of differences would I get between picking up another 5770 and running it in crossfire (16x,4x)
or ditching the 5770 (put it in the wife's machine) and putting in a 6850?
the price difference is only $25 so I could go either way and it would be a cheap upgrade.

Phenom II x6 1055T
Msi 870-g45 mobo
12gb ddr3 1333
680w PSU
Windows7 64

 

[wa1]

What about your monitor? size? resolution?

Note that HD6850 is a little bit weaker than HD5850, so going from 5770 to 6850 is an upgrade but you'll see only a little performance increase.
Looking your board CF setup (x16, x4) then I think a single card is better than dual cards (2nd card will be reduce it's speed because x4 speed of the 2nd slot).

About PSU, what brand? model?
And last, budget?

 

[mayankleoboy1]

6850~ 1.5x5770.
but the single 6850 rather than CF the 5770.
CF on medium end cards is prone to microstuttering. and AMD drivers are somewhat of a luck factor, getting to work correctly in CF.
so, get the 6850.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/296?vs=291

remember, scaling of 5xxx series is poorer than 6xxx series.

 

[teh ham]

the budget is 150 bucks, the psu is Sunbeam PSU-H680-REV-US 680W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply, maybe something a little nicer than the 6850?
I'm not a fanboy so I can do ATI or Nvidia
And the monitor is a 47" Philips LCD tv so the card has to have HDMI (1920X1080)

 

[wa1]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709027
Is that your PSU?

Well, that PSU is only have 1x 6pin power connector for graphic card, so if you want to use higher than HD6850 then you must use 4pin to 6pin molex adapter, which is not recommended.

Save a little bit and get HD6870:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
($180)

But remember, you must use adapter to powering that card from your PSU. Your PSU is rather cheap, better not distress it too much... 😉

 

[duxducis]

Even thou the 6870 got 2 power plugs on it, it uses pretty much same power as 6850.
(look up review of both cards and see, they tested power)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/4

I have 6870 and only 1 6 pin from my power supply, adapter for second one,
with CPU and GPU maxed at 100% the power load is 350watts for whole system
and i run it on 430 watt PSU, (50-80% load is most efficient)
power draw when playing games is less it jumps from 200-260 watts

I would get single 6870 you can snag one off newegg for same price as 6850 when there is sale as well

 

[teh ham]

gonna with the 6870, after rebate it's only 10 bucks over budget and the wife will get an upgrade with my 5770 ( we built twin machines last christmas ) thanks for the help

 

[teh ham]

Best answer selected by teh ham.