Is watercooled HD 6970 Tri-Crossfire the ultimate graphics solution?

[Viper2]

I have read that quad crossfire/sli is not recommended because of gaming performance problems such as sudden dips and then spikes in framerates, and microstutter. I read that this is due to the complexity of a quad crossfire/sli technology and games cannot handle it well. I have also read that the HD 6970 scales much better in CF compared to the GTX 580 in SLI. Is all of this true? Would a watercooled HD 6970 tri-crossfire setup be the ultimate graphics solution for real world PC gaming?

Any responses will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[king smp]

that is why I said watercooling
really running even one HD 6990 on air
is rough
at that level of card it should be watercooled
not only for cooling but for noise factor
and if you spend that kind of money on a card
then an a watercooling setup isnt too expensive to protect your investment
really a combo of Peltier and watercooling would be called for

 

[ionut19]

I would search Google for personal experiences with quad GPU in dual cards configurations setup because of driver issues might appear in some cases. The try fire is also an option. And yes, water cooling is good if properly made.

As for the off topic discussions about spending 6k on a PC, i think it can be done easily. Just ad a PCi-E 512Gb SSD, a few HDD's, 2-3 video cards, a 1.5Kw PSU and the rest.

 

[clonazepam]

I've been checking and haven't seen any 6990s on newegg or tigerdirect. i realize there's others but havent bothered looking beyond those 2. newegg is my personal favorite because their warehouse is < 1 day away so all ground shipments get to me in 1 day.

Anyway... I'd trust 2 590s over 2 6990s (if u can find 'em).

You literally need 3 or 4 580s to run 3 displays of 2560x1600... so unless you are doing that, you should never need more than 2 6970s or 2 580s with high-end boards leaving you the option of adding a 3rd.

I just ordered all the parts in my sig, already had the 570s, and everything except the mobo arrived today... I went with the 2600k over the 2500k b/c I plan to use a lot of encryption on my storage, I plan to do a lot of media creation (home movies, sound recordings, mixing) etc.

I tried to set a budget but like viper, I had quite a bit more available. It's so incredibly fun spec'ing and building a rig of any budget, I dare say it was intoxicating. I say let viper enjoy his moment. We all know, including him, a $2.5k or 5k machine is yesterday's news by the end of this year, just like every sub $1k build. Let's not rain on his parade, and by extension, my recent lil march down main street (hehe)

So get a 2560x1600 display, or 3x 1920x1080, or 1920x1080/1200 120hz 3D monitor. Get 2 6970s or 2 580s, top of the line motherboard, top shelf AMD or intel processor, awesome SSD, fast storage drive(s), a beautiful case, and watercool the hell out of it. If you go 2500k or 2600k you won't bottleneck your graphics setup as quickly as you would going with AMD's current lineup, but a 990x board sets you up nicely for the "comeback".

 

[mdd1963]

SSDs are nice, but, other than shorter Windows and game loading times, and, starting the level before everyone else does in multiplayer, they do pretty much nothing for actual gaming performance....

The original poster has still not stated what his monitor configuration in gaming would be, which massively affects the recommendations....

3 or 4 way SLI or Crossfire is almost pointless for 1920x1280.....

If you could have 58 fps at 1920x1280 in Metro with twin 6950s ($500) and 70 fps with 6990/6970 combo ($1200) or 590/580 ($1200) combo, which would you choose?

 

[jjb8675309]

^dos 6950s! for sure the best value here

 

[ionut19]

True but for a PC like this why not spend money on something faster than HDD? I think all would.

 

[purple stain]

I agree.SSD's are the way to go.

The whole purpose of having a SSD is for the OS.Every time you do something the OS needs to get information from the HD.With a mechanical drive it makes everything slower because every time you do something it needs to access it.With a SSD it makes the OS's access time almost nonexistent making everything faster.It's not just for loading times.

 

[king smp]

as far as spending 6k on a gaming machine
I said it earlier
more power to Viper2
I spent way more money than I should years ago on buying
a SVT Cobra Mustang
Did I need 400 hp to go to work?
No
but was it alot of freaking fun?
Heck yeah!

We only live once
so enjoy it

and do realize there might be a little jealousy behind some of
these posts LOL

with that said
with a 6k machine
there better be a RAID 0 PCI-E 2 x 512gb SSD setup in there

 

[ionut19]

He's gonna run out of slots for video cards :d. King, i think you want this PC more then anybody here lol.

 

[jjb8675309]

IROC does not stand for international race of champions, but any 6k rig should have some sort of ssd config

 

[king smp]

He's gonna run out of slots for video cards :d. King, i think you want this PC more then anybody here lol.

Are you kidding me?

I live vicariously through you people on here

I was happy getting a VelcoiRaptor 10k rpm drive for my tower
used for $50 on Ebay

so if I get a chance to help somebody build a 6k rig
you know I got to think big

and it is doable

definitley needs to be a full ATX board with RAID onboard

how about this
one PCIe 512gb SSD for boot
and two VelociRaptor 10k Sata 6gbs 600gbs in Raid 0?

 

[jjb8675309]

what kind of case would you get for that?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129092

maybe that or a haf X?

unless you wanted a more tamed look then maybe:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001

I can't seem to waste any more money on a case even with a 6k budget, I am wrong?

 

[purple stain]

All it is is us just talking randomness.Lets wait till the OP decides what he/she wants to do and then we can start brainstorming.

 

[king smp]

Yea the OP hasnt been back since the little mini flame
Hope they arent too pissed off

 

[ps3hacker12]

Are you kidding me?

I live vicariously through you people on here

I was happy getting a VelcoiRaptor 10k rpm drive for my tower
used for $50 on Ebay

so if I get a chance to help somebody build a 6k rig
you know I got to think big

and it is doable

definitley needs to be a full ATX board with RAID onboard

how about this
one PCIe 512gb SSD for boot
and two VelociRaptor 10k Sata 6gbs 600gbs in Raid 0?

in my opinion nowadays the velocity raptor drives suck, they are noisy, high in power consumption, and expensive even this hybrid SSD would beat it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

SSD vs hybrid SSD vs velocity raptor:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd

 

[gnomio]

With what cpu?

 

[17seconds]

Quote:
"We thought there might be some CPU limitedness going on with triple-GPU performance, but we had no idea GTX 580 3-Way SLI was being held back so much by the CPU in at least two specific scenarios.

In our redux today, using our new 4.8GHz CPU, GTX 580 3-Way SLI has come out of its hibernation and is peeking around its fort ready to lay aim on the first prey it sees. That prey happens to be AMD Tri-Fire. In all of our testing today, the GTX 580 3-Way SLI setup performed faster than AMD Radeon HD 6990+6970 Tri-Fire, except for Dragon Age II.

Depending on the game, it wasn't just a small victory either. In F1 2010 there was nearly a 30% performance advantage with GTX 580 3-Way SLI over Tri-Fire. In BC2 there was a 24% performance improvement over Tri-Fire. However, there was equally some unimpressive differences, such as Metro 2033 with 6% and Crysis: Warhead with 7%."
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/05/03/nvidia_3way_sli_amd_trifire_redux/

 

[ps3hacker12]

the thing i love about AMD/ATI is the compatibility with other cards in the range, eg a 6990 can crossfire with a 6950 and a 5750 can crossfire with a 6770 or a 5970 with a 5830:

 

[king smp]

in my opinion nowadays the velocity raptor drives suck, they are noisy, high in power consumption, and expensive even this hybrid SSD would beat it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

SSD vs hybrid SSD vs velocity raptor:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd

while true a SSD can beat a Raptor
but when you compare price vs performance vs gb
they are a nice deal

and BTW have you ever owned and used a Raptor?
My raptor is quiet
and in PCMark07 game storage it beats a Spinpoint F3R
easily
as far as power usage
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3636/western-digitals-new-velociraptor-vr200m-10k-rpm-at-450gb-and-600gb/9
it is less than other 7200rpm drives like the barracuda


There isnt a mechanical Sata hard drive on the planet that can
come close in performance

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136554

and can you get a 600gb SSD for $270?

 

[ps3hacker12]

while true a SSD can beat a Raptor
but when you compare price vs performance vs gb
they are a nice deal

and BTW have you ever owned and used a Raptor?
My raptor is quiet
and in PCMark07 game storage it beats a Spinpoint F3R
easily
as far as power usage
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3636/western-digitals-new-velociraptor-vr200m-10k-rpm-at-450gb-and-600gb/9
it is less than other 7200rpm drives like the barracuda


There isnt a mechanical Sata hard drive on the planet that can
come close in performance

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136554

and can you get a 600gb SSD for $270?

i said hybrid SSD, and yeah i got an old velocity raptor drive from a friend (after a few years of service in his PC), maybe its just that its used (mine seemed to making clicking noises too hence why i repalced it). But yes the Hybrid SSD in that comparison is only $99 for a 500GB hybrid.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey