My PC HD 6970 CF Capable?

[Ace1208]

Hey I just want to know if my pc can handle an ATI HD 6970 CrossFire.

My PC Specs:
■PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Green Power Supply
■Motherboard: ASRock 890FX Deluxe4
■CPU: AMD Phenom II Black Edition
■Memory: 4GB DDR3 Gskills Ripjaws reference F3-10666CL9-4GBRL (x2) = 8GB of RAM
■Cabinet (Case): Apevia X-Supra with USB2.0, Firewire, and HD audio ports, 2 x 120mm fans

 

[neonneophyte]

psu is a touch light. its probably doable but a lot of variables could make it go either way. i wouldnt chance it

 

[HugoStiglitz]

i just ran the calculator quickly.

shows 700w.

id say ur going to need a bigger psu
i did apply some CPU overclocking
http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

 

[mindistortionz]

how many cores does your CPU have and what speed is it running. asking because with two 6970s that might be your bottleneck.

 

[Ace1208]

how many cores does your CPU have and what speed is it running. asking because with two 6970s that might be your bottleneck.

Well I'm not looking to have dual 6970s, but my CPU is a 3.4GHz AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition with quad cores.

 

[neonneophyte]

well, when you say 6970 crossfire people think you mean 2 6970s, in crossfire. you are fine for one 6970

 

[Ace1208]

So is a crossfire basically a card that comes in two?

 

[neonneophyte]

crossfire is 2 videocards working as 1, its amds equivalent to nvidias SLI

 

[Ace1208]

So what is the purpose of having two of the same video cards? Is it so you can hook up more than one monitor, or does having two increase graphics performance?

 

[neonneophyte]

both

 

[Ace1208]

I was looking at this pic of an hd 6970 crossfire, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=14-150-517-TS&SpinSet=14-150-517-RS&ISList=14-150-517-Z07%2c14-150-517-Z08%2c14-150-517-Z09%2c14-150-517-Z10%2c14-150-517-Z11%2c14-150-517-Z12&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16814150517&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=XFX%20HD-697A-CNFC%20Radeon%20HD%206970%202GB%20256-bit%20GDDR5%20PCI%20Express%202.1%20x16%20HDCP%20Ready%20CrossFireX%20Support%20Video%20Card%20with%20Eyefinity, and I noticed it had 2 ports in the back to hook the monitor(s) in. I plan to only have one monitor running so if that's the case, do I hook my monitor into only one of the ports, or do I use both for one monitor?

 

[mindistortionz]

if your using one monitor you will only need to use one of the ports.

 

[blade061188]

I think you have your terminology confused Ace,

The description says it supports crossfire. That means it supports AMD's technology for running two or more of the same graphics card together to increase performance. The title of the card is not "HD 6970 Crossfire" It is an HD 6970 that supports Crossfire.

I believe the question you are trying to ask is whether or not you would be able to run one HD 6970. Using the term "Crossfire" implies that you want to run more than one card.

So, in short, yes you will be able to run an HD 6970, and in reply to your other question, you only need to use one of the DVI ports to connect your monitor.

 

[Ace1208]

I think you have your terminology confused Ace,

The description says it supports crossfire. That means it supports AMD's technology for running two or more of the same graphics card together to increase performance. The title of the card is not "HD 6970 Crossfire" It is an HD 6970 that supports Crossfire.

I believe the question you are trying to ask is whether or not you would be able to run one HD 6970. Using the term "Crossfire" implies that you want to run more than one card.

So, in short, yes you will be able to run an HD 6970, and in reply to your other question, you only need to use one of the DVI ports to connect your monitor.

Thanks for clearing that up for me blade061188, I think I'm starting to understand things now. The reason why I was referring to the hd 6970 a "crossfire" was because of the fact that the hd 6970 doesn't seem to come as a single port card. All of the 6970s I saw on Newegg came as dual port cards.

 

[blade061188]

No problem. The card is wide, so it takes up two slots in your case, but there is only one Graphics card.

Anyway, let me know if you have any more questions, otherwise please mark "best answer" so the thread can close.

Thanks!

 

[Ace1208]

Oh so even though you have 2 slots in the back, it's still one card?

 

[blade061188]

Yes. It will only use one PciE lane in your mother board, but it will take up two slots at the back of your case.

 

[Ace1208]

Okay I've totally changed my mind and i'm not thinking of going for nVidia; probably a gtx580 someday. I was just wondering what brand of gtx580 I should get?