Preparing My PC for Crossfire

[Saar Koren]

I currently have a 500W PSU, an AMD FX-6300, and a Radeon HD 7950. I want to add another 7950 at some point. I have 3 questions:

1) 500W is barely enough for one 7950, so I will need a PSU upgrade. What is the minimum amount of power (in Watt) that I should get?

2) Will the FX-6300 bottleneck two 7950's? If so, I will also need a CPU upgrade.

3) Will a Cooler Master CPU cooler and stock GPU heatsinks provide adequate cooling for a crossfire setup?

 

[nostall]

Per this link, you will need a minimum 700 watt power supply.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
I suggest one from Tier 1, 2a, or 2b from this list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Following is an answer from a previous post, the answer is from ko888 a Grandmaster forum member:
"For a system using two Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode AMD specifies a minimum of an 700 Watt or greater power supply. The power supply should also have a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and have at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT a crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important.

Even a Seasonic M12II-650 Bronze (SS-650AM), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps and with its four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is more than sufficient to power your intended system configuration."
(Thank you again ko888)
Now some questions of importance for you: Before maybe suggesting another CPU, exactly what motherboard would the CPU be going into? Successful Crossfire configuration may be dependent on the board also.
Next: Which Cooler Master CPU cooler? They make a lot of them.
The GPU cooling will be sufficient for cooling the video cards.

 

[geofelt]

1. Here is a chart that may help; it shows 700w and 4 6 pin power leads.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
2. What games do you play? Some will become cpu limited.
Some do not play well with dual gpus.
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run your games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You could also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
3. If your cm cooler has a 120mm fan, it is probably as good as is reasonable.
A 92mm fan will be less efficient and noisy.
On the graphics cards, the top card will get hot, particularly if your motherboard does not have an extra slot between them. But, graphics cards are built to tolerate heat.
If your case has 2 12omm intake fans at least, you should be ok.

My opinion:
Buy a single great card for a graphics upgrade. A GTX980 is very efficient and will run on a 500w psu. Sell the 7950 .
If you want a serious cpu upgrade, look for a intel haswell cpu of some sort.
Most games will only use 2-3 cores of your 6 core FX-6300.
Here is a guide, depending on your budget:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

 

[Saar Koren]

Per this link, you will need a minimum 700 watt power supply.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
I suggest one from Tier 1, 2a, or 2b from this list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Following is an answer from a previous post, the answer is from ko888 a Grandmaster forum member:
"For a system using two Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode AMD specifies a minimum of an 700 Watt or greater power supply. The power supply should also have a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and have at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT a crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important.

Even a Seasonic M12II-650 Bronze (SS-650AM), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps and with its four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is more than sufficient to power your intended system configuration."
(Thank you again ko888)
Now some questions of importance for you: Before maybe suggesting another CPU, exactly what motherboard would the CPU be going into? Successful Crossfire configuration may be dependent on the board also.
Next: Which Cooler Master CPU cooler? They make a lot of them.
The GPU cooling will be sufficient for cooling the video cards.

Thanks for the reply. My motherboard is an ECS A970M-A Deluxe. ECS is kind of unknown, but this board has given me no problems so far. My Cooler Master is a Hyper TX3, which is basically a smaller version of the 212 EVO.

 

[nostall]

Per this link, you will need a minimum 700 watt power supply.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
I suggest one from Tier 1, 2a, or 2b from this list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Following is an answer from a previous post, the answer is from ko888 a Grandmaster forum member:
"For a system using two Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode AMD specifies a minimum of an 700 Watt or greater power supply. The power supply should also have a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and have at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT a crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important.

Even a Seasonic M12II-650 Bronze (SS-650AM), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps and with its four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is more than sufficient to power your intended system configuration."
(Thank you again ko888)
Now some questions of importance for you: Before maybe suggesting another CPU, exactly what motherboard would the CPU be going into? Successful Crossfire configuration may be dependent on the board also.
Next: Which Cooler Master CPU cooler? They make a lot of them.
The GPU cooling will be sufficient for cooling the video cards.

Thanks for the reply. My motherboard is an ECS A970M-A Deluxe. ECS is kind of unknown, but this board has given me no problems so far. My Cooler Master is a Hyper TX3, which is basically a smaller version of the 212 EVO.

Found some info re your mobo; the two reviews I found rated it highly, but there was no information regarding the two PCIEx16 slots and at what speed they run when you Crossfire. I suspect they run at X8 in Crossfire, but that really is not a huge thing; it will affect frame rates slightly. Tom's has some graphics articles that discuss this (sorry, I don't have the links). From that stand point it looks like you can do Crossfire.
CPU: Geofelt has given some excellent suggestions for checking what or where a bottleneck might happen. IF you decide to upgrade the CPU, and not completely re-build into an Intel system, then I would go with an 8350.
If you are not overclocking the CPU, your TX3 will probably work o.k., but there will be more heat in the case with two video cards, and if there is any question in your mind about air flow etc., then I would invest in the Hyper 212EVO or a closed loop liquid cooling system for the CPU.

 

[Saar Koren]

Per this link, you will need a minimum 700 watt power supply.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
I suggest one from Tier 1, 2a, or 2b from this list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Following is an answer from a previous post, the answer is from ko888 a Grandmaster forum member:
"For a system using two Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode AMD specifies a minimum of an 700 Watt or greater power supply. The power supply should also have a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and have at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT a crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important.

Even a Seasonic M12II-650 Bronze (SS-650AM), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps and with its four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is more than sufficient to power your intended system configuration."
(Thank you again ko888)
Now some questions of importance for you: Before maybe suggesting another CPU, exactly what motherboard would the CPU be going into? Successful Crossfire configuration may be dependent on the board also.
Next: Which Cooler Master CPU cooler? They make a lot of them.
The GPU cooling will be sufficient for cooling the video cards.

Thanks for the reply. My motherboard is an ECS A970M-A Deluxe. ECS is kind of unknown, but this board has given me no problems so far. My Cooler Master is a Hyper TX3, which is basically a smaller version of the 212 EVO.

Found some info re your mobo; the two reviews I found rated it highly, but there was no information regarding the two PCIEx16 slots and at what speed they run when you Crossfire. I suspect they run at X8 in Crossfire, but that really is not a huge thing; it will affect frame rates slightly. Tom's has some graphics articles that discuss this (sorry, I don't have the links). From that stand point it looks like you can do Crossfire.
CPU: Geofelt has given some excellent suggestions for checking what or where a bottleneck might happen. IF you decide to upgrade the CPU, and not completely re-build into an Intel system, then I would go with an 8350.
If you are not overclocking the CPU, your TX3 will probably work o.k., but there will be more heat in the case with two video cards, and if there is any question in your mind about air flow etc., then I would invest in the Hyper 212EVO or a closed loop liquid cooling system for the CPU.

Thanks for the help. When I decide to get the second 7950, I will get a 700W PSU. I did the tests that Geofelt suggested, and my CPU is fine for now. As for cooling, I can't fit a bigger air cooler in my case, which is why I have the TX3. If the two card setup will run too hot, I guess I will have to get water cooling.

 

[nostall]

Per this link, you will need a minimum 700 watt power supply.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
I suggest one from Tier 1, 2a, or 2b from this list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Following is an answer from a previous post, the answer is from ko888 a Grandmaster forum member:
"For a system using two Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards in 2-way CrossFireX mode AMD specifies a minimum of an 700 Watt or greater power supply. The power supply should also have a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and have at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT a crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Continuous Amperage Available on the +12V Rail(s) is the most important.

Even a Seasonic M12II-650 Bronze (SS-650AM), with its +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps and with its four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is more than sufficient to power your intended system configuration."
(Thank you again ko888)
Now some questions of importance for you: Before maybe suggesting another CPU, exactly what motherboard would the CPU be going into? Successful Crossfire configuration may be dependent on the board also.
Next: Which Cooler Master CPU cooler? They make a lot of them.
The GPU cooling will be sufficient for cooling the video cards.

Thanks for the reply. My motherboard is an ECS A970M-A Deluxe. ECS is kind of unknown, but this board has given me no problems so far. My Cooler Master is a Hyper TX3, which is basically a smaller version of the 212 EVO.

Found some info re your mobo; the two reviews I found rated it highly, but there was no information regarding the two PCIEx16 slots and at what speed they run when you Crossfire. I suspect they run at X8 in Crossfire, but that really is not a huge thing; it will affect frame rates slightly. Tom's has some graphics articles that discuss this (sorry, I don't have the links). From that stand point it looks like you can do Crossfire.
CPU: Geofelt has given some excellent suggestions for checking what or where a bottleneck might happen. IF you decide to upgrade the CPU, and not completely re-build into an Intel system, then I would go with an 8350.
If you are not overclocking the CPU, your TX3 will probably work o.k., but there will be more heat in the case with two video cards, and if there is any question in your mind about air flow etc., then I would invest in the Hyper 212EVO or a closed loop liquid cooling system for the CPU.

Thanks for the help. When I decide to get the second 7950, I will get a 700W PSU. I did the tests that Geofelt suggested, and my CPU is fine for now. As for cooling, I can't fit a bigger air cooler in my case, which is why I have the TX3. If the two card setup will run too hot, I guess I will have to get water cooling.

Re. heat again. You didn't tell us who made your 7950, but if it has a cooling system on it that blows the air out the back of the case then they probably won't add that much heat to the overall case temp. If they have improved cooling (improved over the reference design) and that cooling blow the heat away from the cards and into the case, then there might be a increase to consider. ADVantage to closed loop cooler: relative silence. I love mine (Corsair H50) and doubt I could ever go back to a stock air cooler or even a high performance one.
Let us know how it goes when or if you go Crossfire.

 

[Saar Koren]

I have an XFX card. It has two fans, and I believe that they are intakes, so that the air blows out of the case.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up another 7950 soon. I bought the one I have on eBay for only $90, and it was barely used and came with the box and accessories. It hasn't given me any problems, and I'm really happy with it's performance.

 

[nostall]

I have an XFX card. It has two fans, and I believe that they are intakes, so that the air blows out of the case.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick up another 7950 soon. I bought the one I have on eBay for only $90, and it was barely used and came with the box and accessories. It hasn't given me any problems, and I'm really happy with it's performance.

XFX, great company. Game on !!