Radeon HD 6850/6870 Power and Monitor Help

pdizzle

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Hi my name is Preston and first let's clarify this. I have a Sapphire Radeon hd 6850 and a Visiontek Radeon HD 6870. I have an acer X193w+BD monitor. Maximum Resolution 1680x1050.

Ok now here's the build for reference

AMD Phenom II x4 965 CPU
G-Skill Ripjaws 4th Dual channel 1333 MHz RAM
Corsair CX430 PSU
Asus M4A87TD Mobo
Radeon hd 6850 or 6870 Video Card

Now first question which card (power wise should I run with my rig 6850 or 6870. Also Do I need to upgrade my psu? I really hope I don't.

Second question. Should I sell one card and my monitor and purchase a 1080p monitor?

Third Question: is 1680x1050 a good resolution for these particular cards? Or should I just get a new monitor?

Also another option is upgrading psi and buying another 6850 or 6870 and a new monitor and set it up in crossfire. But that will cost alot.

Also gonna throw this out there. What kind of games can I run in 1050p or 1080p with my cards???

Thank you.


 

Sumukh_Bhagat

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1. That is enough PSU power for both cards. But upgrade if you can.

2. Not at all. But selling 6850 and keep the money for future upgrade.

3. 6870 is a average card for that Resolution, keep that until new card.

4. Thats a good Idea but get a single GPU, ofcourse a good one.
 

pdizzle

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Ok so from what you said my PSU can handle the 6870? But one problem the psi has one PCI connector the card requires 2 that's why I was leaning more to the HD6850z

From what you suggest my monitor is decent enough to not warrant an upgrade until I get a better card. Is it wise to use. HD6850 with a 1080p monitor?

I might upgrade my PSU in the future. If I get one big card it would be 7850.

Also is there any apparent bottlenecking with my CPU and graphics card?
 

Sumukh_Bhagat

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1. If thats the case, then get 6850. If you can then get some Cables for it.

2. Those cards are decent enough to handle 1680x1050. My friend runs 6870 with 1080p and it runs just fine. It runs smooth, do you'll not get any problem.
You may feel your Games a little slow with 6870\6850

3. In future? Consider getting Next-Gen ones.
And get a Bigger PSU like 600w or 650w to be future proof.

CPU may be a problem, but if you OC it to its neck then you are fine to go. ;)
 

SteveH3671

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6850 will run most games well at 1080p, although newer and more demanding games will need reduced details and you will only rarely hit maximum settings with any recent games. I've run Metro 2033 and Crysis fine on mine. The benchmarks for Far Cry 3 suggest that you'd need to run low-ish settings for that.

I think the difference between the 6850 and 6870 was only 10-15% so it's not the worst thing if you use the 6850.
 

pdizzle

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I have a 2-molex to PCI adapter

Also this was a budget build the psu was real cheap. 17$ after rebate

So I should use the 6870? If my PSU can handle it and like I said I have an adapter.

I can sell the 6850 to my brother then he'll have crossover 6850's

I actually the the CPU was a good choice. I bought a hyper 212 plus to cool it too.

What it build down too is should I use 6850 or 6870 as main card and should I get a new monitor? Because although 1050p is great it's not true HD. So according to you my monitor is fine right? Well yeah but it's 19" and seems pretty cheap.

 

Sumukh_Bhagat

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Run 6870 for the best.

Sell 6850 to your brother (You both will be happy)
Thats a very good cooler. Now OC your CPU hard. ;)

That resolution is very nice. Its hard to differentiate between 1080p and 1050p until you see the screen size.
 

pdizzle

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Is there some sort of risk in running a card ofF a PSU Pci and a molex to pci adapter?

If 6870 is the better card I'll keep it and sell the 6850 to my brother.

19" and 23" is a big difference my monitor is small for gaming. But I've done some research 1050 p isn't that half bad.

I was told by some people on another forum my PSU couldn't handle 6850 or 6870. Guess their stupid and wrong :D
 

Sumukh_Bhagat

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Well, I'm not much aware of that.

Yes give it.

Ya it is, but 1050p isn't bad enough. For 6870, 1050p is good.
When you upgrade later then look for Bigger screen.

That PSU will run near its full load. That will decrease the age of the PSU.
But as you said, you'll upgrade it soon.
Its always safe/better to get a bigger PSU.
 

pdizzle

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I can sell my monitor for 65$ and Radeon HD 6870 for 105$ then I can buy a brand new 1080p monitor.

I was also thinking about buying the logitech g9x mouse.

If my PSU will be under load I'll sell the 6870 to lessen the stress.

So I can buy a 1080p monitor for 125$ and can make 170$ by selling my stuff so I think that's what I'll do