XFX HD 6870 Black Edition in Crossfire work well??

[mf2385]

Hey everyone I am looking to get another XFX HD 6870 Black Edition and OC and CrossfireX them in my system. I just upgraded my power supply to a brand new Corsair TX750 V2 as well. Here is my system specifications for reference:

I5 2500k @ 4.6Ghz (1.37V Level 5 LLC)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler
8GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjawz 1866Mhz OC (1600mhz Stock)
Gigabyte Z68X UD3H-B3 Motherboard
HAF 912 Gaming Case
Corsair TX750 V2
DVD-RW Drive (16X)
XFX HD 6870 Black Edition
32'' Samsung 720P LCD HDTV (1280x720P)
1TB 7200 RPM Internal HD
Corsair HS1A Gaming Series Headset
Razer BlackWidow Ultimate
Razer Naga

The reason I want to upgrade to crossfirex now is because of future proof reasons and when and if I get another monitor I will be good to go. Plus in the BF3 beta now at 1280x720p sometimes the game dips into 40fps range at all ultra settings, I want to be able to annihilate games and not have to worry about that sort of thing, especially at my current resolution.

 

[COLGeek]

Adding a second HD6870 will indeed bump your performance levels. That being said, dropping to 40fps isn't all that big a deal, is it? Also, gaming at 720p levels really loads your CPU more than your GPU in a lot of ways. In other words, your GPU isn't the issue, rather it is the resolution you are gaming at.

There are tons of papers/forum threads on this subject (you can read bazillions within Tom's Forums) about this.

So, would I recommend the second HD6870? Yes. I would also recommend you get an actual monitor and game at 1920x1080 (1080p) or higher to get the most out of your GPU(s).

Good luck!

 

[ilysaml]

if you're going to be gaming only at this resolution, HD 6870 will let you play BF3 on Ultra just fine, HD 6850s/70s in crossfire do pretty creepy in Microstuttering explained recently by tomshardware, so i would suggest you to wait until the AMD HD 7K series come out and till you upgrade your monitor.

AMD 7K series are equipped with new XDR2 rambus technology which is twice faster than GDDR5 in addition to 28nm process, lots of transistors.......... a single HD 7950 is said to be better than HD 6990

 

[mf2385]

Wow, that's kinda nuts but I hear they are not coming out until like July of 2012, which is quite some time now. The Crossfired 6870 black editions will give me reallly good performance for where I'm at now and I won't have to worry about upgrading for awhile though.

 

[mf2385]

I'm thinking maybe since for now I am gaming at 1280x720p I will stick with the single XFX HD 6870 Black Edition and pretty much play anything out there at max settings for NOW, and when the 7000 AMD series comes out this year, actually they are saying this month or November for them, I would sell the Black Edition I have now or bump up to a single AMD HD 7950 which is said to outperform a single 6990!! Which is definitely better performance then 2 6870s in XFIRE! What do you guys think about that and then for next year I'll have a new monitor and everything most likely.

 

[ilysaml]

AMD 7K series is supposed to come with Xmas (low end GPUs such as HD 7850) and they are GDDR5 with 28nm process and more trnsistors... will be a bit faster than the current HD 6950/70.
the high end ones such as HD 7950/70 will be new XDR2 memory, 1 GHz GPU freequency, 28nm process and i'm pretty sure they will be pushed to 2012 to compete with nVidia's GPUs....

 

[mf2385]

Oh gotcha soo maybe crossfiring two hd 6870 black editions for now might now be such a bad idea, because then later next year I could sell the two 6870s towards a 7950 or 7970 in 2012.

 

[ilysaml]

in short, you'll be happy if you buy 2 HD 6870s, but if you wait you'll maximize your gaming performance with the new AMD 7k series and 1080p resolution

 

[FlintIronStagg]

microstutter like a mofo.
i think thats my new saying for the day

 

[mf2385]

Best answer selected by mf2385.

 

[mf2385]

Thanks guys I am going to see how my budget is in the next couple of weeks and I may get another HD 6870 Black Edition to crossfire. We'll see how it goes. I will probably pick up a 7950 when they come out in 2012 anyway and sell the 2 hd 6870s down the road towards one anyway.

 

[ilysaml]

yeah and don't forget to upgrade your monitor, i swear gaming is becoming a reality with high resolutions & textures...LOL

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey