XFX 6950 XXX CrossFire with ?

T

toadthetoad

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Nov 3, 2005
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So I have a unique situation. I built a new computer a couple of weeks ago and after days of searching and reading every thing I possibly could about video cards I finally settled on the XFX Radeon HD 6950 XXX Edition (1GB) because it seemed like the best value for what I could spend. After playing with it I am extremely happy with it, however, I can pretty easily bottleneck it with multiple displays and AA.

I don't mind that but I did notice that it was stated a lot of places that the 1GB on it would be its downfall so I was really torn between it and the 2GB version of it. I also just got a bonus that I had not counted on from work and I'm going to blow part of it on making my rig a little bit better so my question is, should I CrossFire my existing card with one just like it or should I get the 2GB version to add on?

Also, lets say hypothetically I decided to splurge and get a 6970 to work with it, would crossfiring it with my current 6950 work out alright?

Current Rig:
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k (currently at 4.4GHZ with Noctua NH-D14 Heatsink)
Board: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Ram: G.Skill RipJaws X DDR3 1600 2x4GB
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6950 XXX 1GB Edition
PSU: Corsair AX850 (is this going to be enough for CrossFiring?)

Thanks!
 
You have eyefinity? If so, the 2gb is required. Sell the 1 gb. Your psu is fine for xfire.
 
Crossfiring it with a 6970 will work but you will still be limited to 1 GB of vRam, which is probably why your bottlenecked in the first place. Id sell that 1gb card buy a reference 6950 2gb and unlock it to a 6970.
 
nissanztt90 said:
Crossfiring it with a 6970 will work but you will still be limited to 1 GB of vRam, which is probably why your bottlenecked in the first place. Id sell that 1gb card buy a reference 6950 2gb and unlock it to a 6970.
Click to expand...

I actually did think about this but I thought that they fixed that pretty fast and that finding a card you could "unlock" was pretty much luck now. Any way I can be certain I will get one of the good ones?
 
Also, I read this article showing that the 1gb is more than capable of Eyefinity when crossfired. Please let me know if I'm missing something though.
 
spaceman said:
You have eyefinity? If so, the 2gb is required. Sell the 1 gb. Your psu is fine for xfire.
Click to expand...

Ok, this actually is an option now as I have a friend who doesn't want Eyefinity and will buy my XXX off me.

But scratch everything I've said so far. Since I can basically start from the beginning with video cards, I'll just ask it this way. What is the best GPU option, AMD or nVidia, for my current rig? Budget is ~$500 (could go a little higher if it is worth it). Thanks again. You guys are awesome and I'm only sorry I didn't just post and ask sooner.


Current Rig:
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k (currently at 4.4GHZ with Noctua NH-D14 Heatsink)
Board: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Ram: G.Skill RipJaws X DDR3 1600 2x4GB
PSU: Corsair AX850 (is this going to be enough for CrossFiring?)
 
well multiple displays = 2gb versions. thats what they are made for. if you have the money, sell that 1gb and go for 2gbs. the number of games that exceed 1 gb of memory in single 1920x1080 is quite long.

my ref xfx 2gb is a champ, unlocked shaders clocking 960/1470 with only 1175 on the gpu core. get two of those and you win.

its reference design v 1.0
 
I know it's asking a lot to just give me advice with no real other info so I did a little leg work and I came up with this:

For ~$500 it seems that two 6950 2GB ("reference" version, unlocked to 6970) is the best option (is this card unlockable, I'm still not sure how to tell: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530&cm_re=xfx_6950-_-14-150-530-_-Product )

It seems from what I've found that for that price range nVidia really has no options as the 560 ti doesn't seem to stack up very well in the benchmarks I am looking at the the 570 is quite a bit more. Would there be any reason to spend an extra $200 (ouch) to go with 570 SLi? Would it be THAT much better than xfire 6950s (6970s)? I am actually a huge nvidia fan at heart, but my friends convinced me to go AMD this time and while I can say I hate CCC and the lack of some features (like PhysX, CUDA, good 3D, etc), the card itself is solid.

So, I hope that makes it easier to give me a yeah or nah or just tell me I'm am idiot. :)
 
I am actually considering ditching my 6950 2gb Crossfire for my Eyefinity setup. Im finding that i dont really notice a huge difference in playability going from 1 to 2 cards and vice versa. You may want to try out a single card first...it certainly cant hurt...you can always add the second one. But either way...the 6950 refernce version unlocked is hands down the card you want, single or xfire.
 
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