Looking to run dual 6970s?

B

brfitzp1337

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
267
So I'm looking to start off with a single 6870 for my new build. It will be the flex edition with 5 monitor support. In a couple months maybe adding a second one for a possible 8 or 10 monitor setup.

My first question is, how well is a single 6870 predicted to handle skyrim at 1080p? (single monitor gaming)
(I see a lot of news stories of people who have played the alpha or beta of the game but havent seen any benchmarks or settings on it.)

Second question is, Whats the cheapest yet quality power supply I should look at to run these 2 cards so i don't need a new power supply in the future? (suggestions please)
 
Well.. sorry to put it this way but.. you haven't seen any benchmarks on it because there aren't any and its one of those scenarios that you are going to have to wait and see. At 1080p, the 6870 will do ok. You can probably get decent FPS at medium high settings. Only reason I say this is because it looks like a very graphically demanding game, and also basing it off the performances a 6870 achieves at 1080p to begin with. If you are going to do multi-monitor to game in, the 6870 is NOT the card for you. (what the hell would you want that many monitors for anyways?)

If you wanted to multi-monitor, 6950's are the ABSOLUTE LEAST that you want to get. Even if its just 3 monitors.. the 6950 in xfire will do nicely.. any more monitors and well.. good luck. Guess you can go with some 6970's if you really want.

As for the PSU, get a quality brand 700W psu for Xfire on 6870's. 750-800w for 6950's and 800+w for 6970's. And by quality brand, I mean anything from Corsair, Antec, Ocz, Seasonic, Cougar, PC Power and Cooling, Silverstone. I am sure you are a big boy and can search for some power supplies on Newegg since we don't know your budget.
 
I'm not planning on gaming with multiple monitors, only one. The 8-10 monitor setup is for stock trading. Need a lot of screen real estate, so i won't be running the 2 cards in crossfire either, I don't think they support all 10 monitors in crossfire mode, only independently.
 
Bearing in mind what Oblivion was like in its day, Skyrim's probably going to be an A-list title for hardware demand, it'd surprise me greatly if it wasn't.
I assume none of the internal components from your signature will feature in your new build, apart from maybe the sound card, because the rest of that system is very outdated!
 
yea that computer is still running but i'm building a completely new one. i5 2500k, 8GB ram, z68 motherboard, still keeping my old sound card though.
 
A single 6870 should be enough for gaming on a single 1080p monitor. Maybe you won't get 60fps at max settings, but it should be decent still. 6870 CF will easily cope with any game at that resolution.

If you get two 2GB 6870s or 6950s, you can do reasonable gaming across 3 monitors in CF even. (The monitors connected to the secondary card will remain disabled while gaming)

If you don't plan to go CF, then the second card needs not be a 6870. A 5670 Flex would do for $85 AR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102920
 
Off topic - but 10 monitors for trading is overkill. It's too inefficient and not very practical. Unless you're a veteran and know that's the number you need, that many monitors would just slow most traders down. Just my opinion though.

If you're dead set on using two 6870s and want to game on the same rig you trade on - you could always just disable crossfire in the catalyst when you're trading, and re-enable it when you're gaming. I'm pretty sure you'd lose the monitors on the second card, but you should get them back after you disable cfx and reboot. No need to remove or replace the CFX cable. Small price to pay for combining business and pleasure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top