What kind of boost will crossfire give me?

A

Astralogic

Gawd
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Apr 24, 2012
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Hi, I currently have a Radeon 7850. What would the increase of performance be if I get crossfire? Or would it be better to just get a new card?

Thanks
 
Crossfire can make 5psi more boost than a second card but I'd upgrade the turbo because you don't want to stress the compressor wheel
 
What is the rest of your system like? What games do you play? What monitor do you have? Will your PSU support a 2nd card?

If you are currently GPU limited in most situations, a second GPU in Crossfire could produce some nice and tangible gains. If you're currently CPU limited, adding a 2nd GPU will likely give disappointing results.
 
kent said:
Crossfire can make 5psi more boost than a second card but I'd upgrade the turbo because you don't want to stress the compressor wheel
Click to expand...

You have been here for over 12 years and yet you post that shit...
 
kent said:
Crossfire can make 5psi more boost than a second card but I'd upgrade the turbo because you don't want to stress the compressor wheel
Click to expand...

lol +points





don't tell me i'm the only other one so far that found that funny..
 
I have a 24" 1080 montiro and a 41" 1080 TV. I have an i7 3770 on H77, with a 700w PSU.

Would crossfire be abetter option then buying a new single $300 card? What about $400?

I want the option that will give me the best performance boost, as long s the boost is worth the money.
 
Not a bad idea. Too many people turn up the boost without having the fuel to back it up.
 
Astralogic said:
I have a 24" 1080 montiro and a 41" 1080 TV. I have an i7 3770 on H77, with a 700w PSU.

Would crossfire be abetter option then buying a new single $300 card? What about $400?

I want the option that will give me the best performance boost, as long s the boost is worth the money.
Click to expand...

Do you plan on OC'ing?

Here's why.

My card progression over the last year has been:
Asus Direct CuII 7970 --> Evga gtx 670 ftw --> 2 x XFX DD 7950 --> MSI TFIII 7970 OC/BE

The problem with AMD cards is that manufactures were stupid this generation. One revision of a card would be voltage unlocked, while the very next would be locked. It has made it difficult. MSI seems to be the only brand that has remained voltage unlocked the whole generation.

Crossfire was miserable experience imo. Ignoring, the stuttering issues (which should eventually be fixed), it was just a pain to deal with profiles, making sure the second card was actually working, etc. I tried the 2 x 7950s because i wanted to see what crossfire was like (never tried it), but i was very unimpressed. I rather the simplicity of a single card.
Because of the above reasons I would sell the 7870 and upgrade to the best card you can get for the 300 to 400 range.

If you want to mine you are limited to just AMD cards. That is the only reason I ever old my 670. But, I have to admit, I really like my msi 7970 also.

I recommended the above brands, because the xfx card really pissed me off.

I really like MSI/Sapphire for AMD cards or MSI/EVGA for Nvidia cards.

Also, are you going to buy used or new?

If you are buying used, then you can pretty much get anything.

So with your 300-400 budget, I think there are a few cards you need to look at.

If you go used, you could do the following:

Evga 670 ftw $290-$300
Evga 770 AXC $380-$400
MSI TF3 7970 OC/BE $320-$340
Sapphire Vapor-X 7970 $350-$375

For outright power CF 7870 is supposed to be the faster than 7970/6707770. But, this is not taking into account the stuttering until the new drivers. Also, I just don't think it will be the best experience.

Go with the best single card you can afford.

Good luck
 
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From my lacklustre experience with 7970 Crossfire during spring 2012, I would say that the only boost I had was with my feedback score on eBay.
But things got maybe better since then.
 
I have two 7870s and I'm able to run most games maxed at 1440p. If you could get a second card for cheap I would recommend just getting it, unless you're able to get something that performs similarly to 2x 7850 while not costing much more after selling your 7850.
 
At 1920x1080, what games are you playing that gives you trouble? Performance boost is only worthwhile if the games you play aren't running smoothly to begin with.

Some games scale better with multiple gpus, others don't.
 
Breath_of_the_Dying said:
At 1920x1080, what games are you playing that gives you trouble? Performance boost is only worthwhile if the games you play aren't running smoothly to begin with.

Some games scale better with multiple gpus, others don't.
Click to expand...

There are a few games that are too much for an HD-7850 with settings up all the way. I'm assuming this is what he's trying to do.

OP - Apparently, AMD is about to release a driver to fix the Crossfire woes. So if you're intent on that, wait until it's confirmed. Other than that - I would say for you to just lower settings, or sell the card and jump up to a GTX-760 or higher.
 
Go with Nvidia. From just making two different systems.

THe Nvidia cards had lights on them. The lights turned on when sli was connected properly.
This is very helpful and a wishful feature especially since the amd connectors are crap.

The Nvidia sli connector bridges seemed more rigid and stuck better than amd crossfire connectors.
You couldnt wiggle the Nvidia sli connectors at all. the AMD ones are really loose and bad.

so... at the end of the day if you want amd go with a single gpu.
 
Astralogic said:
Is it wise to get a second hand gfx card? Seems risky.
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I have been buying second hand video cards for years and never had a problem.
Before making the transaction, I suggest to closely inspect the video card for physical damage.

Personally, the only computer part that I no longer buy second hand is motherboards due to possible missing accessories.
 
I would wait for the new drivers and see now they perform before making a decision. If they work well, getting a 2nd hand 7850 can yield in better performance for a lot less money than buying a new, more powerful GPU.

As an example... I bought my 2nd 680 from a forum member and haven't had any issues with it. I can easily outperform a single 780 or Titan at my resolution (1200p) and it cost me 1/3 of what a Titan would have run.
 
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kent said:
Crossfire can make 5psi more boost than a second card but I'd upgrade the turbo because you don't want to stress the compressor wheel
Click to expand...

This is one of the funniest forum posts I have ever read. I have been laughing my ass off for about 2 minutes. At first I was like this guy shouldn't be posting after he takes his meds, then I just busted out laughing. My god, thank you so much for this! Now I'm going to try to finish reading the thread.
 
Don't count on it and even if this is implemented it's a software fix. Nvidia has this as a hardware implementation for years now.
 
Klapcos said:
Don't count on it and even if this is implemented it's a software fix. Nvidia has this as a hardware implementation for years now.
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate of the specifities of this software vs hardware fix? Kind of sounds made up to me.
 
The Recessionist said:
This is one of the funniest forum posts I have ever read. I have been laughing my ass off for about 2 minutes. At first I was like this guy shouldn't be posting after he takes his meds, then I just busted out laughing. My god, thank you so much for this! Now I'm going to try to finish reading the thread.
Click to expand...

I'd been drinking actually. :\
 
kent said:
I'd been drinking actually. :\
Click to expand...

tumblr_lprp546UQL1qi3yaso1_500.gif
 
RamonGTP said:
Care to elaborate of the specifities of this software vs hardware fix? Kind of sounds made up to me.
Click to expand...

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1691141
http://techreport.com/review/21516/inside-the-second-a-new-look-at-game-benchmarking/11
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-690

"Combining the power of two Kepler GPUs, the GeForce GTX 690 is the fastest graphics card ever built. The GTX 690 uses hardware based frame metering for smooth, consistent frame rates across both GPUs. "
 
Klapcos said:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1691141
http://techreport.com/review/21516/inside-the-second-a-new-look-at-game-benchmarking/11
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-690

"Combining the power of two Kepler GPUs, the GeForce GTX 690 is the fastest graphics card ever built. The GTX 690 uses hardware based frame metering for smooth, consistent frame rates across both GPUs. "
Click to expand...

Interesting but doesn't necessarily sound like a "better solution"

From one of your sources:
Frame metering sounds like a pretty cool technology, but there is a trade-off involved. To cushion jitter, Nvidia is increasing the amount of lag in the graphics subsystem.
Click to expand...
 
"In most cases, we're talking about tens of milliseconds or less; that sort of contribution to lag probably isn't perceptible."
 
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