Should I Crossfire?

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Rukus.

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I'm trying to sell my PS3 so I can pick up Battlefield, a flight stick, and maybe (based on you guys' opinions) try to Crossfire my 1gb Radeon HD 6870.

PSU: 620w
CPU: Intel i5 3.1ghz 6mb cache
Mobo: Gigabyte GA Z68

If not Crossfire I might want to get a better monitor (60 hz 19" right now :/) and run dual monitors (I don't like workspace clutter)
 
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Rukus. said:
I'm trying to sell my PS3 so I can pick up Battlefield, a flight stick, and maybe (based on you guys' opinions) try to Crossfire my 1gb Radeon HD 6870.

PSU: 620w
CPU: Intel i5 3.1ghz 6mb cache
Mobo: Gigabyte GA Z68

If not Crossfire I might want to get a better monitor (60 hz 19" right now :/) and run dual monitors (I don't like workspace clutter)
Click to expand...

I'll save you time your 6870 will be able to play it on high now just not ultra, getting another to crossfire will yes help performance but ultra will still be out of reach as you will for sure need more than 1gb of vram. It's up to you but you'll be fine. Playing alpha (on my old rig, and this is before new drivers are benig released by both companies next week) I had a gtx 260 192 core and i ran evrything on high at 1080p resolution you will be fine. What i would do? Sell the ps3 now and play beta with what you have (its only a week away and trying it with new drivers will help) and then decide
 
CrushedDiamond said:
I'll save you time your 6870 will be able to play it on high now just not ultra, getting another to crossfire will yes help performance but ultra will still be out of reach as you will for sure need more than 1gb of vram. It's up to you but you'll be fine. Playing alpha (on my old rig, and this is before new drivers are benig released by both companies next week) I had a gtx 260 192 core and i ran evrything on high at 1080p resolution you will be fine. What i would do? Sell the ps3 now and play beta with what you have (its only a week away and trying it with new drivers will help) and then decide
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I meant combine my 1gb vram 6870 with another 6870 1gb, making 2gb...
 
Thats not how SLI and Crossfire works, you stilll only use 1gb it sucks i know but ya youll still just have 1gb of vram

The reason is because it puts exactly the same things in the memory of both cards so that they can both process that image from memory at the same time
 
U'll still have 1GB, sound weird but its true :P In this case 1+1 is still 1 xD

Crossfire is great for perfomance but i can be a hustle sometimes, not all games support crossfire at start of it's release.
 
Agreed with what the others said. Additionally, this might not happen to you, but I hear a decent amount of people who Crossfire take a FPS hit and eventually go back to using one card.
 
I'm assuming that since you have a Z68 motherboard that the i5 in your specs is a Quad core, correct?

If that's the case, I'd say get that 6870 and enjoy the framerate boost. Lord knows your system can handle it.

Remember that the memory is mirrored in each card (it's exactly the same). The reason you get a framerate boost is because the cards work together on producing frames either alternating or using other techniques, so while one card may be working on a frame, the other card begins work on the next frame, so the performance increase is pretty nice. Of course, Crossfire never scales 100%. Expect about an average of 70% scaling per card.
 
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Rukus. said:
I'm trying to sell my PS3 so I can pick up Battlefield, a flight stick, and maybe (based on you guys' opinions) try to Crossfire my 1gb Radeon HD 6870.

PSU: 620w
CPU: Intel i5 3.1ghz 6mb cache
Mobo: Gigabyte GA Z68

If not Crossfire I might want to get a better monitor (60 hz 19" right now :/) and run dual monitors (I don't like workspace clutter)
Click to expand...


Why would you crossfire 6870' lol ITs good enough for any game on the market;)
 
To anyone asking about why. Selling that playstation will give me extra money that I can use for games and PC stuff, meaning a lot less from my paycheck from my job. With a little left over to safe until the Steam Holiday Sale :D......or Skyrim. DAMN YOU VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY!
CCCPofAmerica said:
Why would you crossfire 6870' lol ITs good enough for any game on the market;)
Click to expand...

I think a better question is why would you need to SLI two 580s!

http://www.edge-gamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186781
 
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Crossfire if that's what you want to do. It's not going to hurt anything or anyone, it's your money, blah, blah, blah. Bottom line is everyone will give you reasons to do it or not to do it. Your card can run everything fine, but if you want crossfire and have the money, go for it. I recently took out my Xfire 5770s and got a 6950. I plan on crossfire with that in the next week, do I need it? Maybe, maybe not. But I want it and I can afford it. It's your computer and your money.
 
19" is teeny. Upgrade to a 24" please. A second 6870 would be nice, but probably not needed as of yet. I say wait till you try it with one and see if you are satisfied with the settings and performance. Bigger monitor would be my investment. For example, I have a 30" monitor. This is one reason a person would require 2 580s in sli as this monitor is 1600p.
 
just do it anyways? They really don't cost a whole lot, and you will get almost 200% performance.
 
I'm your huckleberry said:
For example, I have a 30" monitor. This is one reason a person would require 2 580s in sli as this monitor is 1600p.
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No one ever requires two 580's in SLI. That's silly. Even one 580 is by choice. Two 580's is overkill to an extreme for most games right now.
 
mad pistol said:
No one ever requires two 580's in SLI. That's silly. Even one 580 is by choice. Two 580's is overkill to an extreme for most games right now.
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I'm opt for two 580's in sli for 3 monitor gaming. Might add a fourth one in the mix to have my desktop displayed for incoming messages and other monitoring stuff. Will see.

Peace.
 
Cigarjohn said:
I'm opt for two 580's in sli for 3 monitor gaming. Might add a fourth one in the mix to have my desktop displayed for incoming messages and other monitoring stuff. Will see.

Peace.
Click to expand...

Unless I'm dumb and misunderstanding here, I don't think a second 580 will help you elevate the pressure of a multi-display setup. One 580 is already probably enough and I don't believe that VRAM 'stacks up' (so to speak) in the way that one might want it to?

You might be better off just buying one 580 and getting a substantially lesser card to handle your PhysX load, but I'm not even seeing that as being necessary.
 
runo said:
Unless I'm dumb and misunderstanding here, I don't think a second 580 will help you elevate the pressure of a multi-display setup. One 580 is already probably enough and I don't believe that VRAM 'stacks up' (so to speak) in the way that one might want it to?

You might be better off just buying one 580 and getting a substantially lesser card to handle your PhysX load, but I'm not even seeing that as being necessary.
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Well, I want better framerates and I guess I'm foolish too. I've always had two video cards. A few years ago, one of my cards died on me and instead of getting a new one, I just took it out of my computer and continued with the other one. Kind of like a backup card.

And yes, you can get more affordable cards out there too. A 560 is probably more than enough, but I have extra money to burn and want the top card I can get.

I don't hang out at the bars or go to the movies. I work, come home eat, game and go to sleep. Over and over and over again. I take out $200.00 out of my paycheck every payday and in two years I have $9,600.00 dollars to burn on a new computer system.

I usually build a new system every 4 years. So to most people spending over $8,000.00 on a self-built system may seem to be a waste of money and I'm sure it is, but to me, it really doesn't faze me that much. I don't go to ballgames, eat out at restaurants, buy junk stuff. I just game and be happy.

Peace.

P.S. My comment wasn't intended to offend you or anyone. It was just a stated fact to let you know why I try to purchase the best and overkill my purchases. To most I'm foolish but in my simple world I'm not. LOL.

Peace to all one again.
 
runo said:
Unless I'm dumb and misunderstanding here, I don't think a second 580 will help you elevate the pressure of a multi-display setup. One 580 is already probably enough and I don't believe that VRAM 'stacks up' (so to speak) in the way that one might want it to?

You might be better off just buying one 580 and getting a substantially lesser card to handle your PhysX load, but I'm not even seeing that as being necessary.
Click to expand...

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/artic...0gtx_lightning_xe_3gb_sli_video_card_review/7

Start there and work your way through. That is why sli is needed. Not everyone plays at 1080p.
 
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