Crossfire HD4890

Cryptex

Cryptex

EGO Is My Life!
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I'm in the market for a new graphics card, nothing more than $300. Here are my current specs:

AMD Phenom II 955 x4 3.2GHz
4GB Corsair XMS3 RAM
XFX HD4890 (Oldest part)
750W PSU

I ran the BF3 Beta on medium very smoothly on Operation Metro (could run it on high on most parts with no lag as well). Caspian Border I got 20-30FPS in most parts which is still pretty playable. I was looking into the AMD 6950 for around $250, but it came across my mind to just get another 4890 since it runs BF3 pretty well already and Crossfire them. They can be had for pretty cheap used, 100-150 on most classifieds. My only problem is the lack of DX11 support which would be nice for BF3.

Would anyone recommend this? If not, what do you think I should do? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
You would be better off getting a new, better single card. an HD 6950 2GB or 6970 would be a great upgrade from your current 4890. It should get close to doubling your current framerate. Then later on down the road, if you feel like getting another 6950/6970, you can, and you should see a performance jump from that.

I don't recommend HD 4890 crossfire. Newer DX11 cards are the way to go right now.
 
I have the Sapphire 6950 Dirt 3 edition 2GB It works great and I can overclock great(even though I don't really bother). It runs BF3 beta on ultra @ at least 50 fps with AA and HBOA and all eye candy turn up max. If I drop the post AA and the AA level down I can get consistant 65-70. This is at 1920x1080. $264 on amazon. Cooling is excellent.
 
transitive property time!

4870x2 is considered equal for the most part with a 5870.

the 6950 is considered on par with the 5870.

Since 2 4890's perform a bit better than 2 4870s, the transitive property states that the 6950 is about the same as 2 4890s.

I would go with a single 6950 though, just since it will:
-less CF issues (rare, but can happen)
-less power consumption
-only 1 card
-you can sell the other 4890 for like $70-90, to help offset the cost.
 
2 unlocked 6950's. If they still do that. :)

Otherwise, I would upgrade ram to maybe 8 Gb, and to a 6970. All up to u
 
Thanks for the help, probably going to go with a Sapphire 6950 because you get a bunch of games with it and the cooler's pretty good, and there's a chance it could be unlocked to a 6970. Would another 4GB of RAM really be necessary for BF3 or Skyrim? Benchmarks I've read said BF3 takes up a little more than 1GB of RAM, so 4GB seems plenty for that.
 
You can only unlock a 6950 to a 6970 on reference cards. Did a quick look around, some said this card unlocked some said it didn't. I looked for a Sapphire card since you had interest in the brand.
Sapphire 6950

Personally I have THIS card myself. Only way I could be happier is if it was a one or two 6970's :3

One thing to note, the 6950 needs an 8 and 6 pin power connection.

As far as the RAM thing. BF3 recommends 4GB. So maybe it would be pushing it a little hard. I have 8 so maybe someone who tried running the beta with 4 could chirp in.

Skyrim I've heard will recommend 4 as well.

Honestly 8GB is great, I hit 60% usage a number of times. Kind of that time of age where everyone steps away from Windows XP, 4GB RAM, start getting SSD's as they get cheaper and as well as other things.
 
So I'm narrowing down my choices right now, and I was just wondering how much of a difference there was between a 2GB 6950 and a 1GB? Does the extra memory make a large difference at 1680x1050 or at 1920x1080? I'm reading that it only really matters at resolutions past 1080p.

I may be getting a new another monitor during the holidays, playing games on the new one and using the old one for music/internet, will the the extra memory be useful for that kind of application as well, if at all?
 
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BF3 @1080p can go though over a GB.

every thing else, not likely
 
I am posting here because this is a Cryptex thread.

I have nothing to add whatsoever to the OP question.

You may argue that I am taking up squatting space on eGO servers. Well, let me ask you this, pretty boy. Is you a police?
 
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