Wondering to use crossfire or not?
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javathedot
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- Jul 15, 2013
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Just buy a new one. It may seem that crossfire/SLI setup is powerful but the incremental increase in performance may be minimal compared to newer cards.
It also has its drawbacks like practically doubling power draw. Video cards require more power than processor. a 150 watt rated video card could easly become 300 watts. There will also be substantial increase in temperature as video cards generate a lot of heat. My 6790 has temp reading of 70-73c while gaming.
Crossfire/SLI setup is also not 100% issue free. I can not pinpoint particular issues for now but single video card is definitely more stable as there are no synchronization processes involved.
Also, I have read that 2 video cards with 1gb RAM each does not total to 2gb RAM in Crossfire/SLI setup. You will still have 1gb RAM total.
It also has its drawbacks like practically doubling power draw. Video cards require more power than processor. a 150 watt rated video card could easly become 300 watts. There will also be substantial increase in temperature as video cards generate a lot of heat. My 6790 has temp reading of 70-73c while gaming.
Crossfire/SLI setup is also not 100% issue free. I can not pinpoint particular issues for now but single video card is definitely more stable as there are no synchronization processes involved.
Also, I have read that 2 video cards with 1gb RAM each does not total to 2gb RAM in Crossfire/SLI setup. You will still have 1gb RAM total.
javathedot
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Well you might be worried about bottlenecking issues. My take on that is, bottlenecking is inevitable if you're upgrading one component at a time. But it should not be a problem. I think bottlenecking is overrated. What's important is that you get to use your existing components and save money. Besides, your board and cpu is still powerful enough to play current games.
So buy the most powerful/latest video card you can afford. I suggest the HD 7850/7870 2gb and don't worry about bottlenecking. And I'm pretty sure there won't be any bottlenecking on your current board/CPU. 7850/7870 is PCIE 3.0 but it is fully backward compatible with PCIE 2.0 slot. Don't worry about this too. I've read that PCIE 3.0 is currently just a marketing strategy and it's rated bandwidth is not yet being fully utilized by latest video cards except for crossfire/SLI setup.
You can also check on the Nvidia counterpart. 660/660ti i think.
So buy the most powerful/latest video card you can afford. I suggest the HD 7850/7870 2gb and don't worry about bottlenecking. And I'm pretty sure there won't be any bottlenecking on your current board/CPU. 7850/7870 is PCIE 3.0 but it is fully backward compatible with PCIE 2.0 slot. Don't worry about this too. I've read that PCIE 3.0 is currently just a marketing strategy and it's rated bandwidth is not yet being fully utilized by latest video cards except for crossfire/SLI setup.
You can also check on the Nvidia counterpart. 660/660ti i think.
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