I want to Crossfire my gpu - should I get the same card?

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

I have a 6850 and want to boost my performance, so I figured I will buy a second card since they are pretty cheap on ebay.

Should I buy a 6850 or a 6870? It'd make sense, I would have thought, to buy the 6870, but are there any problems you can encounter in Crossfiring different cards like this?

SethS · Dec 19, 2013

You have to get same gpu, bacause installing drivers are complicated/ the chips are different. Get same

laviniuc · Dec 19, 2013

if you don't find a 6850, the new 270 is about the same chip too. in either case, same card model is the best way to go.

enemy1g · Dec 19, 2013

As the others have said, you can crossfire two cards with similar chips.

However, chances are your PSU may not support it.

Could you post your PSU model and specs?

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

I believe you can crossfire the 2.......... however, if 1 card has 1gig of vram and the other has 2, you will only have 1gig of vram to be shared by both cards. also, i would try and buy 1 single better card than crossfire ......... better than the 6870

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

enemy1g :

Corsair RM650

swifty_morgan :

No, both have 1GB.

And I am saving up for a GTX 780 Ti, I just want to spend a little bit of money on crossfire in the meantime.

Embra · Dec 19, 2013

What are all of your specs?

I would pass on crossfire with 1 gb cards. Games are fast moving well past that limit.
Wait or get a 270x or higher if you want better play while you wait to upgrade.

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

save your money.. ..........list current specs.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

Embra :

Why would you "pass" on 1GB crossfire? I'm not interested in playing new games with this setup, I just want better performance in my back catalogue while I wait to get a 780 Ti.
Adding a second 6850 will still give you a massive boost... -_-

And getting a 270X would be pointless. I'm saving, so putting down a big sum of money on a 270X would be an utter waste. It'd be completely detrimental to my savings. I'm going to Crossfire because it's cheap.
R9 270X is 6 times as expensive as a 6850. I can buy a 6850 for the price of seeing a movie.

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

massive boost............. you don't know that. we don't even know the OP's specs.......... maybe his 6850 is strangled now.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

swifty_morgan :

Well, yeah I do know that. Benchmarks very clearly show a huge increase, in some games it's a fantastic 90% or so.

Specs are i5-4670k, Z87-A, 8GB 1866MHz RAM

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

don't waste your money on a stupid video card........... wait and buy the one you really want.

Embra · Dec 19, 2013

Wait is what I recommended,
Hard to give precise advice without the specs listed.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

swifty_morgan :

That was the most useless post I've ever read on this site. Thanks.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

Embra :

specs are above.

I don't want to just wait. I've got ~8 months to go before getting a top-of-the-range card (be it a 780 Ti or a better card that comes out next year), and it would just be nice to have better performance right now. For £30 I can get a 6850/6870; a near irrelevant amount of money when it comes to the cost of a 780 Ti. £30 for 8 months of significantly better performance is worth it to me.

I just want to know why it's better to have 2 of the same card rather than a mix in the series!

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

if you want to piss money away uselessly go ahead............ you come here asking for opinions, you got some. don't expect to like everything you read.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

swifty_morgan :

1) How is buying a PC upgrade "pissing away money"? I've spent more on a bloody McDonald's meal.
2) No, I didn't ask for opinions. Learn to read. I asked which card works better in configuration with a 6850, which is a question of fact, of technical knowledge, not opinions on what I should spend my money on.

swifty_morgan · Dec 19, 2013

if you're gaming at 1600 resolution or above a 1gig card is stupid to have. putting 2 1gig cards together doesn't mean you'll have 2gigs of vram......... it's still only 1. I find it hard to believe, if you game at that res or above, that you're not experiencing some sort of "stuttering or hitching" because the card can't keep up with what's going on. ............ stupid , yes, you betchya. but it's your money-spend it.

Treeroy · Dec 19, 2013

swifty_morgan :

Why on earth would you assume that someone is gaming at 1600p? Almost no one uses screens of that resolution, get back to reality. I know fully well that 1GB + 1GB does not equal 2GB, I'm not that thick.

I game at 1080p. I never said I had a super high res monitor.

laviniuc · Dec 19, 2013

if you can find a 6850 cheap, sure, adding one and depending on your cpu/mobo/ram will work about 40-60% better. always try to crossfire the same video card model (vram, even manufacturer if possible though not really so important)

I want to Crossfire my gpu - should I get the same card?

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