Is a 2nd Radeon HD 7770 worth it?

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rhapdog

rhapdog

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I've got an opportunity to pick up a brand new Radeon HD 7770 GDDR5 1GB for $79. I have the space and power requirements necessary to take advantage of it.

I've never run 2 discrete graphics cards before, but I understand there are a lot of benefits if the games you play support it.

I'm NOT a gaming enthusiast, however, I do like casual gaming. The only serious game I have at the moment is Tomb Raider 2013, which I really enjoy, and am able to play it at 1920x1080 on high settings with pretty good frame rates with my current HD 7770. (70FPS min, 98FPS max). However, I would like to play it on the Ultimate settings, which isn't playable because TressFX makes the frames drop into the low 20s. Would a 2nd HD 7770 allow me to do this? Or would I need something else? What else can reasonably crossfire with the 7770?
 
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unknownofprob
I would say it is worth it, if your motherboard supports multiple GPU's well and you've got a crossfire cable handy, what's to lose? You will get much better performance in supported games, with a small amount of stuttering. Go for it, you shouldn't regret it.
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unknownofprob

unknownofprob

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I would say it is worth it, if your motherboard supports multiple GPU's well and you've got a crossfire cable handy, what's to lose? You will get much better performance in supported games, with a small amount of stuttering. Go for it, you shouldn't regret it.
 
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rhapdog

rhapdog

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New card came in with a corrupted BIOS and faulty memory. Company sent me a paid shipping label, and is sending me a replacement while they wait on me to pack up and send this one back. The new one was an XFX Radeon HD 7770 GHz edition. That would have given me 2 GHz edition cards. I'll wait on the replacement, and perhaps have better luck.

GPUz reported the new card with only a 32-bit memory bus. Very strange, as it should have been 128-bit. When XFX Tech support heard that one, they said it was a bad BIOS and to send the card back.
 
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rhapdog

rhapdog

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Another strange issue, GPUz also reported:
1024 Unified Shaders (should be 640)
54 Texture Mapping Units (should be 40)
16 Render Output Units (this was correct)
32-bit memory bus (should be 128-bit)

Looks like they flashed the BIOS incorrectly on this card, or had a bad BIOS.

Should get the new replacement in a few days.
 
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rhapdog

rhapdog

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Got the replacement. Ran GPUz, and everything checked out normally exactly as it should have.

Started getting BSOD every time I ran games. Ran a monitor that wrote all the sensors to a log, and discovered it was overheating very quickly. Like 10-15 seconds into the game. I checked the card and noticed the heat sink wasn't securely attached to the GPU. Now, I realize I could have gotten out my thermal grease and taken care of the GPU/Heatsink issue, but there was a chance that once I removed the cover that there would be other damage that would prevent me returning it once disassembled. Besides, it's not my job to do the repair work on a brand new card. I returned it for refund. Not worth it at this point.

At least I got the full refund, and didn't have to pay return shipping for either card. It's a shame, too, as I was looking forward to replaying Tomb Raider with higher settings.

I thought I'd buy a better card that could out perform what both would have done in crossfire and sell my old card, but those cards are bigger than what my current case can handle. So I've taken the refund and ordered a Cooler Master HAF XB EVO case, and will have plenty of room and good airflow for future high-end cards now.

The 7770s barely fit my case. I had to remove 2 hard drives to make room, which leaves me with just 1 SSD and 2 HDD. New case will accommodate all my drives AND allow for much larger graphics cards. Now I just have to find the best deal and research to find the current line where price per watt and price per performance gives me the most for my dollar, which I'll wait until next week to start on. That would be a whole new thread, so don't want to do it here.

In the long run, with a little patience, I'll end up with something better anyway. I'll have fun doing the research. Always loved that part of it.
 
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