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Crossfire or Just get a single card?

Tags:
  • DDR3
  • RAM
  • Crossfire
  • Boost
  • Sapphire
  • Graphics
  • Graphics Cards
  • Radeon
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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July 13, 2014 4:31:16 AM

Okay, so my machine currently has these parts:
4gb 1600 DDR3 ram
Sapphire 7950 Boost
FX-8350
700w psu

I understand it's pretty low-end on the PC totem pole, and I want to get more power seeing as how my PC becomes so slow and laggy when ever I start select games. (CPU isn't at 100%, but something else is.). I wanted to know should I get another 7950 for $90 and crossfire or should sell my 7950 for $80, and spend $250 and get a 280x?

More about : crossfire single card

a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 4:37:02 AM

For 2 x 7950's you'd need a good quality 700W power supply. What make and model is yours?

2 x 7950's would have as much push as a r9 290.
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a c 197 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 4:49:31 AM

Upgrade your RAM before anything else, 4GB just won't cut it anymore.
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July 13, 2014 5:01:37 AM

i7Baby said:
For 2 x 7950's you'd need a good quality 700W power supply. What make and model is yours?

2 x 7950's would have as much push as a r9 290.

I have no idea, but I have SLI'd two OC'd 550 tis before. I've had this PSU for a while, and I hasn't failed on me yet.
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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 5:15:06 AM

2 x 550ti only need 500W max.

See if you can see a sticker on the power supply. If its in tiers 1, 2a or 2b of http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-su... it'll be OK. If not get one eg Seasonic 750, XFX 750 or Antec HCG 750M
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July 13, 2014 5:19:56 AM

Wait, I upgrade my ram will it make a difference? And I wont have to buy a new GPU since I can already play most games maxed out? (Except for in 38% of games then windows tells me I'm running out of memory, the the game starts at running at 20-40fps instead of 60, and I have to close the game? ) I thought that was GPU memory. the same thing happens in chrome when I about 93 tabs open.
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a b U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 5:25:28 AM

You have a solid system, with one HUGE FLAW - 4GB memory... really, that is where things fall apart - get at least another 4GB and you will see wonders.

Besides, 280X is nothing other than slightly overclocked 7970 anyway, so you won't see any real improvement taking it over 7950. 90$ for another 7950? That's a steal - I'd get it and do crossfire indeed.

That and at least another 4GB RAM and you will have a great machine.

Also your PSU is more than enough, I used to run HD6990 on 620W PSU no problem, 700W for 2x 7950 should not be an issue.
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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 5:31:32 AM

The 700W psu WILL be an issue say if it's a raidmax, zebronbics or iball
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a b U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 5:41:34 AM

i7Baby said:
The 700W psu WILL be an issue say if it's a raidmax, zebronbics or iball


Well, I think we should let him cross that bridge if he gets there :) 
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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 5:50:51 AM

I like to be a bit more conservative. The same as I would be with my own build.
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July 13, 2014 6:12:51 AM

I have a RF 700w PSU. I've had it for years.. It hasn't failed yet.
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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 6:15:29 AM

It hasn't had 2 x 7950's chewing into it yet.
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July 13, 2014 6:15:42 AM

So, just so we're clear, I don't have to upgrade and just get another stick of ram and It should boost my performance/stop the fps drops/stop the out of memory error?
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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 6:24:40 AM

You can upgrade your graphics card and your ram. Too many games are chewing up ram these days. You can run out of it with only 4gb. This bottlenecks your pc's performance.
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a b U Graphics card
July 13, 2014 6:26:35 AM

Anustart said:
So, just so we're clear, I don't have to upgrade and just get another stick of ram and It should boost my performance/stop the fps drops/stop the out of memory error?


The answer is yes. Upgrading your RAM is all you NEED.

However landing another 7950 for crossfire for $90 is an amazing deal too, but that is more of a nice to have thing, really.
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July 16, 2014 3:07:36 AM

Gaidax said:
You have a solid system, with one HUGE FLAW - 4GB memory... really, that is where things fall apart - get at least another 4GB and you will see wonders.

Besides, 280X is nothing other than slightly overclocked 7970 anyway, so you won't see any real improvement taking it over 7950. 90$ for another 7950? That's a steal - I'd get it and do crossfire indeed.

That and at least another 4GB RAM and you will have a great machine.

Also your PSU is more than enough, I used to run HD6990 on 620W PSU no problem, 700W for 2x 7950 should not be an issue.

I just ordered more ram. Thank you for the help.. :p 
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