dual cross fire, or one card

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steelbiker

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HI,

I have a 6870 (gigabyte) in my box. I'm thinking along 2 things, I'd like to put a 2nd display and run 22" monitors. But i'm curious if I should run a 6870 +6870 or 6870+7870 or just swap my 6870 for an R9 270. Since a 7870 will run about $150 used, and a 270 is about $190 new. my gamble is the 270, but does it have enough power for 2 displays (i only play WoW, on ultra).

thanks a bunch
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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By "dual crossfire" I presume you simply mean 'crossfire or crossfireX'. That is when you run 2 or more similar gfx cards together.
The pair of HD 6870s will work, but the 6870 and 7870 will not.
1) the diagonal measurement of your monitor doesn't matter, but the screen resolution does when it comes to performance gaming performance. The more pixels on the screen, the more work the card has to do to render each frame.
2) moving to a 2nd card will also require more power. Be sure your PSU's +12V rail(s) can handle the amperage.
3) if you are simply using the 2nd monitor for 2D desktop work, the 2nd display won't detract all that much from the cards' performance in gaming. But if there is heavy processing going on in the background while gaming, that WILL detract from gaming.
4) any of those cards will work fine for a 2nd monitor. See above for disclaimers.
 
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17seconds

17seconds

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WoW is an OpenGL game. Crossfire frame pacing is permanently broken on 6000 and 7000 series cards with OpenGL and DirectX 9 games on both single and multiple monitors. Adding a second 6870 will not improve your experience of smoothness while gaming. It will feel just like a single card, even though it may show more FPS. In other words, another 6870 for WoW will be a waste of money.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7729/amd-catalyst-141-beta-drivers-now-available-mantle-frame-pacing-more
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Catalyst-138-Brings-Frame-Pacing-AMD-Radeon
 
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steelbiker

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But will a single 6870 struggle with 2 monitors during gaming? I have a 750 PSU. SO power isn't the issue, Perhaps its just time to upgrade it to a 270x. According tom charts, I'd go from 22 to 50. Since WoW isn't overly demanding like crysis or something. Then I see no need to jump it to a $400+ card. Further, I'll be migrating my musical stuff to a mac in a few months. While the macbook pro, and pc, can use a switch to alternate between dual monitor usuage. At least that's my idea.

Eventually I'm gonna map my movies on a hard drive, to my tv, dvd, player, whether I use a seperate hard drive plugged directly in via usb, or ethernet it over from my computer I'm not 100% sure. depends on how the drive gets map'd. Although I have given consideration to upgrading the dvd player to wifi, to accept wifi keyboard input for youtube, since the remote is annoying with hitting 111 for C. LOL.

Your ideas?
 
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