Cheap CrossFire Upgrade on Asus P8Z68-V LX

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silverzx

silverzx

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
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Spec of my current rig is:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64
CPU: i5 2500k 3.3GHz to 4.5GHz.
CPU Cooler: Artic Cooler Freezer 13.
MOBO: Asus P8Z68-V LX, Intel Z68 Chipset.
RAM: 8Gb (2x4Gb) Corsair Vengeance LP, DDR3, 1600MHZ (CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.5V)

GFX: XFX ATI Radeon 7850 HD 2GB GDDR5 'Core Edition'
- 1200 Stream Processors
- 860 MHz Core Clock
- 2GB 256-Bit DDR5
- 4800 MHz Effective Memory Clock

HDD: 128GB OCZ Vertex SSD & 2TB Samsung Sata II (HD204UI 3GB/S BarCode 5315920035).
PSU: TAGAN 530w TG530-U15.
Case: Jeantech "Phong II".
Networking: SunVision £15 300MBs Wireless Card.
DVDRW: Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C
Speakers: 5.1 Logitech Surround Sound.
Click to expand...

I'm buying a new case as mine is old and battered. I'm also debating the idea of buying a second 7850 to put in cross fire (providing I can find one cheap and second hand) to complement my single card.

I've read that the Asus P8Z68-V mobo's second slot is limited to PCIx4 which isn't ideal for cross firing two cards.

If I can pick up a second card for £50'ish, is it worth the punt for the extra performance?

I've been eyeing up the R9 380 (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-msi-radeon-r9-380-gaming-4g-twin-frozr-v-pcie-30-5800mhz-gddr5-1000mhz-gpu-1792-streams-dp-hdmi-) also which is around £170 instead of going for two, newer tech, more GDDR5, slightly faster clock but not neccesarily a great upgrade.

Can anyone give their opinion on what to do? Is this MOBO getting on too much or is it just optimal for one GFX card?

A) Stick with what I have?
B) Get another and crossfire (if can pickup cheap)?
C) Buy a new card e.g. R9 280?

My reason for wanting an upgrade is some games don't run very smoothly in high/ultra with high view distances.
 
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Gingerbread

Gingerbread

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Nov 2, 2009
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If you can really pick it up cheap then you should try it (even though I'd prefer if you can get it from the guy for 1 day, test it and return it if it is not worth it). If not stay with what you have. Buying a new card is pointless on this setup, it's getting quite old after all.
 
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silverzx

silverzx

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Nov 29, 2012
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Where do you think I'd better off spending £50? An extra 8GB of DDR3 1600Mhz is £37.
 
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silverzx

silverzx

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
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I don't think I am to be honest.

I think my SSD could do with being bigger, only around 25gb left on it and that's with JUST the OS on it for the most part. 256gb SSD is £60, 512gb SSD is £120'ish. Perhaps that would be wiser...?

Either way, on topic of the PCI 16 and PCI 4 slot, if I can get a card cheap, does running two double the power almost or is it more of a x% gain? E.g. 30%.
 
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Gingerbread

Gingerbread

Judicious
Nov 2, 2009
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If you want to spend it then yes only a new SSD would be a reasonable solution. On the other topic, it depends on the game. You will never get double the performance. Main problem is synchronization between the two cards, since they have to communicate with each other, but without getting into details, on some games on some settings it might be a 60-70% increase, on others mere 10-20%.
 
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silverzx

silverzx

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
59
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Ok cool. Well I'll keep my eyes peeled on a few things, would my 530w Tagan be able to cope with an extra GFX card or is that being a bit optimistic?

Thank you for your help so far by the way. Is there a thank system?
 
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silverzx

silverzx

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
59
0
10,630


Ok cool. Well I'll keep my eyes peeled on a few things, would my 530w Tagan be able to cope with an extra GFX card or is that being a bit optimistic? Using http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator I calculated 402w is reccomended with the 1 card and 510w with 2 so my 530w sould be fine. :)

Thank you for your help so far by the way. Is there a thank system?
 
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silverzx

silverzx

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
59
0
10,630


I'm watching some on auction sites, I've yet to win one for reasonable money.

I'm only really happy to try it out if it's going to cost around £50, no point spending more or I might aswell sell my card and put it toward a brand new one in my opinion! :)
 
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