Upgrading Graphics Card. Two Radeon R9 380 cards or one better?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
N

Nephil1um

Honorable
Mar 27, 2013
13
0
10,510
I am about to upgrade my graphics card in my current rig. I currently have a XFX Double D Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition DirectX 11 FX-787A-CDFC 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605
I purchased it a little over three years ago. I like XFX, both because of price and my experience with them. But I am looking for any advice. I have set my sights on two cards crossfired, the FX Radeon R9 380 R9-380P-4255 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Double Dissipation XXX OC Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150730
but I need advice on whether or not to go that route, or buy a different card for the 300 some I would spend. Thank you for your help.
 
Solution
D
I agree, using dual cards is best avoided if you don't need to do it. It's the only solution for very high res or multiple screen gaming but for any other situation the single card experience is just better all round. Why give yourself the headaches if you don't need to.

My one foray into SLI pointed out all the things I didn't know. You need to consider the cooler design of your graphics cards, the slot spacing of your motherboard, the airflow of your case, and the compatibility with your games. I ended up with one card that ran incredibly hot and a game that worked no better than on a single card for all my trouble.

I ended up replacing Dual GTX460's with a single 580 and was much happier (and quite a bit out of pocket). That was a...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

It's a trap!
Moderator
Dec 22, 2014
32,771
2,836
113,640
You are not looking to crossfire the 380 with your 7870, correct? Because that won't work.

Anyway assuming you want to do 2 380's while they may benchmark higher 1 R9 390x is a FAR better idea. Not all games support crossfire, Getting it to work right requires some tinkering, and its never perfect.

The 390x will give you like 90% of the performance without any hassle.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
D

Dugimodo

Distinguished
Sep 22, 2011
1,393
11
20,115
I agree, using dual cards is best avoided if you don't need to do it. It's the only solution for very high res or multiple screen gaming but for any other situation the single card experience is just better all round. Why give yourself the headaches if you don't need to.

My one foray into SLI pointed out all the things I didn't know. You need to consider the cooler design of your graphics cards, the slot spacing of your motherboard, the airflow of your case, and the compatibility with your games. I ended up with one card that ran incredibly hot and a game that worked no better than on a single card for all my trouble.

I ended up replacing Dual GTX460's with a single 580 and was much happier (and quite a bit out of pocket). That was a while back obviously. I vowed to stick with one good card ever since and only recently considered dual cards because of 4K, but then decided to stick to 1080P and wait for a single card 4K solution. I think it's still a little early to adopt 4K personally.

If you do go for Xfire I recommend getting blower style graphics cards coolers and try to find a board that allows one empty slot space between the bottom of one card and the top of the next (so 3 slots for a 2 slot card).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
N

Nephil1um

Honorable
Mar 27, 2013
13
0
10,510


Thank you for the thoughts, I will most likely go with a single card. I appreciate the information.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

It's a trap!
Moderator
Dec 22, 2014
32,771
2,836
113,640


Good choice its a solid card.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom