Whats better, 1 good VC or 2 mid-level crossfire?

[samson10]

I now have MB that will run quad crossfire, I would like to know if I would be better off spending the money on one good video card or buy two mid-level cards?

 

[rolli59]

It depends what you want. Usually a single better card is better and easier to deal with. Then it is the value. Today you can buy a HD5870 for ~$400 but 2 x HD5770 in crossfire deliver about equal HP for a total cost of ~$300-320

 

[samson10]

Thanks for the reply, I'm new to this whole crossfire thing and just wasn't sure if it was worth doing.

 

[randomkid]

I have heard of some stuttering problems for crossfire. Is this just driver issue that has been fixed or they are still a problem to contend for crossfiring?

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

Artifacting from crossfire isn't really a problem these days. Usually a driver problem but the odd game would have it.

Just remember a single card runs cooler and quieter than two cards.
Some games scale really really good with crossfire and SLI but some games don't. While all games scale equally as well on flat out better cards.

 

[mindless728]

well, the advice i like to give is get the single best GPU that you can afford, that way down the road if you need/want to, you can add a second card

most games support crossfire/sli with acceptable scaling

 

[rolli59]

well, the advice i like to give is get the single best GPU that you can afford, that way down the road if you need/want to, you can add a second card

most games support crossfire/sli with acceptable scaling

That is exactly the reason we are getting questions like this on the forum " SLI my GTX260 or upgrade to HD58xx?"

 

[mindless728]

That is exactly the reason we are getting questions like this on the forum " SLI my GTX260 or upgrade to HD58xx?"

and in that case if a GTX 260 could be had for a reasonable price (~$160), it would be advantageous to sli

 

[rolli59]

and in that case if a GTX 260 could be had for a reasonable price (~$160), it would be advantageous to sli

Unless you want DX11 and eyefinity! I say if you want to SLI or crossfire do it straight away.

 

[mindless728]

Unless you want DX11 and eyefinity! I say if you want to SLI or crossfire do it straight away.

and i'm the other way around, get a good PSU from the start in case you do want it in a year or so

though, eyefinity would be nice, the DX11 can wait IMO

 

[samson10]

Ok, thanks for the help, Now one more dumb question what is eyefinity? LOL

 

[rolli59]

It is a new tech from ATI. You can expand the desktop over multiple monitors by increasing resolution. http://sites.amd.com/us/underground/products/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity.aspx

 

[samson10]

Wow! that is pretty cool, It's going to mean buying 2 more new monitors ( the wife won't like that) lol. Again thanks for your help!

 

[rolli59]

( LOL ) you are welcome.

 

[randomkid]

Why does it say there is an HD5870 Eyefinity Edition. Aren't all 58XX's capable of Eyefinity?

 

[mindless728]

Why does it say there is an HD5870 Eyefinity Edition. Aren't all 58XX's capable of Eyefinity?

because they have 6 display ports for 6 monitors as opposed to the normal 5870's that only support 3 monitors

 

[randomkid]

I see... Thanks for quick reply...
If the price of the Eyefinity edition will not be very different from normal one's, then I could buy it too...
I set a budget for and 5870 + 3 monitors already and I currently think 6 is too much... but who knows?

 

[mindless728]

no prob

 

[samson10]

ok, I'm thinking of going with the MSI R5770 hawk, Reviews seem to be good.

 

[samson10]

Best answer selected by samson10.