Possible Xfire set up

[kingkung]

HI,

I have a XFX ATI HD 5770 Graphics card and an Asus M4A79XTD EVO MOBO. I plan on going to a X fire set up in the near future(about a month or 2), but i was wondering which card would pair best with my current card for an awesome set up? ( my budget will be 180-220$. Thank you for your input.

 

[wolfram23]

Another 5770 would be about your only option.

 

[kingkung]

Ok, that's good know thank you

 

[megamanx00]

You can crossfire with any 5770 or 5750, but it would be best to use a 5770 with the same clock speeds.

 

[wolfram23]

Well, yeah a 5770 is optimal. OP: Here's the official chart of compatibility:

 

[Nerdbox87]

For a 220$ budget you should be selling your current 5770 and getting a single 6870 (~200$), which outperforms 5770 crossfire

*Edit, should get about 70$ or so for the 5770 so will only cost you 130$ out of pocket, or roughly the same price as adding a 5770, but for better performance and future upgradability*

 

[wolfram23]

^Depends on the game, but that's not a bad idea at all.

5770 CF review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/ati_radeon_hd_5770_crossfire_performance,2.html

It's vantage score is nearly at 5870 levels and in some games it performs that well, but in other games it's below even a single 5850. A 6870 is slightly better than a 5850. So, I would agree that a single 6870 is probably a more stable choice for fairly similar performance.

 

[Nerdbox87]

6870s amazing CF scaling + DX11 makes it a much more preferred solution to 5770 CF imo for the same $$$.

 

[kingkung]

is there a single ati card that will match the performance of 2 5770 in crossfire?

 

[Nerdbox87]

Like I said earlier - the 6870 and above are faster, 5770 is roughly as fast as a 5850.

 

[wolfram23]

6870 would be very close to two 5770s in CF. 5870 would be even faster, then 6950 and up. From Nvidia's camp, a GTX470 should be close but faster, then I think a GTX 560 Ti would be the next one up.

 

[kingkung]

Cool, I think I am going to get a 6870, is there any difference between brands? Which brand is reconmended?

 

[wolfram23]

Doesn't matter too much. Can't go wrong with most of them although Sparkle isn't considered that great. If you want a good one, something like Sapphire VaporX, MSI Twin Frozr 2, Asus DirectCU, basically any of the ones with custom coolers. And then they usually have their factory overclock versions like the Sapphire Toxic or MSI Hawk. But I wouldn't spend the extra on those personally, since it's super easy to overclock cards yourself.

Reference models are generally the cheapest, they're the ones that have a small fan at the back and are fully enclosed otherwise, then vent the air outside the case. They're pretty decent but tend to be louder than the more beefed up coolers. My two 5850s were reference models and they did great, overclocked great and kept cool enough but man they would get super loud. If I did it again I would just spend a little extra on the better cooler. As it is I bought aftermarket silent coolers for them lol.

 

[Nerdbox87]

Reference models are great because they provide voltage enabled overclocking, whereas the non-references typically don't.

The DirectCU is an excellent model for the price (typically one of the cheaper non-references), as are the Gigabyte non-references.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125357&cm_re=6870-_-14-125-357-_-Product

209$ After Rebate Free Shipping w/ slight factory overclock and good non-reference cooler isn't a bad choice.

But Wolf is right - almost can't go wrong. (but yeah I bought aftermarket cooling for my reference 6870 CFs too lol they were LOUD mofos in crossfire, but fine in single setup)

 

[kingkung]

on the factory OC'ed cards, are they safe to manual do a OC on top of the stock OC? or is the factory oc versions for the people that don't want to have to manually OC?

 

[wolfram23]

Generally the factory OC's are for people who don't want to OC their cards. For example Sapphire has VaporX and Toxic editions of their cards. They have the exact same coolers and PCB, the only difference is Toxic is overclocked already and costs a bunch more. Same with MSI Twin Frozr and Hawk. I'm sure other brands do it as well.

I don't know if Asus has their DirectCU TOP cards out yet for the 6xxx series but those cards should have the best OC potential due to being the highest binned cards.

 

[kingkung]

oh, i see. Asus does have a 6870 DirectCU card out. its priced at 219 on newegg. I am debating on getting a 6870, but i am stuck between XFX and Asus. What would you guys get? This is probably a lame theory, but since i have an ASUS mobo, will the ASUS GPU work better with the mobo since they are same brand?

 

[Nerdbox87]

Nope, mixing GPU and Motherboard brands is never an issue.

By all means go for the DirectCU if you've had good experiences with Asus (providing the price is competitive) - they're generally very good cards.