Dual HD 6870 Crossfire vs Single HD 6950

w0okie

Distinguished
Feb 28, 2011
11
0
18,510
Hello,

I want to compare Dual HD 6870 vs a single HD 6950. I know that the performance is better for the dual 6870 but performance is not my primary issue because they both more or less deliver the performance that i need.

I will primarily be using this computer for hardcore encoding/video conversions + editing and lots of multi-tasking.

I'm not a hardcore gamer but I want to play the new Crysis, Homefront, Dead Island, Call of Duty etc at 1680 x 1020 resolution (possibly at max settings?). I don't really care if I'm not able to run some of these games at high settings or even be able to run some of them at all, because I care more about HD videos, encoding, editing etc.

Another thing is I really want to futureproof my system. This is why I am going with the 6xxx series because I need DirextX 11 compatibilities.

The reason why I'm comparing these two is because I heard there are issues with Crossfire. Putting aside cost, performance, power consumption and heat, is crossfire technology itself so problematic that I should just go with a better single card instead ? If any of you have experience with crossfire, do you really encounter so many problems or is it exagerated ?

My specs:
i7 2600 (Not K) Overclocked to 3.9 Ghz
875W Multi-GPU approved Power Supply
Dual Chan 16gb 1333MHz RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium

Video Card: Either dual 6870 crossfire or single 6950

Thank you for your input!
 

w0okie

Distinguished
Feb 28, 2011
11
0
18,510
ct615, thank you for your quick response. I literally posted like 5 minutes ago lol.

But as a general question, is crossfire just a bad choice ? I honestly see more posts about how crossfire is a pain in the ass than how great it is. Is this like a software/driver problem or an actual hardware problem ? Are there certain cards which are more prone to problems when you enable crossfire ?
 

w0okie

Distinguished
Feb 28, 2011
11
0
18,510
Excellent answer.

Thank you for your response.

As long as I have Multi-GPU approved power supply, I should be fine right ?

Also I used the PSU calculator for my specs, and its like bare minimum. Will 875W for my specs be ok ?

My specs:
i7 2600 (Not K) Overclocked to 3.9 Ghz
875W Multi-GPU approved Power Supply
Dual Chan 16gb 1333MHz RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium

Video Card: Assuming dual 6870 crossfire
 
I'd get the 6950.The 6870 crossfire performs way better but you can't tri or quad crossfire with the 68xx series which is what it would take to equal the performance of a 6950 crossfire.A 6950 crossfire does use a lot of power but the added cost is well worth ir for the added performance of a crossire 6950 setup.You can buy 1 now and then buy the other later.Also you can tri or quad crossfire with the 69xx series,which will create an unstopable monster.But very expensive.