Looking for the best crossfire video card for my system.

Tsn4help

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2011
35
0
18,530
I want to buy a the best graphics card for my system. The issue I am having is my games are not at there full graphics potential and when I watch instant online movies from netflix which are supposed to be in HD I find the picture is not at it's full HD potential. Please show me 2 to 4 options and if there is a noticeable difference between the options. Also I connect to my HD TV via HDMI with the onboard graphics. If I crossfire will I still be able to use the HDMI plug on the comp or will I have to make sure the video card has an HDMI plug out option. I tried DVI and vGa and I get no luck connecting to my tv so I really hope the onboard HDMI plug will work with a new card. Will using crossfire really improve the picture quality more then if I just use the card alone. I believe it will but I am not sure. When using crossfire do you use the full potential of the card and onboard graphics together. Anyway Please help and I hope I didn't write to much. Here is my system info. The slot for the Hybrid CrossfireX compatible card is PCI Express 2.0 x 16 Slot. I did fit an Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS which is a PCI-E 1.0 so I am not sure what the difference is because my manual says PCI Express 2.0 x 16 Slot. The Nvidia card was not good enough and is not crossfire compatible. The manual also says the system requests an ati radeon HD2400, HD3400 Series, or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series graphics processor. This manual was made in June 2009 so I would think there would be better and newly updated and upgraded cards then the ones I just listed. Your help would be greatly appreciated. What is the newest most updated card for crossfire. Sorry for so much.


Here is my mobo.MSI 785GM-E65 8GB Ram. AMD 785G integrated chipset. Onboard graphics is ATI Radeon 4200.
Processor AMD Phenom II, Athlon Processors with AM3 socket. 6 processors total. 4 Dimms support for DDr3-1600(OC)/1333/
1066 MHz up to 16GB max. Power supply Max 480 watts. Hard Drive is a Seagate 1TB and 1 slave drive at about 300GB. Willing to spend $100 to $250. will maybe spend more if it will make a considerable difference.
Thank you and God Bless in advance.
 
Solution
You're gonna have a hard time replacing your video card with anything good for under a PSU that is under 500w. You may want to consider upgrading to a higher end psu. That would open up a lot more graphics options for you.

At your current PSU level, I think that the highest video card that you could run would be the 5770 from AMD. That card would cost about $120. That would give you good game performance, but it is not the highest end card on the market. Any higher end card would require a higher end PSU.

mlcaouette

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2011
1,189
0
19,460
Hybrid crossfire is junk don't waste your time. Just buy one good discrete card. What are the specifics of you PSU (make and model). With that budget there are lots of single cards you can look into, but the higher end ones might require you to replace your PSU.

 

jednx01

Distinguished
Mar 31, 2008
448
0
18,810
You're gonna have a hard time replacing your video card with anything good for under a PSU that is under 500w. You may want to consider upgrading to a higher end psu. That would open up a lot more graphics options for you.

At your current PSU level, I think that the highest video card that you could run would be the 5770 from AMD. That card would cost about $120. That would give you good game performance, but it is not the highest end card on the market. Any higher end card would require a higher end PSU.
 
Solution

mlcaouette

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2011
1,189
0
19,460
The sapphire HD 5830 is cheaper than the 5770's at newegg ($109). But if you spend $250 you could get a new PSU and a higher end graphics card.

This would top your budget An hd 6870 with free shogan 2 game and an ocz 550 watt semi modular psu $249:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.620380
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022&cm_re=ocz_power-_-17-341-022-_-Product
 

Tsn4help

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2011
35
0
18,530


Thanks for the help. I just got my Radion HD 6870 today and I have installed a new psu which is a blue star and has 650w. The only problem now is my psu only has one pcie connector and I need 2. I did purchase a 6 pin pcie to 2 6 pin pcie's and I am not sure if this y adapter will be sufficient. The installation instructions do say not to use a y adapter but I am thinking that it is not good to use a y adapter if the power supply is not that tough. The lowest wattage pcu recommended is 500w and mine is 650w. Do you think I will be ok. Please help and thank you.