Need advice on upgrading

[demonsoldier]

Hi i'm working on upgrading my build but i duno if this is good enough for now because i'm hoping to play BF3 in 1080p this is my build so far.



Processor: i5 2500k 3.3 quadcore processor
GPU: Sapphire 6870 1GB
MOBO: ASROCK Extreme3 gen 3
RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengence 1333mhz although it said 1600 i have to overclock when i figure out how
PSU: CORSAIR Gaming Series GS600 600W
CD/DVD: ASUS 24x cd/dvd burner
Case: Rosewill Challenger


I know its not that great but this was the first PC that I have had a hand on building myself so i'm pretty proud of myself. I have an idea of some of the upgrades i want to go with on this rig.

Some upgrades

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR
ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 (for crossfire cable)

CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 800W or CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200 (for it being modular)

I sorta wanna know if this is good and if i should upgrade my case to.

Thanks for any help guys.

 

[WR2]

Hello demonsoldier;

CM Hyper 212+ is a popular choice for OC'ing CPUs. Good performance at a great price.

I think your case if fine for an OC'd CPU with 2x HD 6870 CFX system.

And you won't need anything like AX 1200 for power.
Do you see yourself sticking with 2x HD 6870?
If not you'd want a PSU that would support what ever you plan next. Any idea what level of GPUs you'll end up with?

 

[WR2]

You've probably seen the THG Article: Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

Can you pick out from that article the type of future GPU setup you'd want?

 

[WR2]

It looks like 6870 CFX is probably all you need for an excellent gaming experience.
You're Corsair GS600 600W PSU does have the power to handle all the hardware even with the 2nd HD 6870 and a light overclock in the i5-2500K.
You'll need to use the PCI-e power adapters to get the right number of PCI-e power leads but it's still a workable solution.

 

[demonsoldier]

You've probably seen the THG Article: Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

Can you pick out from that article the type of future GPU setup you'd want?

Yes this is why i'm looking to upgrade my system for cross fire i saw the fps on my single card alone 51 fps is good at 1080p but for this game i'm hoping to go to 60fps and crossfiring my saphhire 6870 with a asus 6870 since that card comes with a crossfire cable. oh and the 1200w psu was for if i went with the 6950 to crossfire those later.

but if i can just stay with 6870's and upgrade to the 7xxx series later that would be better.

 

[demonsoldier]

http://media.bestofmicro.com/Y/F/313575/original/amd crossfire 1920.png

It looks like 6870 CFX is probably all you need for an excellent gaming experience.
You're Corsair GS600 600W PSU does have the power to handle all the hardware even with the 2nd HD 6870 and a light overclock in the i5-2500K.
You'll need to use the PCI-e power adapters to get the right number of PCI-e power leads but it's still a workable solution.

I think i might upgrade my psu then and just get the 6870. Just because i don't think i have many cables to use to change them to pcie cables. and if at all possible i would like to keep power lvls low on the psu and if i'm right xfire on this psu would be putting it near max right?

 

[WR2]

If you don't mind the wait (Christmas?) and are OK running the single HD 6870 till then you'll have extra options than you do now. Lower prices on 6870s for one, more choices with the new GPUs.

And don't overlook selling your current HD 6870 and maybe picking up a HD 6970 on 'fire sale' prices as the new stuff comes out.

That would also let you hold off one deciding on the PSU upgrade as well.
Single HD 6970? Single HD 7xxx (HD 6970 equivelent)? You won't need a PSU upgrade.

 

[WR2]

putting it near max right?

Not all that close to max, unless you overclock the CPU and both 6870s, then you might reach max.
Before you do reach max capability on the PSU you'll hear it start getting noisy as it works to keep cool. That, more than just the power requirement, might make it worthwhile to upgrade.

 

[demonsoldier]

If you don't mind the wait (Christmas?) and are OK running the single HD 6870 till then you'll have extra options than you do now. Lower prices on 6870s for one, more choices with the new GPUs.

And don't overlook selling your current HD 6870 and maybe picking up a HD 6970 on 'fire sale' prices as the new stuff comes out.

That would also let you hold off one deciding on the PSU upgrade as well.
Single HD 6970? Single HD 7xxx (HD 6970 equivelent)? You won't need a PSU upgrade.

Truth be told this is probaly be waiting for more then just christmas just and if this is true i'll just have to wait until i can actually change these out and if the 7xxx are coming out then i will have to upgrade to and ivory bridge cpu to run them on pcie3. which is good why i bought the mobo i have now.

 

[demonsoldier]

And a questiong about upgrading to a 6970 i think i would have to upgrade the case at that time to because most of them are larger then 11 inches right?

 

[nordlead]

I just built an almost identical build as the one you have, but I'm playing at 1680x1050 and some of the brands are different.

You can squeak by on a 600W PSU with crossfire 6870s. I plan on doing just that in the future. Don't know how mcuh you can overclock at the same time though. In fact, AMD recommends a 600W PSU for crossfire. I'm sorta shocked by that since I figured they would suggest 650 since they recommend 500 for a single card.

I'd stick with the 600W PSU until you switch out cards. Then again, I'm really cheap and always reuse as much as I can.

As for the case, I see no reason to buy a new one. If you are concerned about heat, put an extra 120mm fan in the top of the case.

I'd go Crossfire 6870 since it is cheaper and will last you longer than upgrading to a 6950. With two 6870's I would think you could last until the 8xxx series comes out (or whatever they will call it). Then again, I wouldn't bother upgrading if I'm getting 50fps since I typically don't care unless I am sub 30fps.

 

[nordlead]

Not all that close to max, unless you overclock the CPU and both 6870s, then you might reach max.
Before you do reach max capability on the PSU you'll hear it start getting noisy as it works to keep cool. That, more than just the power requirement, might make it worthwhile to upgrade.

1) I'm slow
2) you are correct. I was forgetting that the gamer series has 12V@48A, which is more than enough. I was thinking of a 40A limit on my non-gamer 600W PSU.

 

[demonsoldier]

what can i use to convert my power cables over to the pcie one?

 

[nordlead]

these would work
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-PCI-Express-Pin-Molex/dp/B0041P73LE

A PCIe connector is speced for 75W. I belive the wires for the molex connectors are 18 gauge. 18 gauge wires should be able to handle ~190W. If you can, put them on separate wires coming out of the PSU since that is preferred. No reason to draw up to 150W over a single wire if you don't have to.

 

[demonsoldier]

Ok i'll probaly do that after i get back to the states in march.

 

[WR2]

The video card you buy should have a power adapter in the accessory kit.

This Sapphire HD 6870 has 2 power adapters in the accessory kit which is all you'd need to get power to both your cards. I standard PCI-e x6 power lead from the PSU to each card and then use the power adapters for the 2nd power lead for each card.

 

[WR2]

I think keeping your case is very do-able. It really is a decent case and if you have one HD 6870 in there being happy, a 2nd should be no problem.

The three fans you have now should do the job.
And you can do the testing and let the GPU temps let you know if more fans are needed. They're easy to add-on later.

 

[demonsoldier]

The video card you buy should have a power adapter in the accessory kit.

This Sapphire HD 6870 has 2 power adapters in the accessory kit which is all you'd need to get power to both your cards. I standard PCI-e x6 power lead from the PSU to each card and then use the power adapters for the 2nd power lead for each card.
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/14-102-948-Z06?$S640$

Ah ok and the funny thing is that is the exact card i got never really got to check out the cables just wishing this card came with a crossfire cable would make everything else way easier.

Just wondering the crossfire cables they sell do they all work the same or is there compatability issues i'm have to avoid?

or will just any work.

 

[WR2]

Check the accessory packs of some different brands and models. There are still those that slip a CFX bridge into the accessory pack.

The crossfire bridge strap is universal, so brand won't matter.
And it's more flexible than the SLI bridge, which is why you see motherboards have SLI bridges in the accessory pack since they have to exactly match the gap between PCI-e x16 slots which can vary in motherboards.

 

[demonsoldier]

Check the accessory packs of some different brands and models. There are still those that slip a CFX bridge into the accessory pack.

The crossfire bridge strap is universal, so brand won't matter.
And it's more flexible than the SLI bridge, which is why you see motherboards have SLI bridges in the accessory pack since they have to exactly match the gap between PCI-e x16 slots which can vary in motherboards.

so pribaly getting the asus 6870 with the crossfire brigde won't mess anything up?

and if they second pci-e x16 only runs at x8. will this case and problems or just bottle neck the system?

 

[WR2]

Links to the Asus card? I can compare the tech specs to yours.

With PCI-e 3.0 graphics card slots only the GPUs themselves will be bottlenecks to higher performance.

You saw 2x HD 6870s running x8/x8 scale to 193% @ 1920x1080 in BF3, right?
With PCI-e 3.0 you should see similar results.

 

[demonsoldier]

Links to the Asus card? I can compare the tech specs to yours.

With PCI-e 3.0 graphics card slots only the GPUs themselves will be bottlenecks to higher performance.

You saw 2x HD 6870s running x8/x8 scale to 193% @ 1920x1080 in BF3, right?
With PCI-e 3.0 you should see similar results.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/Y/I/313578/original/amd crossfire scaling 1920.png

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102924

might go with this one or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121418


and the one i have now is this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

 

[WR2]

They're all a close enough match:

Your 6870
1120 x Stream Processors
900 MHz Core Clock
1000 MHz Memory Clock

ASUS
1120 x Stream Processors
915 MHz Core Clock
1050 MHz Memory Clock

Sapphire Flex
1120 x Stream Processors
900 MHz Core Clock
1050 MHz Memory Clock

See what the total cost, including shipping, would be for your same model with a bridge added. If the price is the same, or lower, it might make sense to get the duplicate.

 

[demonsoldier]

They're all a close enough match:

Your 6870
1120 x Stream Processors
900 MHz Core Clock
1000 MHz Memory Clock

ASUS
1120 x Stream Processors
915 MHz Core Clock
1050 MHz Memory Clock

Sapphire Flex
1120 x Stream Processors
900 MHz Core Clock
1050 MHz Memory Clock

See what the total cost, including shipping, would be for your same model with a bridge added. If the price is the same, or lower, it might make sense to get the duplicate.

gonna go with the flex it may be 20 dollars more but it will come with displayport to dvi and hdmi which will let me do 3 screens so in hine sight it will saveme about 30 dollars in the long run.

thanks for all the help.

 

[WR2]

Let us know how it's going once you get it up and running.