Eyefinity question on Radeon 6950/6990

[nythyx]

CPU 4.0 GHz
RAM 12 Gb

I am considering running Eyefinity across 3X 27" Asus monitors. I am having trouble deciding between crossfire 6950 or quadfire 6990. I know the 6950 pair is alot cheaper, but I want to insure decent performance for a few years to come. Should I go with the 6950's or bust out the wallet an get the 6990's. Any opinions?

 

[rolli59]

If for a few years to come then the HD6990 in quad! If you on the otherhand are ready to upgrade ones in a while why not CF HD6950 and upgrade to better newer cards in 18-24months and sell the HD6950 cards and capture some of the upgrade costs.

 

[Guest]

I would go for 6970 instead of 6950 (slightly faster) and I'd say it's not worth to pay so much for 6990's I mean even for doing hardcore gaming on 3 screens even ONE 6950/70 would be enough have a look at this, they guy is testing SINGLE 6970 and 6950: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhLSe2Up3uo

 

[nythyx]

Is there a tremendous difference in performance between the two options?

I am looking to play games in Eyefinity at reasonably high graphics settings and good fps. I am not interested in running Crysis II at max AA and AF (although that would be cool!) Is the xfire 6950's enough? I am a bit biased after reading so many negative things about multiple processor cards, but I am not terrible knowledgeable about these cards. Most of my research seems to find sites and articles about pushing the limits of these cards and its not very helpful in truth since a lot come up with counter results to others.

 

[ilysaml]

i agree with the HD 6990 in quad idea, but i don't agree with the HD 6950 in CF, i would suggest HD 6970 3 way CFX, you'll be dealing with a high resolution 5790x..and you don't need to have a lag of FPS while running Metro 2033 or Crysis2...

another thing, the new high end HD 7950 is said to be better than HD 6990, new XDR2 rambus technology is twice faster than GDDR5, so why don't you consider a room for upgrade ?

 

[Guest]

i agree with the HD 6990 in quad idea, but i don't agree with the HD 6950 in CF, i would suggest HD 6970 3 way CFX, you'll be dealing with a high resolution 5790x..and you don't need to have a lag of FPS while running Metro 2033 or Crysis2...

another thing, the new high end HD 7950 is said to be better than HD 6990, new XDR2 rambus technology is twice faster than GDDR5, so why don't you consider a room for upgrade ?

If you are to think about it AMD has been very late with bulldozer (more than 2q's and it may be a while to wait. I'd presonally would love 6990 even single but will I ever use what it can do? I mean in day-to-day basis on 2x23" full HD screens I get max screen FPS on max settings in all 43 steam games I got... That's with 6970 single.

 

[ilysaml]

2 monitors is not eyefinity, and yea for the AMD 7K series it's gonna be in 2012....
we all know that a single HD 6970 can drive up to 4 monitors, performance will be great on "non-demanding" games, 5760 × 1080 is not a normal resolution and FPS in games will lag on this resolution, see the benchmark below of metro 2033 it's GTX 580 4 way, it's 43 avg FPS
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=331025

 

[rolli59]

Is there a tremendous difference in performance between the two options?

I am looking to play games in Eyefinity at reasonably high graphics settings and good fps. I am not interested in running Crysis II at max AA and AF (although that would be cool!) Is the xfire 6950's enough? I am a bit biased after reading so many negative things about multiple processor cards, but I am not terrible knowledgeable about these cards. Most of my research seems to find sites and articles about pushing the limits of these cards and its not very helpful in truth since a lot come up with counter results to others.

There is a big difference one solution can get 100fps and the other one 150fps. The question is is it worth it buying a couple of $700cards that will be old in 2years because of new technology.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Radeon_HD_6950_CrossFire/21.html

 

[nythyx]

Best answer selected by nythyx.