BF3 - new gpu today - HELP!

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hatebreeder

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current specs:
intel i7 940 @ 2.93 ghz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
12 gigs of corsair dominator ram
hds: 2 x WD velociraptor 150gb in raid 0
GPU: gtx 295
powersupply: corsair 1kw modular (bluebox)
windows 7 64bit
gaming resolution : 1920 x 1080

i need to upgrade my gpu and have the day off so i was gonna stroll up to frys and get some new parts. need help though.

1.) what is better 1 nvidia 580 or 2X radeon 6970s?

2.) i assume the 6970's but are they going to be that much better than 1 580? is it gonna be worth the cash, to me if im getting a decent amount more FPS than its worth it, but if the increase is minimal or un-noticeable id rather get 1 580 and a new SSD.

3.) i have never run SLI/CF before. do i need to do anything special other than plugging them both in and connecting them together?

4.) any other advice you can give? i think when i bought my mobo it came with the connection peice for both gpus but im not sure if i still have it... is that something that would come with 2 new gpus if i went that route?

thanks in advance. ill be monitoring this thread all morning and will reply with any additional questions quickly, i am wanting to leave in the next couple hours.

:bounce:

 
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ilysaml
1- 2 HD 6970s/50s in CF is better than a single GTX 580 and better than 2 570s in SLI (generally AMD HD 6K series scales better than nVidia's)
2- HD 6970s in CF perfroms better than a single HD 6990 or GTX 590 in some cases.
3- No, just ensure you provide a proper cooling for the case, and the Crossfire bridge comes with most AMD HD 6K series...no worries.

4- you don't have to go with a 6970s in CF as a single one will do the job, and you better wait for the AMD 7K series as the new XDR2 rambus memory is said to be twice faster than GDDR5 besides the 1GHz GPU frequency, 28nm process = less power & less heat... a signle high end GPU such as HD 7950 is going to perform close to if not better than HD 6990....
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phishy714

phishy714

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Actually I dont think your motherboard supports Crossfire (AMD's version of dual cards) cause its an older motherboard.

This means that Xfire any AMD cards is out of the picture. Like wakanabi said, either get two 560ti's in SLI to smoke a single gtx580, or you can opt for two 570's (the equivalent of 6970's) in SLI to completely blow the 580 away. Your PSU will be fine for either thing you decide.

As for the SLI bridge, no, most cards don't come with the bridges, but some do, so make sure you take a look at the box to see if it does come with it. If it doesn't I am sure Fry's will have them to sell seperately without much issue. And yes, you DO NEED THE BRIDGE lol.

You will need to download special drivers from Nvidia for the sli feature to be enabled.. other than that just watch out for heat. Your PCI-e slots in that mobo are spread out far enough that there will be a space between the two cards, which is great, but you still need good ventilation in your case to be able to keep the cards cool.

Otherwise, enjoy!

--edt--

Oh, nevermind I didn't know it did take xfire.

In that case go for 2 AMD cards, either the 6970's or the 6950's (which replace the 570 and the 560ti respectively). The reason for this is because AMD cards scale much better than nvidia cards when using more than one. This means that xfire 6970's will perform better than sli 570's. And yes, these in xfire will obliterate a single gtx 580.
 
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ilysaml

ilysaml

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1- 2 HD 6970s/50s in CF is better than a single GTX 580 and better than 2 570s in SLI (generally AMD HD 6K series scales better than nVidia's)
2- HD 6970s in CF perfroms better than a single HD 6990 or GTX 590 in some cases.
3- No, just ensure you provide a proper cooling for the case, and the Crossfire bridge comes with most AMD HD 6K series...no worries.

4- you don't have to go with a 6970s in CF as a single one will do the job, and you better wait for the AMD 7K series as the new XDR2 rambus memory is said to be twice faster than GDDR5 besides the 1GHz GPU frequency, 28nm process = less power & less heat... a signle high end GPU such as HD 7950 is going to perform close to if not better than HD 6990....
 
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wakanabi

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True dat. 7k series is gonna blow nvidia outta the water, same as the new AMD 'Bulldozer' Processors will, and better price.
Yeah if you can do crossfire get 6950s, only $230 a piece($200 after rebate), can't go wrong with that
 
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phishy714

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Source please? lol

I am a huge fan of AMD, i really am. But coupled with the fact that these cpu's have been in development for 3 years and we still barely know anything about them.. not to mention the fact that they said they would be competing with last gen intel cpu (i7-960 or whatever).. yeah I am not optimistic. Hell, Intel's next CPU's, the i7-3800 or whatever, we arleady have some preliminary benchmarks and previews for.. This whole time, bulldozer we only know rumors of. Doesn't seem like the company is too confident about these cpu's. Also, hd 7000 will be pci-e 3.0 cards... yet bulldozer most likely will not be a pci-e 3.0 cpu like the upcoming Ivy Bridge. Yeah, AMD just lost all of its enthusiast crowd to Intel for that reason alone..

Once again, I love AMD to death.. I just can't see them pulling something out of thin air that will match/beat intel at this point. And lets say that they do manage to match and even beat intel cpu's. Congrats, you guys just beat a cpu thats a year old.. you will be beaten again in 6 months with IB, yet you probably don't have very much at all in the works to compete with that.

In all honesty, I HOPE that AMD comes out and beats intel, if anything to keep prices low, because if they don't, Intel prices will skyrocket and we will all be screwed
 
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ilysaml

ilysaml

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oh.... you still not convinced at all.....
even if it's 20 GB, the HD 6970s will beat it, the GPU Clock, stream processors, transistors are the most determinate factors of a GPU strength, not the VRAM.

you better look at benchmarks instead of asking the same question over and over and being doubtful
 
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hatebreeder

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ilysaml, no disrespect intended. this model was not one i listed so i wanted to make sure that this was in the loop before i made a decision that costs me several hundred dollars. i appreciate ALL of the opinions and responses in this thread. im leaning towards 2x 6970's at this point.
 
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milhouse2

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What problems are nvidia cards having? The early beta benchmarks show nvidia cards having higher fps.
 
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swifty_morgan

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I've been playing at 1920x1200 on a 6950 2gig card without a hiccup. Your hardware is better than mine sans card. The 560sli thing. the numbers may be higher but the actual performance will be lacking. If you have money...... 6950/6970 2gig.... or a single 580. may as well use the horsepower you have.
 
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hatebreeder

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ok guys, pretty much sold on 2 6970's, didnt pull the trigger yet as its been a busy couple of days. last question. for about $330 (after rebate w/ lifetime warranty) i can get the standard 2 gb card with the 880mhx clock from xfx - for about $30 more i can the 900 mhx clock from gigabyte (no lifetime warranty.) does it really matter to get a little bit more core clock when im gonna crossfire them anyway? is it gonna pay off for the extra $60 total?

thanks again, also XFX, good brand? ive been nvidia (bfg,evga) for the last 10 years.
 
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ilysaml

ilysaml

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XFX, Sapphire, Gigabyte, MSI are all good brands, and btw Sapphire is the best partner for AMD and i have been using their products since the X1900.....

i would get the gigabyte for the better cooling solution, also check reviews on it before you buy... No worry about warranty, if the card will run for 3 years without problems, it will last more than that and in this gaming era, HD 6970 might become useless after 3 years
 
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hatebreeder

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so gigabyte just for the cooling? extra clock doesnt really matter? so if i am looking at all of the 6970's on newegg how do i determine which is gonna be the best for cooling? btw, im running an antec 1300 and added an additional 90mm on the side blowing in so i shoudl have plenty of cooling regardless.
 
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ilysaml

ilysaml

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you can overclock the extra 20-MHz with any standard GPU with eyes closed....
all reference designed cards run hotter and noisy than non-ref designed cards.
non-ref designed cards give a better cooling solution, more headroom for overclocking, i never go above 82 in full GPU load.
* i looked at newegg before i post above, the Asus is good also but will take 3 slots for a single GPU (and it's really a big problem)
* the MSI Twin Frozer sounds better than MSI lightening, so i choose gigabyte for myself....
 
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