6970 crossfire or 6950 for battlefield 3.

[dwaight]

Hey all ..

I was just thinking of upgrading my PC for Battlefield 3. ( new gpu's)
as they say in the preview you will need get a 6990 or a gtx590 for good frame rates to have. ( ultra + AAx )

these are my current specs of my PC.

CPU: AMD Phenom X4 965 Black Edition@3.4Ghz

GPU: Sapphire 6870 1GB ( its bad ) it isl DX11 Un-friendly / AAX

MOTHERBOAR GA-MA790X-UD3P (six core supported and CrossfireX)

RAM: 4GB DRR2 ' i know ddr2 but it doesnt affect the fps.

1TB HDD

PSU 650W ( need to be upgraded to 750 if i going to get x2 gpu's not sure yet )

I was thinking of buying x2 6970 ->> = 6990 (the 7000 series were almost there but I can not wait .. am so impatient ...: /

my budget is around 800 euros..

Any tips are welcome..

800 will be crap, but we will see.

my resulution is 1680x1050. but i want to get good fps on battlefield 3 with AAx And HBOA and stuff.


BTW sorry for my bad english. still improving..

 

[solomonshv]

a single 6950. take one of the overclocked ones with a twin fan cooler, like the twin frozr III from MSI. and you are good to go. dont give your self a headache.

For an HD 6950 or a GTX 570, resolution of 1680x1050 is nothing. either cards will eat through it. Hell, you can go one step further an get a GTX 560 Ti factory overclocked to 900Mhz and save another $60. and still max it out. a GTX 560 Ti at 950Mhz or so will match both the GTX 570 or the HD 6950 at that resolution.


Cross fire drivers sucks furry nuts. BF 3 Beta and Crysis 2 both run way smoother with 1 card @ 1080P with everything enabled and maxed out. At least for me they did

 

[Rustyy117]

2 x HD6970's will max it out at your res, so will the HD6990 or GTX590.

The GTX590 has a bad power phase design so not great for overclocking, the HD6990 is apparently very loud under load, thats why I went for HD6970's

Any chance you can overclock that CPU?

 

[solomonshv]

omgitzfatal brought something to my attention.

Anything with more power then a single HD 6970 or GTX 570 is a waste. Your CPU wont be able to feed the card with data fast enough.

I have a pair of 6970s with an Intel i5 2500K @ 4.0GHz, and I think the CPU is bottle necking me at this point. Both of the 6970s I have are running at 940 Core.

 

[dwaight]

Hey thanks for you post.

well i build my pc. BUT i never overlcocked anything.

do i need to upgrade my cpu to?

 

[solomonshv]

sorry to be the barrel of bad news, but if you want cross fire of HD 6900 series cards, then yes. If you stick with one HD 6950, then no.

 

[dwaight]

sorry to be the barrel of bad news, but if you want cross fire of HD 6900 series cards, then yes. If you stick with one HD 6950, then no.

Could you tell me wich AMD CPU i need ? Amd phenom x6 1100T? if so.

then i going to crossfire x2 6950? i will it max bf3 on my res?.

 

[Rustyy117]

You don't have to upgrade, you could just get a decent CPU cooler and overclock, you should be able to get 4 Ghz out of it.

If you do want to upgrade then wait for AMD Bulldozer in a few weeks or go Sandybridge

 

[dwaight]

You don't have to upgrade, you could just get a decent CPU cooler and overclock, you should be able to get 4 Ghz out of it.

If you do want to upgrade then wait for AMD Bulldozer in a few weeks or go Sandybridge

Ye , but as you said with Crossfireing the 6950 will bottleneck the 965?

 

[Rustyy117]

No your 965 may bottleneck the HD6970's/HD6990/GTX590... You'll still be able to max bf3 out, however your framerate won't be as high as it should be due to your CPU being too slow.

 

[solomonshv]

Could you tell me wich AMD CPU i need ? Amd phenom x6 1100T? if so.

then i going to crossfire x2 6950? i will it max bf3 on my res?.

I don't think that is much of an upgrade. It's pretty much the same CPU with 2 extra core. As great as that sounds, most games don't use more then 2 or 3 anyway. Wait a week or two for Bulldozer. They would have a model @ $200 that will match the 2500K. 1100T at this point in the game is a serious waste of cash, especially coming from a 965 BE.

But to answer your question, I don't think that will help. But back to what I said before, a SINGLE hd 6950 with your CPU will max out BF at your resolution. But when you drop a second one in, then you will bottleneck. Don't waste your money. I was playing the BF 3 demo at 1080p just now, everything maxed out, smooth as butter on a single HD 6970. not to mention with unoptimized drivers

You don't have to upgrade, you could just get a decent CPU cooler and overclock, you should be able to get 4 Ghz out of it.

If you do want to upgrade then wait for AMD Bulldozer in a few weeks or go Sandybridge

He said he won't overclock, I wanted to suggest that. But you are right, wait for Bulldozer. He should wait for bulldozer. he wont even have to get a new motherboard.

 

[dwaight]

No your 965 may bottleneck the HD6970's/HD6990/GTX590... You'll still be able to max bf3 out, however your framerate won't be as high as it should be due to your CPU being too slow.

so.. overclocking the 965 Black edition to 4Ghz wont bottleneck it then?

 

[solomonshv]

so.. overclocking the 965 Black edition to 4Ghz wont bottleneck it then?

a 965 @ 4.0GHz should be on par or better then a 2500K at stock speeds. so you would be ok then. that overclock makes all the difference in the world.

 

[dwaight]

a 965 @ 4.0GHz should be on par or better then a 2500K at stock speeds. so you would be ok then. that overclock makes all the difference in the world.

The Problem is wich CPU cooler will i need ? and i cannot overclock...

I was thinking of the Corsair H70.

 

[solomonshv]

The Problem is wich CPU cooler will i need ? and i cannot overclock...

I was thinking of the Corsair H70.

H70 is a great cooler. probably the best choice. maybe even an overkill. I use this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118054

it works wonders for me. I know that newegg wont ship to you, but I just wanted to show you the product page.

 

[dwaight]

H70 is a great cooler. probably the best choice. maybe even an overkill. I use this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118054

it works wonders for me. I know that newegg wont ship to you, but I just wanted to show you the product page.

Ok thanks...

Ow ! and i got this Motherboard over here -> http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3107#ov

this should be good for crossfireing the 6950's right?'

And overclocking with MSIafterburner?

Dont know how to OC.

 

[solomonshv]

Ok thanks...

Ow ! and i got this Motherboard over here -> http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3107#ov

this should be good for crossfireing the 6950's right?'

And overclocking with MSIafterburner?

Dont know how to OC.

that motherboard will do fine. you get 8 lanes per PCI E slot when using dual GPUs, so you are good to go.

Overclocking is easy, but MSI afterburner does not play nice with Catalyst Control Center. If you want to use MSI Afterburner, then you should just install the drivers and skip CCC when installing the cards. I learned that the hard way. Dont let any of this discourage you, it is very easy. there are a billion guides online on how to use Afterburner.

this may help http://www.bjorn3d.com/articles/Overclocking_with_MSI_Afterburner/1702.html

 

[solomonshv]

this too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWxCcscrrjM

but don't get carried away. increase clocks with small increments. an HD 6950 will overclock to 850MHz easy. after that, you have to go a little at a time (10MHz) and play with the card to insure stability.

 

[dwaight]

that motherboard will do fine. you get 8 lanes per PCI E slot when using dual GPUs, so you are good to go.

Overclocking is easy, but MSI afterburner does not play nice with Catalyst Control Center. If you want to use MSI Afterburner, then you should just install the drivers and skip CCC when installing the cards. I learned that the hard way. Dont let any of this discourage you, it is very easy. there are a billion guides online on how to use Afterburner.

this may help http://www.bjorn3d.com/articles/Overclocking_with_MSI_Afterburner/1702.html

Thanks for the link !

will read it.

but im going to buy from this site. Becaus its in my country ( belgium ) and i get it in like 2 3 days.

But how do i see wich 6950 card is CROSSFIREX READY?

http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/r/6950

again thanks for the link.

 

[dwaight]

this too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWxCcscrrjM

but don't get carried away. increase clocks with small increments. an HD 6950 will overclock to 850MHz easy. after that, you have to go a little at a time (10MHz) and play with the card to insure stability.

Watching the vid right now.

 

[solomonshv]

Thanks for the link !

will read it.

but im going to buy from this site. Becaus its in my country ( belgium ) and i get it in like 2 3 days.

But how do i see wich 6950 card is CROSSFIREX READY?

http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/r/6950

again thanks for the link.

every single 6950 in existence is crossfire ready. every single one can crossfire with 1 or even 2 other 6950s from any brand.

 

[dwaight]

every single 6950 in existence is crossfire ready. every single one can crossfire with 1 or even 2 other 6950s from any brand.

Oh didnt know that ! becus on the boxes of some video cards there is written 'Crossfire Ready' and on some there isnt.

so if i want i could just crossfire these ? http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/8741652/art/msi/radeon-hd-6950-twin-frozr.html

Thanks for reply.

 

[solomonshv]

Oh didnt know that ! becus on the boxes of some video cards there is written 'Crossfire Ready' and on some there isnt.

so if i want i could just crossfire these ? http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/8741652/art/msi/radeon-hd-6950-twin-frozr.html

Thanks for reply.

yep, you can crossfire 2 or 3 of these. 3 way crossfire can only be achieved with a motherboard that supports it. your board does NOT. But 2 cards is already an overkill.

 

[solomonshv]

here is a picture of the of that card:

the connectors you see at the top corner are for crossfire.

 

[dwaight]

yep, you can crossfire 2 or 3 of these. 3 way crossfire can only be achieved with a motherboard that supports it. your board does NOT. But 2 cards is already an overkill.

indeed.

do i need to overclock my CPU first to 4.0Ghz before I put my 2 video cards in it?

Becaus some 1 said here im going to bottleneck those @ 3.4Ghz.