Help choosing which 6950's for crossfire setup

[G6ET1987]

Hey guys,

I am stuck between which 6950's to buy for a crossfire setup:

MSI 6950 2gb Twin Frozr III PE/OC
Sapphire 6950 2GB Toxic Edition

The Toxic appears to be the better single card, however I am a little concerned with heat as there doesn't seem to be much spacing allowed on my mobo. Has anyone had experience with either of these two cards temp wise in crossfire?

As I will be using eyefinity I want to get as much out of the cards as I can, but not if there will be temp issues.


Relevant Specs:
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
CPU: i7 930 @ 3.36 (Will be further OC'ed)
CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Case (4x Case Fans)
CPU COOLER: Corsair H80

 

[G6ET1987]

Sorry I should have mentioned why I was looking at the Toxic in the first place, as far as I am aware they have the ability to unlock the extra shaders as per a 6970 with ease.

This may be a plus when looking at running eyefinity resolutions?

 

[ilysaml]

Sorry I should have mentioned why I was looking at the Toxic in the first place, as far as I am aware they have the ability to unlock the extra shaders as per a 6970 with ease.

This may be a plus when looking at running eyefinity resolutions?

That would be a good point too, but the Toxic is much more a reference card which means that it will run hotter and noisy than then MSI Twin Frozer.
I would get the MSI Twin Frozers too, non reference cards runs cooler with less noise and give more headroom for OCing, you'll get a performance boost close to the HD 6970 when you OC them.

 

[DarkRift--2012]

Hey guys,

I am stuck between which 6950's to buy for a crossfire setup:

MSI 6950 2gb Twin Frozr III PE/OC
Sapphire 6950 2GB Toxic Edition

The Toxic appears to be the better single card, however I am a little concerned with heat as there doesn't seem to be much spacing allowed on my mobo. Has anyone had experience with either of these two cards temp wise in crossfire?

As I will be using eyefinity I want to get as much out of the cards as I can, but not if there will be temp issues.


If you want to sli 6950's go with the MSI's or the HIS X Turbo X 880 mhz's. If you want a 6970 invest the extra 50 to 70. The Toxic is loud and very hot. Yes it does Bio to a " 6970 " but at what cost--other than financial? The HIS " X Turbo X " is a top- notch card, sli'd they rock; without the heat and noise.


Relevant Specs:
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
CPU: i7 930 @ 3.36 (Will be further OC'ed)
CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Case (4x Case Fans)
CPU COOLER: Corsair H80

If you want to sli 6950's go with the MSI's or the HIS X Turbo X 880 mhz's. If you want a 6970 invest the extra 50 to 70. The Toxic is loud and very hot. Yes it does Bio to a " 6970 " but at what cost--other than financial? The HIS " X Turbo X " is a top- notch card, sli'd they rock; without the heat and noise.

 

[scopey86]

I'd use the Twin Frozr. Bystander has posted a good bit of information on how to unlock the 6950s to a 6970 by modifying the current bios on the 6950 instead of flashing it to the 6970, which has a higher chance of messing up your card. Check out the posts in this thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/315846-33-r6950-issues-help

 

[G6ET1987]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Funnily enough (or not so funny) the shop I am sourcing all my gear from is now out of stock on the TFIII cards as of yesterday. I am talking to them at the moment about when they will be due in and trying to find another australian store that has 2 in stock.

Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

[G6ET1987]

Yeah that is where I was getting them from originally unfortunately, so I got in contact with them and were really helpful but explained that the shipment from the supplier has been delayed with no ETA.