Disadvantages of Going Crossfire Against Single Card- True?

[pacman_74]

Hello.

Planning on assembling a PC to replace my old one. Thinking of getting two HD6850/6870s in crossfire instead of buying a GTX570. But friends have told me that going CF will have disadvantages like increased power draw and needing a watercooling solution.

Are these true? Now I'm second guessing myself and need some quick guidance. Should I proceed with the CF config or should I go with the single card instead? Appreciate the inputs.

 

[amuffin]

cf will increase temps by a ton, however the gtx 570 would be a better option, as the mins will be much higher than the dual card solution.

 

[reaxion]

Hello.

Planning on assembling a PC to replace my old one. Thinking of getting two HD6850/6870s in crossfire instead of buying a GTX570. But friends have told me that going CF will have disadvantages like increased power draw and needing a watercooling solution.

Are these true? Now I'm second guessing myself and need some quick guidance. Should I proceed with the CF config or should I go with the single card instead? Appreciate the inputs.

i run cf 5870's and have no problem at all and i am 100% air cooled, and they use more power then 6870 or 6850 and those solutions will out perform the 570 any day. id go cf, you'll get a better bang for your buck.

 

[jaguarskx]

I prefer a single power card. Not all games support XFire or SLI and fewer driver issues too.

 

[bystander]

I prefer single cards, and if you were to crossfire/sli, I believe it should be on higher end cards.

If you do go crossfire/sli, get a motherboard which has it's PCIe slots at least 3 slots a part so that you have good airflow for both cards.

 

[mcnumpty23]

have to say i have always went with the one high end card because of some of the reasons already mentioned--such as

Not all games support XFire or SLI and fewer driver issues too.

and temperature increases in your case depending on how well ventilated it is--and more noise from 2 cards

havent found any games yet my overclocked gtx570 wont run at 1920 x 1200--in fact most of them are capped at

60fps by vsync

its a personal choice but googling cross fire problems has always been enough to put me off

 

[monsta]

Single cards are the more reliable option.
It's always best to buy the fastest single card you can afford and use the xfire/sli as an option later when its time for an upgrade, best to have a stronger based single card even if you dont plan on doing it.

 

[pacman_74]

Best answer selected by pacman_74.