Looking to Crossfire

[jjack339]

I purchased a 6950 a bit ago, and will be looking to crossfire it in the near future. I am should be good with the PSU I have two from 6+2 Power adapters free (4 total) and it is a 750w PSU.

What is my best route.

Buy another 6950?
Will a 7850 be compatible to crossfire with it?
Sell the 6950 on Craigslist and get two 7850s? (if they are not compat)
Buy one 7970 and plan to buy a second in 1 year?

For the most part I am happy right now there is just a few instances where I want more juice. How should I go about getting that juice.

Oh yes, system specs

I5 2500k @ 4.6 GHZ
16GB DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengence
SSD+ 2TB HDD Setup
P8P67 PRO MOBO
GFX- XFX 2GB 6950

 

[jyjjy]

It's hard to say much about the HD7850 as it has yet to be released apart from that it cannot Crossfire with the 6950. The 7970 is not a good choice in terms of price/performance. Have you tried overclocking the HD6950?

 

[jjack339]

It's hard to say much about the HD7850 as it has yet to be released apart from that it cannot Crossfire with the 6950. The 7970 is not a good choice in terms of price/performance. Have you tried overclocking the HD6950?

yes I am currently OCing my 6950 @ 880, and 1350 Mem.

No this is my 1st build so I am lagging in some areas, but I was stable at those specs so I stuck with it. From what I have read the 6950 scales exceptionally well. And while I make good money, I definitly fall into the price performance zone with a slight emphasis on perf.

The issue I am seeing with the 6950 is it seems no one is selling it anymore. Might have to get a used one if I choose to crossfire with it.

Note- I have a Fulltower and whats I assume to be ample PSU so power consumption is only a minor factor.

 

[jyjjy]

That's a pretty low OC for the card. It can usually get over 1ghz if you bump up the voltage.

 

[jjack339]

That's a pretty low OC for the card. It can usually get over 1ghz if you bump up the voltage.

I am using a stock cooler. I have never had an issue when I had it at like 940, but I did 880 just to play it safe how can I tell if I am not at a good clock? What do you suggest I use to crossfire it? Me crossfiring it is more about future proofing as opposed to a current need.... basically if waiting 6 months is worth it, I will do

 

[hellfire24]

6950 xfire is a beast setup.750w should be fine(if it's a quality unit).

 

[jjack339]

6950 xfire is a beast setup.750w should be fine(if it's a quality unit).

my PSU is a quality brand, I believe I have the Corair 750TX M (Modular).


DO you suggest I buy a used card? Tiger no longer sells 6950 and and Neweggs is soldout.

 

[hellfire24]

that psu is enough.i don't like second hands.try other sites.amazon or ebuyer.

 

[jasont78]

I purchased a 6950 a bit ago, and will be looking to crossfire it in the near future. I am should be good with the PSU I have two from 6+2 Power adapters free (4 total) and it is a 750w PSU.

What is my best route.

Buy another 6950?
Will a 7850 be compatible to crossfire with it?
Sell the 6950 on Craigslist and get two 7850s? (if they are not compat)
Buy one 7970 and plan to buy a second in 1 year?

For the most part I am happy right now there is just a few instances where I want more juice. How should I go about getting that juice.

Oh yes, system specs

I5 2500k @ 4.6 GHZ
16GB DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengence
SSD+ 2TB HDD Setup
P8P67 PRO MOBO
GFX- XFX 2GB 6950

crossfire is great when it works but there is alot of inherent problems with it microstutters drive me mad, driver issues are constantly popping up and unless you get a 7 series card both cards are still cranking along even when on windows desktop where as the 7 series it will actually put one card in a sleep state, which will save power noise and heat all of which u dont want, i just got rid of my cf cards its a pain to get rid of 2 old gen cards, me personally i would hold out for nvidia to bring out their new stuff and cause amd to drop there prices and either get a high end amd single card setup or go with nvidia which ever gives the best bang for your buck. you can only mix cards within the series within the generation eg. with your 6950 you could cf it with a 6930/50/70 although its performance will always be determined by the slowest card so its in your financial best interests to mix only with 6950's. if your heart is set on a cf rig do it with a 7 series card

 

[serialkiller]

unlock 6950 to 6970 and u will see a big performance boost and oc it and u will have performance of 580 and xfire later when cards are available

 

[hellfire24]

^stop dreaming.

 

[alrobichaud]

crossfire is great when it works but there is alot of inherent problems with it microstutters drive me mad, driver issues are constantly popping up and unless you get a 7 series card both cards are still cranking along even when on windows desktop where as the 7 series it will actually put one card in a sleep state, which will save power noise and heat all of which u dont want, i just got rid of my cf cards its a pain to get rid of 2 old gen cards, me personally i would hold out for nvidia to bring out their new stuff and cause amd to drop there prices and either get a high end amd single card setup or go with nvidia which ever gives the best bang for your buck. you can only mix cards within the series within the generation eg. with your 6950 you could cf it with a 6930/50/70 although its performance will always be determined by the slowest card so its in your financial best interests to mix only with 6950's. if your heart is set on a cf rig do it with a 7 series card

I keep hearing about crossfire problems but I have yet to see them with the 6xxx series. 6930? Are you sure? If you can find another 6950 to crossfire it will give you about the same performance as the 7970 for a heck of a lot less money. Too bad they are sold out everywhere. If you can find an xfx or msi used that would be nice since you will still have the warranty which is based on the serial number so the risk is minimal. Otherwise, a 7970 would be your best bet.

You can also get a 6970 and crossfire it with the 6950 and the 6970 will default to operate at the level of the 6950. You can increase the clocks of the 6950 and aside from missing a few stream processors, it will operate close to the level of the 6970.

 

[alrobichaud]

BTW, there are lot's of new 6950's on ebay and if you get one from a reputable seller it will be covered under manufacturer warranty. I bought a couple of refurb gtx 460's from nxic on ebay for $130 each and got two $40 mail in rebates from msi.