6850 crossfire vs 7870

[huntsman]

Hey guys just wondering what to do here. I already have an XFX 6850 but Im wondering if I should get another 6850 or just stick with one because the 7870 is $350 where the 6850 is 160 and 140 after mail and rebate.

How well would the 2 6850 work compared to the 7870 ?

I read that 2 6870s compare to about a 7950 plus or minus so Im guessing 2 6850s should be equal to a 7870 plus or minus. Also is micro stuttering still a problem or has dual gpus got better now days ?

 

[rolli59]

A single is always better at the same performance level. It is more a question of funds which to go with.

 

[huntsman]

Thats what Im saying I can spend 140 and get another 6850 where here I would have to spend 350 to get the 7870. Kinda dont want to do that. The main questions is are 2 6850s performance even with the 7870 ? I feel like getting another 6850 would be the way to go, but if the difference in performance wont be big then there's no point.

 

[rolli59]

The 2x6850 is going to be close but there is the dual card issues (like micro stuttering) to take into account. Price wise it makes sense to go with the second HD6850.

 

[huntsman]

Alright, thanks for the help. I got check how deep my pockets are to decide what to go with. Also I read the micro stuttering is only visible in games like racing where everything moves quick.

 

[beltzy]

Hey huntsman. The most economical way to go is to add a second 6850 to the mix. You already own 1/2 of that setup. Running dual cards does have the potential to cause some headaches (driver problems, your perception of microstuttering, and some games that have poor driver support tend to suffer much worse under multi-gpu). The question you have to ask yourself is "are those potential issues worth the $210+ difference for the same general level of performance?"

Neither decision is really bad but the 6850 is still a pretty recent, pretty relevant card. Your other option is to wait a few weeks for more of NVidia's new lineup to come out which will put more downward pressure on prices.

 

[confish21]

Just buy another 6850 in say 4-6 weeks. Prices might drop a bit.

is your motherboard pcie 3.0 anyway? Its backwards compatible if its not but Im unsure if you could get the most out of a 7870 on an older MB.

 

[beltzy]

Pardon my poor recollection of performance charts. It looks like a pair of 6850's outperforms a 7870 by a pretty substantial margin.

SO. $130-$150 for another 6850 will give you better performance than $350 for a single 7870. In my opinion that's a bit of a no-brainer.

**(Something else to consider: I sold my pair of 5850's for $~250 and bought a pair of 560 ti's for ~$400 after a huge amount of disappointment in the AMD driver support for Skyrim. From a performance increase / price standpoint this wasn't a big increase for the $150 net cost; however it was important to me to be able to play new titles that I was excited about without dealing with a whole host of problems, glitches, and crashes. One bad release was enough to push me to switch to green camp for a trial run. These issues are a lot less likely with only one card whether you're on )**

 

[huntsman]

Thanks guys, Im going to buy another 6850

Also as for older games is it possible to just run off one card ? Does the ati control panel allow you to disable one of them or would you physically have to take it out?

 

[Buglas]

Why run off one card? if a game doesnt allow/enable cross-firing the card will just idle.. but the new drivers seem to work around that, well from what i've seen..

 

[Murissokah]

Yes, you can run just one card. There is a "crossfirex setting" on CCC that allows you to configure it for each app.

And Buglas, he has plenty reason to disable the second card on certain games. There is no point running both cards when one is more than enough, and some games run much better on a single card.

 

[huntsman]

thanks guys just finished by build today, I got 2 6850s hooked up and im pumped to try them out.

 

[Guest]

why buy too powerful gpu or cpu what you need, not all count pii and 3dmark with wet chair

 

[wigglerthefish]

why buy too powerful gpu or cpu what you need, not all count pii and 3dmark with wet chair

I think you need to get some sleep and come back with a clear head

 

[huntsman]

^ lol haha, Yeah I actually wish I would have gone for a 7850 its 250 and I spend 140 for one card and the first 6850 i bought I payed 180 but I could have just sold the one I had to my bro and then I would have had 140 plus il throw in the extra and i could of bought a 7850 which has 2gb. Should have thought this through lol. But I did wanted to try out crossfire

 

[wigglerthefish]

So how good is the crossfire? I have a single MSI R6850 PE/OC and am thinking about getting another. I'll have to check the prices on eBay... The problem is that I can't buy a 7850 now until selling the one I have, making my PC useless for the time being. Not good because I need it for school. :/

 

[huntsman]

ah I mean dont get me wrong its good and I play pretty much all games maxed out but like for bf3 I played around with the settings and I can play it on all high settings but i get microstuttering sometimes, it depends on the map. I just think 1 card is better, plus its quieter because you dont have fans roaring on both cards. Also i think most games are starting to require 2gb of video ram so its worth upgrading to a 7850 or 7870. At least thats what I think, I went for the crossfire because I never had it before.

 

[TheProudNoob]

I think I'm just going to wait until my current card can't handle new games. The 6850 I have currently (I'm wigglerthefish) should be sufficient. I'll probably switch to an 8xxx series or whatever is coming in a year or two.

 

[huntsman]

Sounds good, I just got myself a 7970 and I max out bf3 with ease now. Its awesome I actually enjoy playing it now lol.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey