What benefits from HD6870 Xfire in Battlfield 3

[islandah]

What's going on peoples, Just a quick few questions for the experts at Tom's Hardware. So I finally got Battlefield 3 for my Rig (Specs: FX-6100 @ 4.2GHZ, Asus M5A99X EVO Mobo, 16gb Kingston Hyper X genesis @1600 MHZ, Sapphire HD6870 1GB DDR5, 730w Raidmax Hybrid 2 PSU, Seagate Barracud 1.5tb) So here is my first question, Will this PSU be able to handle a Xfire setup? The PSU only came with one set of PCI connectors, I did notice the GPU came with Molex adapters though, Will this work for my next HD6870 Card? My next question is mainly for the everyone who has had hands on with the card and BF3. I currently get mid 30 to mid 20 on Ultra setting. I was wondering how much more of a gain will I receive in Xfire? FPS? I really like my current set up by the way, so telling me to get rid of my bulldozer is probably not going to happen..lol. Actually since my overclock to 4.2GHZ BF3 has not used more then 45% of my CPU, so It's good enough for me. SWTOR at mid 20%. Thanks for the time and I hope that I can get some info from the Professionals here at Tom's Hardware.

 

[warhead0]

1. Yes, your 730w PSU can handle 2x HD6870's, each GPU can pull as much as 250w of power.

2. Yes, you can use molex to 6(+2) pin connectors, that's why they include them

3. I can't really give an accurate answer to your expected frame rates when using X fire, however if you can run ultra at 20-30FPS, then a second GPU will absolutely help you achieve a smoother gaming experience or at least 60+ FPS.

Also your CPU is fine, Modern games tend to rely more on your GPU horse power than your CPU power.

 

[SinisterSalad]

I've been running XFire 6870's since BF3 launched. Up until a few weeks ago, I was running them with a Phenom II 945 CPU. I ran some benchmarks on Firestorm. I was averaging 42fps on Ultra 1080p. That will probably be close to expect with your FX CPU. I upgraded to a i5 2500k, and benched it at 56-60FPS on Ultra. I also went from doing Eyefinity with the 945/XFire combo at 28FPS in LOW, to playable framerates on medium settings. What a difference a CPU makes. I have my benches in an Excel spreadsheet.

Also, My 600 watt PSU only has two PCIE connections, so I'm using the adapters just fine for one of the cards.

 

[islandah]

Thanks for the responses, I think 40fps is good for me being that I play on ultra at 2x at around 40fps and is just perfect for me. I honestly am not a fanboy of AMD because this was my very first build ever. I can say that I have Purchasers pride though. Non the less switching to an Intel build would cost too much at the moment, so I am hoping my AMD Scorpius build will last at least till a better AMD chip comes out or tax return so I can join the blue side (intel)

 

[SinisterSalad]

I'm sure you'll be better than my 945 was, seeing as it was only clocked @ 3.3 GHz when I had it.

 

[islandah]

I'm sure you'll be better than my 945 was, seeing as it was only clocked @ 3.3 GHz when I had it.

Glad you got rid of your bottleneck, You can take advantage of such good graphics cards now, I am more then impress with the kind of power my 6870 has for being a 159 dollar card. I feel like it's my bottleneck till I get another, also my harddrive I think might be a bottleneck for me.