Time to Upgrade or crossfire?

[adam_x_brookes]

hey everyone at Tom's

I am thinking about upgrading my Computers gfx card ( Im starting to notice low fps on dx11 games such as BF3 ) + extended desktop has constant artifacts.

I am wondering whether it would be worth upgrading my power suply and buying a second HD5870 around £200-ish
or just leaving my PSU and buying a straight out better card ( around £200 budget)?

My computer is used for gaming at 1980 x 1080, Programming (XnA games for windows phone/xbox), and some 3D redering.

My specs should be in my sig, I prefer Radeon cards as my motherboard is x8/x8 crossfire compatible, and I have always used these cards.

My questions are:

would you recomend a new card or crossfire with a PSU ugrade?
Do you think my processor is still ample for gaming ( would'nt bottlebeck any gfx upgrade I did )

Thanks for your time

Adam

 

[computernerdforlife]

Processor limited for that title. Crossfire would help with the memory bottleneck but there's nothing like a good benchmark on the internet with a more modern processor to verify this build on BF3.

Personally, if possible, an upgrade to i2500k system with a solid graphics card would be in the works.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

really? It is clocked at 3.9ghz? and that is well out of my budget I only have around £200 free money to spend. Im a student you see. Most I could do is upgrade maybe motherboard and processor its a bottleneck issue.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

what PSU do you currently have?

as your going to have to spend a fair amount more that 200 to outperform 5870's in Crossfire.

about the only thing that beats 5870's in CFX is a 590, 6990. a 7970 is about the same as 2x 5870's in crossfire.

 

[HugoStiglitz]

there would be little diff changing ur CPU to a 2500k.

I went from a 1090T @3.96ghz to a 2700k @ 4.5ghz and i did not feel alot of real word impact. (in games anyway)

 

[adam_x_brookes]

I've got 500W Corsair Builder Series 500CX V2 80PLUS Power Supply
https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies+-+PSUs/Non-Modular+650W+or+less/500W+Corsair+Builder+Series+500CX+V2+80PLUS+Power+Supply+?productId=42489

But there is no chance that would run two of them in crossfire right? I saw a second hand HD5870 but £120 today and it got me thinking...

 

[HugoStiglitz]

Nice PSU but I think will struggle in CFX


ATI Radeon™ HD5870 System Requirements

• PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
• 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in • dual mode)

i would look at 750w+ to be sure tho.

 

[adam_x_brookes]

so you would say that upgrading to a new PSU and buying a second hand HD5870 would be the way to go... and last me a couple of years?