6870 crossfire.

[furry87]

I have a sapphire radeon 6870 and i was wondering if i needed to get the same card again to crossfire, or if i can choose a different make and model.
It would be great if someone could recommend a good match up for it or if i just have to keep them the same.

I also have 3 GPU slots, 2 at gen 3.0 16x and one at 2nd generation 4x woulda third card be slow in the 2nd gen slot?

 

[venur]

I have a sapphire radeon 6870 and i was wondering if i needed to get the same card again to crossfire, or if i can choose a different make and model.
It would be great if someone could recommend a good match up for it or if i just have to keep them the same.

I also have 3 GPU slots, 2 at gen 3.0 16x and one at 2nd generation 4x woulda third card be slow in the 2nd gen slot?

same brand and model make it so much easier. When your using a different brand and/or model be ready for a lot of tweaking needed in order to make it work exept if your lucky.

 

[furry87]

What about 2nd gen 4x slot, i have also checked the interface on my card at the moment and it says pci-e 1.1 x16 @ x16 1.1 is that normal for msi z77a-g45 on a 3.0 slot?

 

[simon12]

A different brand is fine as long as they are clocked the same, though different models can work they only run like 2 of the slowest card so there is no reason to get a different model. The card in the 3rd slot would loose around 25% performance. Note a second card adds alot more FPS than a 3rd does but the 3rd helps minimise any micro stutter.

 

[simon12]

I just looked at a picture of the board and I don't think you can use the 3rd slot if a dual slot card is in slot 2 due to space.

 

[furry87]

So i guess i should stick with 2 than 3 in crossfire

 

[furry87]

so what would the 3rd slot be there for?

 

[rage33]

Brand of card doesn't matter, I run 1 XFX 6870 and 1 Powercolor 6870. When you crossfire it will automatically sync you're cards so they run at the same memory and core clock speeds. It will however run at whichever card has the lowest speeds.

 

[simon12]

so what would the 3rd slot be there for?

The only thing I can think is you could run a different type of expansion card in the 4x slot like a PCIE SSD or a thunderbolt port add on.

 

[simon12]

Just looked at the board specs again and the 3rd slot is 16X just 2.0 not 3.0 not that this makes any difference. Also the reason for the lack of space for 3 dual slot cards is so it fits in a standard case.