Crossfire question

[horst_wessel]

Hi there,

I am looking for the best way to upgrade my system.

My current system is:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-890XA-UD3 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

GPU: HIS H585FN1GD Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

My motherboard has one PCI-e sloy running at X16, the second is X8.

So here is what I'm trying to find out:

- If I'm to run a Crossfire, should I get another PCI Express 2.1 card or can I do PCI Express 2.0?
- Is it worth getting a better card than the one I already have, or will it be bottlenecked by my current card?
- Should I even bother with Crossfire, or My CPU will bottleneck my GPU setup rendering it redundant?
- Lastly: (not really a Crossfire/GPU question)- my CPU slot is AM3, meaning the best CPU I can use is Phenom II X6 1100t. Is it worth the investment (currenly can be found for ~$230)

Thank you!

 

[chugot9218]

To crossfire you would have to get another 5850, and I don't believe they make a separate 2.0 model, they can vary by manufacturer and memory amount but not by family.

 

[Rockdpm]

2.0, 2.1 they both the same thing basically. I think its just AMD's way of saying oh the bandwidth is .1 more than 2.0! So any 5850 that is 2.1 will support 2.0. Also when you crossfire,the X16 and the x8 should even out to both being at x8 to compensate. Unless that theory only works for x16 and x16

 

[horst_wessel]

To crossfire you would have to get another 5850, and I don't believe they make a separate 2.0 model, they can vary by manufacturer and memory amount but not by family.

I was under the impression that a 5800 series GPU (e.g. my 5850) can run together with another 5800 series GPU (e.g. 5870). Am I wrong about it?

 

[wkdsean1988]

yes a 5850 will run with a 5870 but the 5870 will run at 5850 clocks

 

[jsrudd]

When crossfiring, you want to use two of the same card for maximum efficiency. While crossfire will work with two different cards, the faster card will be limited by the slower card.

It will probably be hard to find another 5850 card, and it might be cost effective to just upgrade to a newer faster 7xxx card.

 

[lchrisk]

I wouldn't crossfire. If you can save up around $150, you can get a real nice graphic card like the 6870, and it wouldn't bottleneck at all. The phenom is very worthy, and if you can stretch your budget even more, get a 7850. Also, I wouldn't go with the phenom ll 6, unless you're gonna multitask a lot and stuff like that.

 

[horst_wessel]

Would it worth it then to CrossFire if I get another 5850 for $100 on, say, eBay?

Will my CPU (Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz) bottleneck the performance?

 

[Rockdpm]

its best to have a high tier single card over 2 lower or mid end gpus

 

[horst_wessel]

I reckon CrossFire isn't such a usefull technology after all...

 

[nbelote]

When it comes to topping out new systems? Yes, it's great, but when you're in a situation like you are with older equipment and being surrounded by cheap, faster and newer cards.... no, it's not useful to *you.*

 

[horst_wessel]

Thank you. I guess the answer is to get a better GPU- which leaves me with one question: will my CPU interfere with its performance (Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz)?

 

[lchrisk]

Thank you. I guess the answer is to get a better GPU- which leaves me with one question: will my CPU interfere with its performance (Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz)?

As I stated previously, the Phenom II x4 is a very worthy processor. There will be no bottlenecking.

 

[Rockdpm]

6870 and a Phenom II 955 should walk hand in hand. They might not agree some times but for the most part you gotta happy pair

 

[horst_wessel]

Best answer selected by horst_wessel.