Is cross fire worth a shot?

[liamcrane]

Hi all,

I have been trying to decide if going for a cross fire is really going to be worth giving a shot or not. Im really keen to give it a go as i have never tried it out before but i would really like some advice on the best way to go about it.

At the moment i have a single Asus 5850 with an unlocked voltage control with my dual monitor setup. They are only 20" screens so my max rez is 1600x900. I was looking to see the price of another Asus 5850 but OCUK dont seem to stock this model anymore

I have a PII 955 so a fairly good gaming cpu imo, my main set back is my board only has 1 pci 16x slot, im not really up to date with the latest good cross fire boards and i dont think there are to many am2+ ones around either.

Anyways if anyone could give me some advice on there cross fire setups or even the best way to approach it id be really grateful

Thanks very much

 

[Cleeecooo]

With you current setup i would just upgrade. If you get a new proceSsor and mobo yhen maybe crossfire would b advisable. The 5850 Is good in crossfire. Atm your cpu will probably bottleneck your graphics. Hold back for a while

 

[MoRT489]

I tried crossfire with 5870s for about a month, didnt like it cos of the extra heat (literally warming the room up) and noise (audible above the game sounds). Glad i tried it cos i had wanted to give it a go for years but cant recommend it.

 

[icehot666]

I tried crossfire with 5870s for about a month, didnt like it cos of the extra heat (literally warming the room up) and noise (audible above the game sounds). Glad i tried it cos i had wanted to give it a go for years but cant recommend it.

If ur in the UK atm, then warming the room up might be a nice idea

 

[powdaman]

surely a 955 OC @ 3.8GHz wont bottleneck the Graphics cards? Please advise as I'm thinking of going SLI by getting a 2nd GTX580 but will reconsider if that CPU isnt going to hack it...

 

[han_solo]

With you current setup i would just upgrade. If you get a new proceSsor and mobo yhen maybe crossfire would b advisable. The 5850 Is good in crossfire. Atm your cpu will probably bottleneck your graphics. Hold back for a while

I'm not all that techie but OP's cpu and stated frequency will definitely not bottleneck anything!

You sound like someone who works for a company trying to get people to upgrade unnecessarily

 

[w00dy85]

I would have thought a PII 955 at 3.8GHz would be fine with any GPU SLi or Crossfire.

 

[liamcrane]

My PII 955 C2 is OC to 3.7ghz at 1.4v so i would like to think that it would not bottleneck at cross fire setup. The only thing for me at the mo is the cost of the upgrade. With hardly iny good am2+ cross fire boards i would have to go AM3 which means new RAM as well.

I really like the look of the cross hair baord
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-339-AS

At £99 its a bit of a bargin i think but im not to sure what the best ddr3 ram would be to go with it. I could sell off my old board and ram to help the cost of the upgrade

 

[krooton]

I tried crossfire with 5870s for about a month, didnt like it cos of the extra heat (literally warming the room up) and noise (audible above the game sounds). Glad i tried it cos i had wanted to give it a go for years but cant recommend it.

I must have great case airflow then, as my crossfired 5850 don't add much to overall system temps, and max out at 74ºC at load.

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

Do it man. I've got crossfired 5850's, and just the same as you (if you buy it) the second one doesn't have unlocked voltage.

It doesn't matter a huge amount though.... I've overclocked mine to 775/1125, and they're rediculously powerful. If you don't like noise and heat, it might not be a good idea, but I found both to be well within managable levels.

 

[MoRT489]

I must have great case airflow then, as my crossfired 5850 don't add much to overall system temps, and max out at 74ºC at load.

It wasnt the inside case temp that bothered me, the GPU's were around 79ºC, it was the temp in the room noticeably and uncomfortably increasing, perfect in that room for winter, but in spring summer no way.

 

[chaotic_uk]

If ur in the UK atm, then warming the room up might be a nice idea

agreed had over 6 inches of snow in the last 4 hours here , still waiting for the viper fan i ordered on sat

 

[arc@css]

I'm not all that techie but OP's cpu and stated frequency will definitely not bottleneck anything!

You sound like someone who works for a company trying to get people to upgrade unnecessarily

Agreed. No way is the speed of the OP's cpu a bottleneck.

Re : crossfire. I have had a good experience with it. Whether there is any subtle differences between a dual gpu card (as in my case) or two single cards, I don't know. I think you'll find most people are happy they did try it out.

 

[Mangochutney]

Happy with Xfire here. 2x5850's
Temp and noise no different than with a single card, no o/c ing tho'.
I think its definetly a good upgrade, well worth the money.