• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Upgrade from 5770 - possibly to 6950 then crossfire in future

tummelv

tummelv

tummelv

Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2011
Posts
1,741
Location
Inverness, Scotland
Hi,

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10600C9 1333Mhz
Hard Drive: Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA
Video Card: Asus ATI Radeon HD 5770 "CuCore" 1024MB GDDR5
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3
Power Supply: Corsair TX650

I was thinking of getting an upgrade to my graphics card. I had originally decided on a GTX 580 but it's a heck of a lot of money. I was also thinking of getting a ATI 6950 and then in a bit when the price comes down and it starts to slow down a bit in games possibly get a second and crossfire them. Main reason for this is I only game at 1680*1050 so apart from crysis and metro 2033 the performance of the GTX 580 would be wasted on me for the most part although it would be fairly futureproof and the large memory would do me good if I decided to upgrade my monitor. This sound like a good idea? I know crossfire 6950s destroys gtx 580 on it's own.

Only problem is, does my mobo support crossfire? I have done some googling and as far as I can tell it definitely does not support SLI but it does support Crossfire?

If you look at this picture of the mobo you can see the 2 PCI lanes are x16 and x4 http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/files/P55A-UD3R picture.jpg Would this limit the performance of the cards a lot or is it miniscule? I am a bit confused if whether these 2 lanes means the cards will run at x8 x8 in crosssfire or x16 x4 or x4 x4.

Thanks,
 
Last edited:
The PCIe slots would run at x16 and x4, which could be limiting on a crossfire 6950, even if your motherboard did support it. At 1680*1050 you aren't going to see 'slow down' in games such as Crysis and Metro, I can run these games at max settings at 1080p with a gtx 470 which I think is a bit slower than the 6950.
My advice would be to get the 6950, look into overlocking and unlocking it to a 6970, and that will keep you going for the rest of the year. By that time the new 28nm gpus will be out and you may want to look into getting one of them.

Hope this helps! :)
 
Yeah I've been lurking here for a while and most people seem to say unlocking it to the 6970 is the best bet. If I unlocked the 6950 to 6970 and bought another to do the same, could my tx 650 still run them in CF?
 
your motherboard only supports sli, unless it has a hybrid chip on it, which i dont think it does.

1.get a 6950
2. unlock its shaders
3. Overclock it
4. ???????
5. Profit
 
tummelv said:
Yeah I've been lurking here for a while and most people seem to say unlocking it to the 6970 is the best bet. If I unlocked the 6950 to 6970 and bought another to do the same, could my tx 650 still run them in CF?
Click to expand...

Dunno if it could manage the 2 extra power draws of the cards in '6970 mode'
but Corsair PSU's are known to be very reliable. You may be able to get away with it, I wouldn't take my word on it though :)
 
infernox said:
your motherboard only supports sli, unless it has a hybrid chip on it, which i dont think it does.

1.get a 6950
2. unlock its shaders
3. Overclock it
4. ???????
5. Profit
Click to expand...

Huh!? Everything I have read says it supports crossfire but not SLI. :confused: Can someone else confirm this??
 
Your mobo supports crossfire, although the second slot will only run at x4 speed as oppose to the x16 of the first, so x16x4. Not sure how that would impact performance, there was a study where it showed minimal difference although that was using inferior cards so the case may now be different. As previously said get a 6950 and unlock it, by the time it's struggling there'll be new cards out. At 1680x1050 you'll have very little need for a second card for the mean time anyway.
 
Really? I was looking for something that could run the latest games well (my 5770 is starting to struggle a bit and i have to turn down options in some games) with some future proofing.
 
It cant support both unless it has a hybrid chip, just looking up your board mentions it supports crossfire, but the second card will only run at 4x so will be seriously crippled and not worth the money in fps gain.

get a 6950 and flash it, it will run games at max settings for years to come.

god even my 4870 still does .
 
Thanks for the clarification f12f12.

Another question: is there some kind of time limit on being able to flash the 6950? Like is it only the ones on sale now that will be flashable until they get out a new batch or will they always be flashable? Just wondering if I do decide to get a 6950 do I have to get one right away or can I wait a bit?
 
you have until they revise the PCB. or AMD start cutting off the broken bits.

so yes. and remember your looking for a stock pcb, with no customisation.
 
I have thought about crossfiring my 5770 but the problem with that is where do you go from there? You're stuck with it. Whereas if I had a 6950 I at least would have an upgrade path in the future if it was struggling with games.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom