Crossfire or single slot card?

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 19:28

Hey,

I am just about to finish a new pc build and I am looking for a decent graphic setup to be used for casual gaming when time allows, I am not so bothered about having full details maxed out but I would like to have half decent graphics on todays games and maybes to be a touch future-proof, at the minute I am considiring either single slot with Sapphire 6850,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-253-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

or Crossfire with 2 Asus 6670's

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-258-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1983

what setup will provide the best gaming experience? any help provided to help make my mind up is appreciated.

Cash is short as this started as a basic upgrade to an aging system after getting my hands on gigabye M/B for free... and I went a few steps further then planned, then decided why not, spent lots of money on the mis-us and kids at christmas so now its my turn for a treat....£120 is the budget at the minute, but if I go the single slot setup I would eventually buy another 6850 later in the year if needed after the holiday season was over....the main parts of the rest of my setup is listed below and thanks in advance.

Intel i3-2120
Gigabyte H67M-D2-B3
8gb XMS3 Corsair (2x4gb matched)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 SSD
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
LiteOn IHOS104-37 4x Blu-Ray
LiteOn iHAS124 DVD±RW
Zalman 9 plus Case
OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply

beejjacobs · 7 Feb 2012 at 19:39

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Any reason to pay more?

I'd get a 6850. Crossfire will cause more problems than its worth for such low power graphics cards.

Orcvader · 7 Feb 2012 at 19:42

Go for the 6850. The 6670, even in crossfire mode, is not designed for gaming, and not many games likes crossfire. The 6850 is a good card to last you for a while if you're not too fussy over detail levels.

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 19:57

beejjacobs said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

Any reason to pay more?

I'd get a 6850. Crossfire will cause more problems than its worth for such low power graphics cards.

I must admit I did take a look at the Ocuk version, and £20 quid is not a bad saving over the branded 6850, must admit after reading a few decent reviews about the 6850 on a few sites I was swaying towards it but as I have not got a great deal of knowledge on crossfire thought I would ask on here knowing their are plenty gamers around who will of tried it out.

Cheers for the replys, and I suppose going with the 6850 leaves the option of adding another if I did wanted to dabble later in the year...

beejjacobs · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:00

Stevieboyfitzy said:
I must admit I did take a look at the Ocuk version, and £20 quid is not a bad saving over the branded 6850, must admit after reading a few decent reviews about the 6850 on a few sites I was swaying towards it but as I have not got a great deal of knowledge on crossfire thought I would ask on here knowing their are plenty gamers around who will of tried it out.

Cheers for the replys, and I suppose going with the 6850 leaves the option of adding another if I did wanted to dabble later in the year...

That is true, bare in mind your motherboard only supports 16x/4x in crossfire, so you won't get the full potential. For the price though, a 6850 is great

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:09

beejjacobs said:
That is true, bare in mind your motherboard only supports 16x/4x in crossfire, so you won't get the full potential. For the price though, a 6850 is great

yep, that is something else to think about and sway my thinking, I had forgot about the 16x/4x...mind is made up....6850 it shall be and if I ever do want to attempt cross-fire, it will be a new motherboard recomendation I will be looking for eh...mad..this started with a free mobo and in a few months I will know doubt be looking to replace what started the project in the first place...best find a good place to hide the reciepts...hee hee..

beejjacobs · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:15

Stevieboyfitzy said:
yep, that is something else to think about and sway my thinking, I had forgot about the 16x/4x...mind is made up....6850 it shall be and if I ever do want to attempt cross-fire, it will be a new motherboard recomendation I will be looking for eh...mad..this started with a free mobo and in a few months I will know doubt be looking to replace what started the project in the first place...best find a good place to hide the reciepts...hee hee..

Once you start it is VERY hard to stop

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:24

beejjacobs said:
Once you start it is VERY hard to stop

your right mate, its been a while since my last build, as you get older time goes quicker but I have enjoyed every minute, as always you look low and then take it a touch higher and before you know it, bang over spent again...ha ha...fun though.

LtMatt · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:32

Stevieboyfitzy said:
yep, that is something else to think about and sway my thinking, I had forgot about the 16x/4x...mind is made up....6850 it shall be and if I ever do want to attempt cross-fire, it will be a new motherboard recomendation I will be looking for eh...mad..this started with a free mobo and in a few months I will know doubt be looking to replace what started the project in the first place...best find a good place to hide the reciepts...hee hee..

You are talking at most a loss of 5% performance by using a x16-x4 motherboard. A few fps, dont worry about that. I'm using x16-x4 and loving it.

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:37

LtMatt said:
You are talking at most a loss of 5% performance by using a x16-x4 motherboard. A few fps, dont worry about that. I'm using x16-x4 and loving it.

ah, well maybe's later in the year if the loss aint so great another 6850 with my freebie motherboard may be fine, I need to read more into cross-fire as a lot of what I have read has been hit and miss really, any decent links to help me out in the future will be appreciated...

LtMatt · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:41

Stevieboyfitzy said:
ah, well maybe's later in the year if the loss aint so great another 6850 with my freebie motherboard may be fine, I need to read more into cross-fire as a lot of what I have read has been hit and miss really, any decent links to help me out in the future will be appreciated...

I was going to add this to my previous post but seeing as you have replied check this out.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2134562

'The new Intel P67 chipsets have proper full PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth, doubling the data throughput available compared to what was available on P55. This means PCIe 2.0 4x on P67 should be equal to PCIe 1.0 8x on P5'.

AvP with 4AA 1920x1080

Legit Reviews:
PCIe 4x = 71.3 fps
PCIe 8x = 75.1 fps (+5.3%)

Tom's Hardware:
4x = 71.9 fps
8x = 76.8 fps (+6.8%)

The difference between these 2 is only 1.5% (well within the margin of error)

STALKER: cop

Legit Reviews:
4x = 121 fps
8x = 124.5 fps (+2.9%)

Tom's Hardware:
4x = 117.3 fps
8x = 121.5 fps (+3.6%)

* I presume the information posted above is correct, im sure if its not ill be shot down in flames shortly.*

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 20:53

LtMatt said:
I was going to add this to my previous post but seeing as you have replied check this out.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2134562

'The new Intel P67 chipsets have proper full PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth, doubling the data throughput available compared to what was available on P55. This means PCIe 2.0 4x on P67 should be equal to PCIe 1.0 8x on P5'.

AvP with 4AA 1920x1080

Legit Reviews:
PCIe 4x = 71.3 fps
PCIe 8x = 75.1 fps (+5.3%)

Tom's Hardware:
4x = 71.9 fps
8x = 76.8 fps (+6.8%)

The difference between these 2 is only 1.5% (well within the margin of error)

STALKER: cop

Legit Reviews:
4x = 121 fps
8x = 124.5 fps (+2.9%)

Tom's Hardware:
4x = 117.3 fps
8x = 121.5 fps (+3.6%)

* I presume the information posted above is correct, im sure if its not ill be shot down in flames shortly.*

Thats pretty impressive, the difference in cross fire to single slot... if the information posted is correct, I will watch this space and have a read of the information in the link you provided...Cheers

LtMatt · 7 Feb 2012 at 21:25

I think it shows the difference is not all that big. Oviously a 8x8 is ideal but the performance loss is pretty small with x16x4 so that shouldnt put someone off from using crossfirex in this situation imo.

Stevieboyfitzy · 7 Feb 2012 at 21:44

LtMatt said:
I think it shows the difference is not all that big. Oviously a 8x8 is ideal but the performance loss is pretty small with x16x4 so that shouldnt put someone off from using crossfirex in this situation imo.

After looking at the information provided I agree with not being put of with opting for crossfire at a later date without upgrading my mobo, I have chosen single slot 6850 instead of crossfire 6670 today due to instant hit but with further upgradability, but once the summer is past and the kids think they have spent all my cash again I will sneek another 6850 in amoungst the reciepts...hee hee...

LtMatt · 8 Feb 2012 at 08:04

Stevieboyfitzy said:
After looking at the information provided I agree with not being put of with opting for crossfire at a later date without upgrading my mobo, I have chosen single slot 6850 instead of crossfire 6670 today due to instant hit but with further upgradability, but once the summer is past and the kids think they have spent all my cash again I will sneek another 6850 in amoungst the reciepts...hee hee...

Let us know how it goes.

Stevieboyfitzy · 8 Feb 2012 at 15:02

LtMatt said:
Let us know how it goes.

Thought I would let you know that the 6850 of choice was. MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card on special at the minute,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-115-MS

I am glad I waited until this morning to do my ordering as this has just been made available at this price today, it was going to be either the Ocuk 6850 at £100 or the Sapphire 6850 which has actually also gone on promotion from today....I read a few reviews before buying and it seems the best of the 6850's with prospects of taking it further if I decide to dabble with overclocking, all in all speaking to you guys before making any decision was a great plus point, and at a later date another 6850 Cyclone could be on the cards.....

beejjacobs · 8 Feb 2012 at 16:51

MSI make great cards. Good choice

Stevieboyfitzy · 8 Feb 2012 at 17:03

oh dear...just relised how much of an over spend this has been but here is the system that I have, or will have built up by the weekend, everything is brand new apart from the free motherboard...ha ha..

Intel i3-2120
Gigabyte H67M-D2-B3 (FREE)
8gb XMS3 Corsair (2x4gb matched)
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone Power Edition OC 1024MB GDDR5
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 SSD
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
LiteOn IHOS104-37 4x Blu-Ray
LiteOn iHAS124 DVD±RW
Zalman 9 plus Case
OCZ 600W ModXStream Pro Power Supply

Windows 7 64bit

If I find the time and become addicted to gaming like in my younger days, later in the year, maybe's a Processor upgrade and duel graphics still an option so at least I still have room to eventually upgrade....mad eh system not even up and running and am talking about upgrade possibilitys....

beejjacobs · 8 Feb 2012 at 17:15

What do you have already then? Just out of interest. As some things might be improvable!

Stevieboyfitzy · 8 Feb 2012 at 18:30

beejjacobs said:
What do you have already then? Just out of interest. As some things might be improvable!

I hope not buddy as everything in the list mentioned above is the items I have already bought, most of those items were bought over a few weeks after reading reviews or managing to get them at not bad prices over the internet, as I said further up in the thread I was only going to replace my old system (775 Dual Core) because I recieved the mobo free, and fancied a dabble as its been a while since I have messed inside my system so my plans were to purchase a new processor, DDR3 memory and maybe's a decent graphics card for casual gaming....over spent but hopefully will be pleased with the outcome once I put them all together over the weekend...