Crossfire tips & 2nd hand cards

[Caracortada_uk]

Hi all. Im looking to venture into my first crossfire config and looking from some hints and tips or advice from those who have already done.

At the moment im using a single MSI 6950 Frozr 3 on a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3 with a 650W Corsair PSU.

The second card im looking to pick up cheap 2nd hand. Are there any recommended ways to test the card to make sure its not a working dud? Just run some benchmarks to stress it? Is there any real benefit to trying to get a 6970 to use as the main card?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[tommybhoy]

A few runs of Heaven BM/3DMark will let you know if it's fine.

There would be a small benefit in games that scale well, but, it's dependent on how far your 6950 clocks for best results, it's not worth paying say £120 for a 70 if you can get a 50 for £90 though.

I would say that if you sell your 6950, add that to the money you would pay for a second hand gpu, would not be far off of a 7950.

Ultimately, while a 7950 oc'ed to the max will still be a wee bit slower than twin 6950's in good scaling titles, games that don't scale well will play better on the 7950 by far, not to mention the free games you would get.

CrossFire while good, requires a good bit of tweaking at times to get the most from it, basically more work involved.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

A few runs of Heaven BM/3DMark will let you know if it's fine.

There would be a small benefit in games that scale well, but, it's dependent on how far your 6950 clocks for best results, it's not worth paying say £120 for a 70 if you can get a 50 for £90 though.

I would say that if you sell your 6950, add that to the money you would pay for a second hand gpu, would not be far off of a 7950.

Ultimately, while a 7950 oc'ed to the max will still be a wee bit slower than twin 6950's in good scaling titles, games that don't scale well will play better on the 7950 by far, not to mention the free games you would get.

CrossFire while good, requires a good bit of tweaking at times to get the most from it, basically more work involved.

This. It really depends on how much a second 6950 will cost you and how much yours could be sold for. Just do the calculations and see what is the most cost effective option- if you can buy a second for £50 then go for it, if it's going to cost you nearer to £100 then it is probably better to sell your current one and put the money towards a 7950.