Have a spare HD6970. Worth putting it in? would need PSU.

sswats · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:16

My current system is an AMD X4 640 with a HD 6950 graphics card. But I only have a 520W PSU.

I just got hold of a cheapish 6970 and was just wondering with an average CPU like that is it even worth putting it in my system in Crossfire (have 2 8x crossfire sockets on the motherboard) alongside the HD6950.

If it is I would obviously need a bit more power, so whats the cheapest reliable modular and non-modular PSU's that would be capable of running that system.

Rest of the system is 1xSSD, 1xHDD and 1xbluray and about 6 fans so not too power intensive.

IncognitoX · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:21

I would recommended probably at least 650w?

But I would advise looking something like this? (XFX Pro 750w Modular)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

-Specifically designed for Crossfire/SLI setups.
-750w is enough for all the hardware
-XFX good make, good 5 year warranty.

zakblood · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:26

agree with above, but would go for the 750 if you overclock as well as crossfire

iTek · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:27

Dont think your 520 comes with 4 PCI-E connectors does it? so youd need to use molex adapters?

In that case i'd go for a new PSU.

sswats · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:29

Thanks. As I said I'm sure I would need a new PSU. But as mentioned is it even worth it with only an X4 640CPU.
It is overclocked to 3.6GHz but it's hardly a superpowerful CPU and am sure it will be a bottleneck for a crossfire setup.

iTek · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:30

Its worth a go surely. I mean it wouldnt cost much more if selling it and buying a Phenom II 965.

IncognitoX · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:32

sswats said:
Thanks. As I said I'm sure I would need a new PSU. But as mentioned is it even worth it with only an X4 640CPU.
It is overclocked to 3.6GHz but it's hardly a superpowerful CPU.

If your looking for good performance with a crossfire/SLI setup, its probably worth grabbing an i5 3570k and overclocking it a little bit. (Although a M/B change would be needed aswell)

Otherwise grab a FX4300, has the new piledriver setup, performs better.

At this point, you may experience a bottle-neck due to the CPU power.

zakblood · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:34

remember as well the 6950 graphics card wont work with 6970 as to use crossfire they both have to be the same card etc

i know plenty say you can, but is it worth it?

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/318101-33-6950-6970-crossfire-possible

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139849

and loads more to read, yes it can be done, but is it really worth it?

cost of second card, plus psu, add together would it be better to get a better single card? off MM etc?

IncognitoX · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:38

zakblood said:
remember as well the 6950 graphics card wont work with 6970 as to use crossfire they both have to be the same card etc

Is it not if the card is in the same series?

so 6950 + 6970 = good?

Correct me if I'm wrong? :confused:

zakblood · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:38

no your right, you can overclock one / unlock it etc as per reviews / posts / links i gave

iTek · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:44

IncognitoX said:
Is it not if the card is in the same series?

so 6950 + 6970 = good?

Correct me if I'm wrong?

You are right, I have done it.

iTek · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:47

IncognitoX said:
If your looking for good performance with a crossfire/SLI setup, its probably worth grabbing an i5 3570k and overclocking it a little bit. (Although a M/B change would be needed aswell)

Otherwise grab a FX4300, has the new piledriver setup, performs better.

At this point, you may experience a bottle-neck due to the CPU power.

FX4300 performs better than a Phenom II 965? I thought not. Anyway its minimal if it is.

Good old CPU Bench

Jayster · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:48

6950 can be crossfired with a 6970 and even a 6990. You will end up with a pretty big bottleneck in most games even with a piix4, I had a 965 @ 4.2 and 2 6950's unlocked @900Mhz and very few games could use all of the graphics power my entire system also used to pull about 900w from the wall so I would recommend 850w.

iTek said:
FX4300 performs better than a Phenom II 965? I thought not. Anyway its minimal if it is.

Good old CPU Bench

It would probably be the slightly better cpu for most games.

sswats · 13 Mar 2013 at 10:51

Unfortunately it is not an option for me to upgrade the CPU and/or motherboard at this time.
The PSU would be the absolute limit in addition to this card.

And yes I had googled that same page, and I realise the 6970 would be running at 6950 speeds. I'd rather not unlock the 6950, plus running the 6970 a bit slower may help with the heat issue I will end up having in my case.