Crossfire 7870's?

[teppic]

Hold up you have the card andy linked above right? The Asus 7970? Why don't you tell us and Andy what its like?

Are you talking about adding a 7970 lightning for crossfire or selling your current 7970 and replacing it with the lightning?

Yup. It's brilliant, works flawlessly at the max Overdrive setting (1125MHz) at stock voltage and is basically silent. But as I'm not going to be gaming for a bit I'm going to sell it, it's not even plugged in right now to lower my power use.

Then I thought about selling it and buying the Lightning to replace it, as mine is a bit hefty at 3 slots on a MATX board and won't clock as high as the Lightning. Maybe that's stupid though

 

[Andybtsn]

That lightening look brilliant but god damn it's got mini dp

My monitors are all HDMI!

Maybe I'd have to go for the Asus?

 

[ALXAndy]

Well the rma is through ocuk so he will be ok.

I won't even go there so I'll just keep my experience to myself

 

[teppic]

That lightening look brilliant but god damn it's got mini dp

My monitors are all HDMI!

Maybe I'd have to go for the Asus?

The Asus 7970 I've got has no HDMI ports, but it has two DVI ones which obviously just need a cheap converter. The rest are full size dp (4 of them).

 

[Andybtsn]

Hmmm, well I have four monitors which are either HDMI or VGA.

Having thought about it I may as well go with the Lightening and get some DVI to HDMI? Use a cheap second hard to power the other two monitors?

 

[teppic]

How have you gone from a max budget of £200 a few hours ago to getting the Lightning?

You can get mini-dp to HDMI converters but I think there's a restriction on using them together. I can't remember the details though.

 

[Andybtsn]

Haha, yeah it escalated quite a bit, I'm happy with my AMD setup, it's just the gfx that was holding it back so may as well get a good un'

The mini-dp to HDMI are around £30 anyway so I'll just get another GFX card!

 

[ussie]

This?

I don't mind spending a premium but I don't want my PC struggling to play top games in a year or so after spending this kind of money.

Yeah that's the one I have currently, I have two systems one being an i5 and the other amd, my 8350 amd is the one I have at home and im soon to play farcry 3 on it, currently bf3 and crysis 3. Bf3 everything maxed and im still getting over 100fps, crysis 3 everything is maxed except anti aliasing and i am getting on average over 50 fps.

Now I believe some benchmarks and review would possibly differ from my results as they are out dated driver wise. I have noticed things getting slightly better with the updates. I mean you don't necessary have to get the same one as I have, that's just my recommendation and some on my input as to how it performs.

But in conclusion it will be good enough to play top games, you would not even need to crossfire it. Also with the release of the next amd gpu's to be around the corner im guessing prices for these cards will probably start to drop as people will want to buy the new ones.

That lightening look brilliant but god damn it's got mini dp

My monitors are all HDMI!

Maybe I'd have to go for the Asus?

I was gutted also that my monitor is hdmi and this gpu was mini DP, mini dp are better but we have to go through the hassle for converters. I fount a really good quality one for like £8

 

[Andybtsn]

£8? An active one?! i can only find them for around £30!

 

[oldestgregg]

Avoid the VTX. The quality is quite frankly dire and their warranty leaves a lot to be desired.

I know it's £100 but that Matrix card you were looking at is in another class.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-273-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

£30 more than that VTX and they couldn't be farther apart if you tried.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-181-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938

Would be my fave. Worth every penny if you want the best and like low noise. Edit. Wow and a lovely free mouse and mat too

Spot on mate. I wouldnt touch those cards in a million years. Poor quality build and zero customer service. If it works ok then fine,if not........

 

[ussie]

£8? An active one?! i can only find them for around £30!

Yeah it was from a small random local store, I guess I got lucky!

Just done a quick search for the brand of the one I bought.

Here it is if you wish to have a look at any

http://uk.startech.com/AV/Displayport-Converters/?sort=3&page=all

The make of mine is that, I dont know if its active or passive but I use one monitor so I guess it does not matter for me

 

[Five.Stars]

I got a mini-dp to hdmi with 1 of my 7970's. Can't remember if it was the MSI 1 or the Powercolor 1. Maybe worth checking which accesories come with the cards you are looking at.

 

[Andybtsn]

Nearly pushed the button to buy the 7970 but then something kept saying in my head to consider the 770

I'm not much of an OC you see so the 770 seems down my street, plus they come with HDMI for my four monitors.

Decisions decisions.

Also I then wonder why I want a new GFX card as BF3, Far Cry are looking amazing with my 7870! Settings maxed out.

 

[ussie]

Nearly pushed the button to buy the 7970 but then something kept saying in my head to consider the 770

I'm not much of an OC you see so the 770 seems down my street, plus they come with HDMI for my four monitors.

Decisions decisions.

Also I then wonder why I want a new GFX card as BF3, Far Cry are looking amazing with my 7870! Settings maxed out.

7870's are nice! It's what I had before I got the asus matrix platinum 7970.
I wouldn't have got this card if it was still £500+ I managed to get it for £300 which is a bargain considering all the games the came with it. My university comp has a 780 and quite frankly I like this 7970 more its just a monster and the temps are nice.

Would you sell your 7870 once you decide on a card?

 

[LtMatt]

Nearly pushed the button to buy the 7970 but then something kept saying in my head to consider the 770

I'm not much of an OC you see so the 770 seems down my street, plus they come with HDMI for my four monitors.

Decisions decisions.

Also I then wonder why I want a new GFX card as BF3, Far Cry are looking amazing with my 7870! Settings maxed out.

You can't really go wrong with either card tbh. Probably best to look at the overall package and decide which one is best for you.

One thing i will say, if you buy a 7970, overclocking it is as easy as opening up catalyst control center and maxing out the core and memory sliders, clicking apply and thats it. Free performance. The 7970 cards you were looking at are all premium versions and they won't bat an eyelid at large overclocks.

 

[teppic]

Yup. My 7970 is clocked at 1GHz, I just push the sliders as far right as they'll go (1125MHz, I forget the memory speed) and it's 100% stable with no voltage change and no noise increase and quite a big performance jump.

 

[Andybtsn]

Would you sell your 7870 once you decide on a card?

Yeah, it's on the MM, can't even sell it for £140, seems mad considering its ability.

Well I did go for the 7970 in the end (Lightening)

Will it be ok powering four Samsung SA350 23" monitors at 1920x1080?

 

[ussie]

Yeah, it's on the MM, can't even sell it for £140, seems mad considering its ability.

Well I did go for the 7970 in the end (Lightening)

Will it be ok powering four Samsung SA350 23" monitors at 1920x1080?

Nice!! I was hoping you'd go for the lightning or matrix platinum if you decided on going 7970 so first of all good choice mate.

I am no expert in multi monitor set-ups however since I only use one.
As far as I know you should be able to.

You may be interested in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcxQbNYUJbE