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Upgrade gone wrong... what now?

The 7970 Matrix Platinum will give high settings in every game at 1080p, but not maxed out in a lot of the latest demanding ones.

For under £400 you can max out everything at 1080p with two 7950s, but no single GPU can max everything out at 1080p.
 
Yep, get your CPU clocked up and I guarantee that will improve fps but not to what you would think. Petey is spot on with a pair of 7950's in truth.
 
Right x2 7950 is decided.

Now length of cards and also is a Corsair 2013 Edition Gamer Series GS 800W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply good enough for the ATI route?

The 2x 660gtx's fit in with little to no room really.

Much appreciated all this help, and I'll have a few game coupons to dish out after this too lol
 
davewhite04 said:
Thanks for this bud, I think if 2 of you guys are recommending the same thing I will listen, and maybe give you a free copy of Crysis 3! Are graphics card a standard length? I have the 2 660's in obviously but wondering if these will fit... I will google it but I thought I'd quickly ask before ordering.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

No worries :)

What's the gap like between your x16 slots? Better yet, what case/mobo do you have?
These cards are about 2.5 slots deep at the end of the cooler.

Your psu is fine,
 
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benjii said:
If it's the C0 stepping, I'd imagine 3.8~. If it's D0, 4 - 4.2.
Click to expand...

No idea about overclocking, there is options for all kinds of things in my bios, not just voltage. Will look at the guide posted earlier and mess about perhaps, but might keep at stock as these ATI cards will generate more heat then the GTX's, and more power it seems.

Thanks
 
davewhite04 said:
I was thinking of a 770... I got 1 660 and got the old upgrade bug and curiosity led me to SLI as for just a £150 more I could get better performance then a 770 (both gigabyte windforce), so my mistake was going for 1 660(just had the edge on my old 5850!) I should have spent that bit more originally but I thought tech would have moved on a lot in 3.5years, which is when I got my 5850.

The 770 "apparently, according to some folk" is 10% slower then my config, I will look at that 7970 plat though.

Thanks bud.
Click to expand...

This bit jumped out for me, surely a 660 should be noticably better than a 5850 rather than 'just edging it'?
 
davewhite04 said:
motherboard: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P6T/
case: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-110-AN

Thanks Petey :)
Click to expand...

No probs mate :)

It's going to be a slight squeeze there tbh. You'll have a tiny gap between the cards at the fan end. It shouldn't be a huge issue seeing as the fan draws air from top and bottom though.

It may well be a tight squeeze in the case too, but they should go in if there's clear space in the bays.
They're 29.5cm long, so measure up first just to be sure.

I wouldn't worry about temps as these exhaust out of the back of the case. Just feed them plenty of cool air from the front case intakes and they'll be alright.

davewhite04 said:
Will the SLI connector work with Crossfire or will I need a card connector cable for it?
Click to expand...

SLI connectors won't work, but you should get xfire connectors with the cards. If you somehow don't get any, give me a shout and I'll post a spare :)
 
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Mike_P said:
This bit jumped out for me, surely a 660 should be noticably better than a 5850 rather than 'just edging it'?
Click to expand...

Hi Mike,

Well Skyrim wasn't particularly awe inspiring compared to my 5850, neither was Crysis 2... Didn't play Battlefield 4(3 was fantastic on my 5850) or Crysis 3 on my 5850.
 
Uncle Petey said:
No probs mate :)

It's going to be a slight squeeze there tbh. You'll have a tiny gap between the cards at the fan end. It shouldn't be a huge issue seeing as the fan draws air from top and bottom though.

It may well be a tight squeeze in the case too, but they should go in if there's clear space in the bays.
They're 29.5cm long, so measure up first just to be sure.

I wouldn't worry about temps as these exhaust out of the back of the case. Just feed them plenty of cool air from the front case intakes and they'll be alright.



SLI connectors won't work, but you should get xfire connectors with the cards. If you somehow don't get any, give me a shout and I'll post a spare :)
Click to expand...

hmmm 29.5cm is no way in this case mate, the 660gtx's are 23.5cm... if the spare 5 1/4 " bays were 4" further down there wouldn't be a problem... I can feel more money... for a case :(

A quick update, I'm running the latest 6gtx on its own to see if it is dodgy as someone suggested, will play Skyrim for a few hours tomorrow :)
 
Was in a similar boat to you (i7 920 etc), in the end I just upgraded the lot, expensive but so worthwhile lol!


That board has really good spacing for SLI/XFire as you put one card in the top orange slot, and one in the 3rd one. The CPU is i7 which is better for SLI/XFire than the i5 due to Hyperthreading. The 7950's work great after a BIOS flash to stop them throttling back.

Mild Overclock on the CPU to 4.2Ghz, not really played with overcocking the cards but a small one on those and it seems fine as well to 975 Core/1300 RAM.

With this I can play Crysis 3 on good quality at 1440p, and I get around 50-80fps :)

I also solved my stupid number of HDD problem by getting a NAS! :D
 
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davewhite04 said:
lol that's an idea... Texas Chainsaw Massacre here I come!!!! Thing is I have 4 HDD mate lol
Click to expand...

I dunno then mate, it's really a case of do you think it's worth going to all the hassle and expense just to turn up a few settings on one particular game?

It still looks gorgeous at slightly lower levels.
 
Uncle Petey said:
I dunno then mate, it's really a case of do you think it's worth going to all the hassle and expense just to turn up a few settings on one particular game?

It still looks gorgeous at slightly lower levels.
Click to expand...

I think you're right. Maybe 2 660's is okay, got one for £132 and the other for £147, both Gigabyte Windforce so factory overclocked, thing is if one is dodgy no one has any stock left apart from Amazon reseller's, which isn't a path I want to take.

Any ideas why Skyrim is stable while Crysis 3 has crashed once, with what could be my 360 controller incompatibility for all I know, and why Battlefield 4 crashes if I don't play it for 5mins... I think it's okay if I actually pause it mind you.

Will rain hell on this 660gtx card I have in now, and see if that is the problem.
 
Eulogy said:
Was in a similar boat to you (i7 920 etc), in the end I just upgraded the lot, expensive but so worthwhile lol!


That board has really good spacing for SLI/XFire as you put one card in the top orange slot, and one in the 3rd one. The CPU is i7 which is better for SLI/XFire than the i5 due to Hyperthreading. The 7950's work great after a BIOS flash to stop them throttling back.

Mild Overclock on the CPU to 4.2Ghz, not really played with overcocking the cards but a small one on those and it seems fine as well to 975 Core/1300 RAM.

With this I can play Crysis 3 on good quality at 1440p, and I get around 50-80fps :)

I also solved my stupid number of HDD problem by getting a NAS! :D
Click to expand...

I'm really limited money wise mate, and I don't think the gains by upgrading are worth the huge outlay to be honest.

Thanks though for the input :)
 
Well whoever said "are you sure you ain't got a dodgy card?" was bang on the money. Stuck the newest one in, one I haven't tested on it's own it went straight into the sli setup. Crysis 3 froze when I was altering the graphics, I put the other card in and it was fine. Crysis I've turned down the AA and from ultra to high with my 660gtx single setup and it runs brilliantly, no crashes! battlefield 4 runs at 50fps(i have set my card to 50hz, so like a PAL signal to my LED TV) with pretty high settings and some AA. It never drops under 50FPS!

I'm amazed how fast this 660 is now, it is actually a lot better then my old 5850 actually. Now do I get a direct gtx replacement and get both these mothers dancing, or just settle for one 660 gtx... I'll think on it.

Thanks to the guy who said one of the cards maybe dodgy, you were right mate :)
 
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