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290x or 2x 7950 xfire
- Thread starter LaneyEFC
- Start date
I'll be watching this closely, in the same situation, wish I'd have picked another 7950 up a while back when they were all going cheap!
That's not entirely true. Look at the used market for mined hardware, some seriously cracking bargains.
Soldato
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I came from Crossfire 7950s and I couldn't be happier
I wouldn't go with a 290x over a 290 though the extra price vs performance isn't worth in my book.
Soldato
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You know my thoughts man, another 7950 all day long. Don't understand the argument about high noise and high temps. My cards never exceed 65c running a custom fan profile which at those temps only runs around 60% when gaming. Plus, I game with headset anyway so even if I needed to run at 100%, I wouldnt hear anything anyway 
Also, check out the Unigine Benchmark scores for both Heaven and Valley, http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18487976&page=59 you'll see 7950s outscore single 290X by quite a considerable margin and 7950 Crossfire scores are in amongst the top scores for single Titan and 780ti, (I score 1986 if you want to use my score as a reference) For the price, like I said in another thread, it's a no brainer.
So to sum up, sell your 7950 for £100ish then buy a 290 or 290X from between £350 and £450
or buy another 7950 for £100ish and have more performance than that expensive upgrade above ...cough cough I mean sidegrade
Also, check out the Unigine Benchmark scores for both Heaven and Valley, http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18487976&page=59 you'll see 7950s outscore single 290X by quite a considerable margin and 7950 Crossfire scores are in amongst the top scores for single Titan and 780ti, (I score 1986 if you want to use my score as a reference) For the price, like I said in another thread, it's a no brainer.
So to sum up, sell your 7950 for £100ish then buy a 290 or 290X from between £350 and £450
or buy another 7950 for £100ish and have more performance than that expensive upgrade above ...cough cough I mean sidegrade
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sell the 7950 and get a 290 and overclock it. Mantle doesn't work properly on the 7000 series - it uses way more vram than the 290s for some reason, plus it won't work with the free sync monitors coming out either. if you need more power sell it while it's still worth something
Soldato
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Yeah agree with Dave. If you want latest technology from amd like Freesync "new monitor needed" better mantle performance and trueaudio go 290
If not then buy a 7950 on the cheap.
About mantle on 7000 series isn't the problem just with bf4? And other mantle games work fine thief for example?
If not then buy a 7950 on the cheap.
About mantle on 7000 series isn't the problem just with bf4? And other mantle games work fine thief for example?
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I used AMD cards nearly all the time up until I tried crossfire which really let me down so I ended up using one 7950 while I saved for an sli capable m/board, o/s and other bits.
I would get the 290x.
Looking at my order history I tried the bridged version of crossfire somewhere between May and August 2013, AMD had just released the new crossfire drivers that where meant to fix everything but actually did nothing for DX9 titles or multi-monitor set-ups. They did not improve things enough, To be honest I don't know if newer drivers have been developed to deal with the issues I had since then but even so I'd avoid the bridged crossfire and go for a single 290x (that can be crossfired in the future if you wish), In doing this you minimize the possible issues and like the other guy's pointed out it gives you better access to future tech from the company.
I would get the 290x.
Looking at my order history I tried the bridged version of crossfire somewhere between May and August 2013, AMD had just released the new crossfire drivers that where meant to fix everything but actually did nothing for DX9 titles or multi-monitor set-ups. They did not improve things enough, To be honest I don't know if newer drivers have been developed to deal with the issues I had since then but even so I'd avoid the bridged crossfire and go for a single 290x (that can be crossfired in the future if you wish), In doing this you minimize the possible issues and like the other guy's pointed out it gives you better access to future tech from the company.
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Soldato
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Why would you pick a 290x over 290 though? 290x at best is 10fps faster than 290.
About crossfire I can honestly say I have used for around 4 years now and have yet to have a single issue with any games.
The games that don't support crossfire tend to be games that not very demanding enough anyway to need it. Like csgo for example performs better on single GPU but I still run that at 300fps
Not sure what issue you had but I can safely say crossfire has been a great experience so far for me and many others.
I added a second 7950 and NO regrets.
But I did decide that it was a good time to watercool so noise and temps became somewhat less of a concern.
Did think about swapping (at height of mining boom) for a single 290x but decided that it was not worth it - although got to add that without water my thought process might have been a little different (assuming third party cooled 290x).
But I did decide that it was a good time to watercool so noise and temps became somewhat less of a concern.
Did think about swapping (at height of mining boom) for a single 290x but decided that it was not worth it - although got to add that without water my thought process might have been a little different (assuming third party cooled 290x).
Soldato
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Would sell up and go newer tbh. 290s on MM are dirt cheap and if you can grab one with a decent cooler, they overclock pretty well on the core generally.
If you even needed more grunt a second 290 down the line will sort things out, while a adding a third 7950 can prove difficult depending on the set up. Considering how low 290 prices are second hand, you might end up splashing for a second one just on whim and temptation.
If you even needed more grunt a second 290 down the line will sort things out, while a adding a third 7950 can prove difficult depending on the set up. Considering how low 290 prices are second hand, you might end up splashing for a second one just on whim and temptation.
What cpu and psu have you got? What resolution will you be playing at and what games will you be playing? Do you have a capable motherboard?
EDIT
ended up going with xfire 7950
Lol nevermind then.
