Asus HD 7870 DirectCU II V2 TOP Crossfire?

[supra21]

I am looking to upgrade my current Sapphire 6950. I was looking at the 7970 Matrix Platinum which costs £430 and Asus 7870 costs £200 so two of these would cost the same as a 7970 matrix platinum and I would not have to spend £400 in one go.

I have done some searching on this forum and most people are advised to stay away from crossfire setups due to graphical and compatibility issues. However looking at some reviews online I have read that the issues that have plagued crossfire setups (micro-stutter) do not happen or affect as much games as in the past; more so with the new AMD drivers which seem to have very positive results.

I would be gaming at 1920x1080/1200, I have a corsair hx750 psu and a Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE mobo. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[supra21]

Has anyone had any experience with 7870 in crossfire? The way I look at it i will be getting more gpu power for the same price as a 7970 Matrix Platinium.

 

[Dangerous_Dave]

Personally I would stay away from multi-GPU setups, and in particular AMD multi-GPU setups. I know there were still all kinds of problems with them as recently as the 6XXX generation (e.g. 6870 X2 which was notorious), and my own personal experience of them is that they often either don't run in crossfire, or cause random crashing if you turn certain features on (you have to spend time figuring out which). I doubt AMD drivers have improved much since a few months back.

If you're the sort of person who upgrades frequently then perhaps the second hand market is worth a look (you won't need years of longevity from your card). Otherwise I would suggest coughing up a few extra quid for something in between like a 7950. That will run any game you throw at it maxed for at least the next year and really nicely for at least 2 or 3 years.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I run a 6870 crossfire setup and have had no problems at all, but i don't speak for everyone, only issues i've had is the amount of vram being the limiting factor for me in BF3.
@1080p i get averages of around 60-70fps on full ultra, but the game is unplayable due to hitting the vram limit, changing the texture settings to high and the problem goes away.
Other than that it'll play every game i throw at it with no problems, this is only my opinion of crossfire/performance.
I believe that a lot of the previous problem have all but gone with the 7*** series.

 

[supra21]

I run a 6870 crossfire setup and have had no problems at all, but i don't speak for everyone, only issues i've had is the amount of vram being the limiting factor for me in BF3.
@1080p i get averages of around 60-70fps on full ultra, but the game is unplayable due to hitting the vram limit, changing the texture settings to high and the problem goes away.
Other than that it'll play every game i throw at it with no problems, this is only my opinion of crossfire/performance.
I believe that a lot of the previous problem have all but gone with the 7*** series.

So running a 7950 with 3gb of vram: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-275-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673 in crossfire is a better idea. I want to be able to run mostly all games at maximum settings at 1920x1080/1200. ( i did not not think bf3 used nearly 2gb of vram at ultra settings)

 

[Dangerous_Dave]

I would just buy a single 7950 and forget about crossfiring. Then in a year or two when you're ready to upgrade, buy whatever single GPU card is compelling at that point (probably a 9870 or something like that) and sell the 7950 on ebay.

 

[uksoldierboy]

So running a 7950 with 3gb of vram: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-275-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673 in crossfire is a better idea. I want to be able to run mostly all games at maximum settings at 1920x1080/1200. ( i did not not think bf3 used nearly 2gb of vram at ultra settings)

Yes if you can afford it definitely, there's been a few threads on here talking amount vram usage in bf3, i think it's a fact that 1g of vram is just not enough for bf3 on ultra @1080p.
1 7950 is more than enough to get the most out of bf3 though, plus they overclock very well!

 

[Dangerous_Dave]

That 7950 you linked will max BF3 easily, even more so when you've applied overclocking. I would just save your money for an upgrade a year or so down the line.

 

[supra21]

Well after all the suggestions here and looking at some 7970 Matrix Platinum reviews i think im just gonna go with the 7970 DCUII. Turns out the matrix edition is not worth price as asus are not "cherry picking" the 7970 gpu cores.