Considering crossfire - yay or nay?

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

Hey peeps,

Well it's Christmas, ocuk have another lovely Xmas discount going and I'm looking at the MSI 6970L. With the offer it will come to around same price that I paid for my reference HIS 6970.

I have a few questions I'm on my phone and dot have access to a computer for riper research:

1. Is CF still a nightmare or is it mostly OK but patience needed with new games for drivers to come out?

2. I assume the 6970L wud xfire fine with my HIS- where would you put the cards? HIS on the bottom or top?

3. What speeds are on my lanes on my mobo? Gigabyte X58 UD3 v1.6.
Has anyone used this mobo to xfire before? Is there enough space? I have an anted 902 and keep it very dust free so airflow shouldn't be a problem and I have a massive TX950 with 78a on the single rail and have my i7 920 clocked at 3.8Ghz.

The special is on whilst I'm without pc hence why asking this rather than looking it all up.

Most taxing game I play is BF3 I have a 120hz monitor and the fps goes from 40 odd to about 70-80 fps max at 1080p on ultra with 0 MSAA as it just cripples amd cards. I want more fps!! Although this is massively just Christmas self treating so I'm not 100% on the idea to do it.

So what you think guys? Any answers to those questions and whether you would bother or not wud be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

GZA

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

Which exact motherboard do you have?

The info I gave in my op is all that I have atm as still away from pc.
Gigabyte X58 UD3 v 1.6.

Thanks all for your replies.

So the mobo is x8 x8 that's a start.

Damn really gonna look at buying one tomorrow then and just give it a go.

Which are the best drivers atm for xfire and BF3? Anyone with 6950cf that play bf3? Must be tonnes of you out there.

Dayyyyum more Christmas money spent at ocuk.....

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

The 8.93 November 12.1 betas, or the 12.1 previews are probably the best for BF3

Sweet thanks mate.

Just had another thought assuming I'd get around £180 for my 6970 maybe I shud consider skipping CF although that's why I bought the psu and add the £250 I'd spend on the 6970L and hopefully get a 7970 for a similar price.... I did exactly this with my 4890 got the tx950 with ideas of 4890cf which was BEASTLY at the time but ended up getting the 6970....

Could someone do me a quick favour and compare 6970CF with what's is currently known to be 7970 performance?

3G in the country is well.....certainly not 4g for gadget show in c.london !!!!

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

Go for crossfire. Just got it myself. Running smoothly with no problems or microstutter and im on a x16 - x4 board as well.

Bf3 @1080p Ultra all settings maxed including AA. FPS 45-60. I have vsync on. It only goes down to 45 during huge explosions, or when you are on the ship at Gulf Of Oman and you look at the whole map from the ship.

Have you ever tried the xfire without AA just so I can compare. Benchmarks are one thing but I'd like a user stat.

I've got it in my basket now, added the voucher code, chosen delivery date.

Just not sure if I'm being a bit silly and 'wasting' £250. Hmmm....

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

I think the following is smart!



You can crossfire later on in the year ... with another 7970 or 7950 (which ever you decide to go with)

Well I did that with the 4890 went to 6970.

I'm leaning towards getting another 6970.

Having looked at anandtech (I know it's only one site and I only used one bench to be honest also) the GPU 2012 bench at 1200p on the crysis warhead frost bench the 7970 gets about 50fps but on the GPU 2011 bench the 6970CF gets like 89 !

Again, I know it's one bench from one site but I'm thinking 6970CF is comfortably ahead of the 7970 and at the same cost which is normal between one generation anyway.

Think I might hit the confirm order button tomorrow tbh.....I'd imagine 6970CF would last me for a good two more years then. At least until some proper games get made (if we'll ever get that again)

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

I presume you can watch youtube videos on your phone:




This was a small video showing BF3 fps taken on release with the Catalyst 11.10 preview2 + Cap3 .

Performance has had a good boost since then too, using newest drivers here and performance is rock solid.

Not swapping my CrossFire for the 7970, as(with a little patience sometimes) 6950>70 CrossFire will beat the 7970 the majority of the time @1080p.

Thanks for this.

OK so whack the MSI on the top and 12.1 drivers currently best.

Think I'll go toss a coin....

 

[[WU-TANG]GZA]

I started off considering 2 x 6950's in crossfire as they posed best value for money.

Because I cannot be bothered to wait for the 7990 I will be treating myself to a 7970 by the end of January. When the waterblock is released I will probably grab a second 7970 later on.

If the 7950 will pose a better deal I may be swayed.

The reasoning behind my initial comment was as *Alexrose1uk* said ... the crossfire 6970 will perform better in the short run, though it will "plateau quicker". In the immediate short run I prefer fewer framerates now ... pickup a second 7970 later ... and have a more power efficient and longer lasting setup.

Yeah but surely that will always be the case and I would therefore follow that reasoning again and just get a 8970 instead of xfire 7970s and never have xfire raw power goodness.

Thanks all for thoughts and advice.