Crossfire or not?

[Shelster]

Currently have one of these in my system (see sig for specs) and was wondering is it worth me going Crossfire?

Mainly game using Eyefinity playing SWTOR, FSX and the odd FPS......oh and Kerbal Space Program

The current card is under water, so the second one will also be.

Can you mix cards in Crossfire set up as have seen a 7970 in the MM which comes with a block already fitted, so would only need to get a bridge piece.....

 

[skylineboy]

You can mix cards in CF. Be sure to get the same type of block with the card though or tubing can be a pain (I learnt that the hard way).

At your resolution I would crossfire. I found very few issues in all honesty when using crossfire in my setup

 

[pgi947]

I'd go for it

 

[swiftmetal]

As you are using eyefinity it is always a good idea to go with a decent xfire setup because of the added visual real estate which requires more memory.

With the issue of choosing which card it is true you can get any 7970 and mix and match and it will work but when adding water cooling she into the mix it would be better to go with the same card to save from issues you may get with trying to connect it all together.

If you do go ahead with it you may want to try the AMD beta graphics drivers as they some times add better eyefinity support but worth checking out anyway.

Good luck

 

[Marine-RX179]

If I were you I would do some research on crossfire's scaling with the games you play first, before deciding if the performance boost (if any) is worth the investment.

If the scaling is poor, it may be better for you to wait for next gen single GPU card to upgrade to.

 

[banjoted]

The decision to go Crossfire needs to be an informed one.

Effectively, don't do so if you're not prepared for plenty of tinkering to get everything running as you'd like. Driver support is sporadic to say the least and if you're a high-end user you'll likely turn to third party programs like RadeonPro to address various niggles (although AMD's supposedly stutter-fixing drivers are literally due any day, right?).

Plus you'll possibly face increased issues depending on your case and mobo.

That's not to say Crossfire is a no-go. You can get some great results. But just be sure you're going to be willing to put in the time you may end up needing to get it to run just right.

 

[Drangueos]

in my opnion with 3 monitors you need at least 2x7950 or 2x670...
I have 2x7950 and it is OKish... 3 would be ideal.

if my mother board had a 3rd good pci-e slot I would get one.. but it only has a pci2.0 4x.

 

[Doomedspeed]

Yes, it will be much better at your res.

 

[Shelster]

Cheers for the replies.

Part of me is now thinking of getting a 7950 to throw in to see if it improves anything...but have to say, I don't really notice it being poor in what I am playing at present.

Would leave the card out of my w/c loop to start with, just so that I can see what it fairs like...cba draining and refilling atm. Have a house move coming up on 28 Aug...