Crossfire or upgrade

[flexbar]

Hey guys i currently have a 5870 im considering upgrading would it be best to XF or buy a new single gpu

Prices for the 5870 seem quite expensive, ive been looking at the 7950

Just wanting advise from people who more then me

cheers guys

 

[arc@css]

What is your res, and cpu / overclock?

Here's a rough guide (drivers will most likely have increased the gap) to the performance jump you can expect when going from a 5870 to a 7950.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/511?vs=550

If you're running a high res, then I would be less likely to recommend crossfiring 5870's due to vram limitations, hence me asking.

 

[flexbar]

1920X1080 res

Cpu: AMD phenom II x4 955 @ 3.4ghz haven't overclocked gpu on crosshair IV

 

[Marine-RX179]

1920X1080 res

Cpu: AMD phenom II x4 955 @ 3.4ghz haven't overclocked gpu on crosshair IV

Actually you should try overclocking your CPU first. For some games such as online play or Total Wars series, Skyrim, Starcraft II etc your CPU would be the bottleneck whether than the 5870. I myself play quite a bit of mmos, and back then on my old Q6600 overclocked to 3.6GHz it would oftenly bottleneck my 5850 with GPU usage drop to hell and fps down to low 20s. After upgrading to my i5 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz, GPU usage is much higher and fps remain constant at 55fps+ in the same places which I use to get low 20s on my Q6600 3.6GHz.

Either way, the Phenom II X4 (even overclocked) would be too slow to make the most out of 7950 or GTX670 or above cards.

 

[arc@css]

If you can source one cheap enough, then I'd say it's worth considering (save for performance under AA). I would be inclined to look into overclocking your cpu at least a little, it may well be very beneficial for minimum / average frame rates in the more cpu dependent titles.

On the other hand, a 7950 should be a smoother experience, overclock considerably further than a 5870, and require a lot less juice. It should also handle AA better and provide better results when using mods / high texture packs, as it has a shed load more memory.

Edit : Marine makes some good points there, and although imo you would see benefits to upgrading to a second 5870 / 7950, I agree that you won't get the very most out of it on that cpu (in some cases there would be a lot left to be desired). I have a Q6600 overclocked to around 3.4 / 3.5 with a gtx480, and although I'm delighted with the performance of the card, there has been the odd occasion when the above has become apparent, e.g. a demanding mod that I recently played, where the minimum fps were borderline. Any less, and I don't think some sections of the game would have been playable for me.