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Crossfire or upgrade?

Gmartin

Gmartin

Gmartin

Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2013
Posts
3
I want to upgrade my graphics card, but I'm not sure if I should go for a complete upgrade or go for crossfire. I currently have an Asus Radeon 6850

I recently upgraded to an intel i7 3770k from a Phenom II, and I want to bring my graphics card more in line with that. I've got a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H, and 8gb Corsair vengeance ram.

I'd like not to spend too much money, but I could go up to about £300 if it's worth it. I can get another 6850 from amazon for £160, although I could probably get one cheaper if I hang about on ebay for a couple of weeks, given that the 7850 is actually cheaper. I know that two 6850s isn't going to match a £300 graphics card, but I'd like to know how close it gets. Should I go for crossfire or should I spend a bit more and upgrade outright?
I'll be using it to play a variety of games, new and old, and I run three monitors. I'd love to be able to get games running properly with eyefinity, the 6850 just isn't powerful enough, would that work better on a single card or on crossfire?

Another question, I know that cards in crossfire can only work as quickly as the slowest card, but does it actually affect the performance, would a 6850 and a 7850 work just as well as two 6850s? Given that the 6850's price seems to have inflated somewhat, it's more expensive now than when I bought it, something like that may be the more economic way to go.
 
I've seldom read solid, positive experiences with regard to 6850 / 70 crossfire, and as you're running multi monitor, I wouldn't even waste your time by considering it (even if they are 2gb models).

I would drop in something like a 7950 (comes with eight free games), and then you could add another further down the line if need be (I would happily crossfire / sli high end cards - not so keen on lower end pairs).

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-065-HS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1673
 
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Thanks for the prompt replies.

I'm not really concerned with the free games, I have far more games already that I'll ever have time to play, and I already own the ones in that bundle that I want. I'd have gone for sleeping dogs, but as that's not there it won't tempt me. I also probably won't be buying anything for a couple of weeks at least, so that deal doesn't matter anyway. I could afford to buy one cheap off ebay right now, but anything more than that and I'll have to wait.
 
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Depends how much you can source a 6850 for if cheap enough it's a no brainer and as above the 7950 seems like the only true value card at the moment.
I wouldn't go within a thousand miles of a 6850 for £160 that's a crazy price and just throwing money away.cant see how a 6850 price inflated it's an end of line discontinued product virtually.Personally I'd get rid of the 6850 pronto whilst it's still worth something and be all over a 7950 3gb with the games bundle.
 
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