One 7950 or two 7850s

[liscoe]

Hi, I will be building my brother a pc soon and am looking for an answer to the above question.

He has a 120hz screen so will be wanting to get max framerates so as to take advantage of this. He will be playing mainly fps games like Borderlands 2 etc.

This seems to suggest that it might be worth going with 7850s:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/19/h...chmarked-this-generations-best-multi-gpu-buy/

Obviously I'd get the 2 gig version. I could just about justify two of these for about £350 rather than two 7950s for £500...

I will be overclocking whatever I get as much as possible...

 

[weehamish]

1 card is always better imo, get a 7950.

BL2 uses physx btw so maybe geta 670 if he plans on playing that a lot?

 

[liscoe]

Bump, any more suggestions/ideas chaps? Will a single 7950 be enough, is it worth spending the extra on a 670 just for physx?

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

+1 for a 7950. Better to get a good single card and avoid any potential CF issues. Plus you'll always have the option to add a second 7950 later on. An overclocked 7950 is faster than an overclocked 670 with these new drivers, plus it is cheaper. You'd have to value Physx highly indeed to go with a 670 over a 7950 now.

 

[arc@css]

7950. You can run physx on medium via the cpu iirc.

 

[imginy]

If your wanting anywhere near 120 fps max settings then a single 7950 is not enough.

 

[liscoe]

So what is nearly enough? Two 7950's? One 7970? Most of the games he plays are years old- it's only boarderlands 2 that's modern.

 

[wazza300]

thought about a 60hz monitor and a 7850?

 

[liscoe]

No.

He already has the 120hz monitor, see original question...

 

[MeMeMeMe]

According to the review you mentioned in the first post, borderlands 2 is CPU-limited, so having two 7850's wont provide much of an edge - if any - over a single 7950, and two 7950s are definitely not worth it.

I'm a fan of crossfire, but in this situation it seems a bit of a waste. If you were going to spend £350, get a 7970. Otherwise, a single 7950 or even 7870 will suffice.

By the way, you don't need to get max framerates to take advantage of the 120 Hz monitor. It makes a difference even at lower frame rates. For a contrived example, a game which has a max FPS below 120, averages around 60, and drops to say 20-30 on occasion will run smoother on the 120Hz monitor, because you can disable VSync without worrying about visible tearing.