Should I Crossfire my 5850?

[fireisdangerous]

i5 cpu scaling with 5850 crossfire :

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-crossfire-nvidia-sli-multi-gpu,2678-7.html


Another article which shows different games & is using 5870 crossfire :

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2847/2

thanks a lot for the links, looks like i would get a nice boost in all my favorite games.

decisions decisons decisions.....

 

[Marine-RX179]

Thanks for the reply, ive tried to overclock the cpu many a time but have always failed or lost intererst dude to lack of skill , the cpu is cooled by a corsair h50 and i have the silverston raven 02 v1 so everything runs super cool so there is no reason not to overclock.

What did u use to overclock the gpu? the card doesnt struggle at all i just fancied getting another!! the lure of new toys is to strong.

For overclocking your CPU, you can just make a topic on the CPU or Overclocking forum (I'd just use the CPU forum since there are more viewers there), list your hardware details and people should be able to give you pointers on what settings to use for overclocking your i5 750.

As for overclocking the 5850, I use MSI Afterburner (which can overclock ANY graphic card). However, if your HIS 5850 is a none reference card, then you might not be increase voltage for higher overclock...but I've read some people mentioning Sapphire Trixx can increase voltage for non-reference 5850 as well, don't know if it's truth though.

thanks a lot for the links, looks like i would get a nice boost in all my favorite games.

But remember frame rate won't be the only thing getting bumped...heat/temp, power consumption and energy bill will get bumped too

 

[tommybhoy]

Don't bother...firstly your 5850 should still be plenty fast enough if you can overclock it, secondly your CPU (dual-core) at stock speed would be a limitation for something as fast as a xfire 5850 anyway (especially for console ports that require at least 3 cores to run well).

Don't listen. Do it... Do it, you know you wan't to

 

[Marine-RX179]

Don't listen. Do it... Do it, you know you wan't to

Yea...jump in and just read one post while ignoring the rest that follow why don't you?

And you are telling the OP to act on impulse rather than reasons.

 

[tommybhoy]

Yea...jump in and just read one post while ignoring the rest that follow why don't you?

Eh, did you look further up the page?

 

[liamcrane]

I was considering x fire like you fireisdangerous, but i have just found overclocking my 5850 is more than enough to run high end games with ease.

Currently playing battlefield 2 with clocks of 810/1000 at stock volts, get a solid 60fps most of the time drops down to 45fps during insane gun battles but very rarely. GPU temp never goes above 55c at 45% fan. Also got another profile saved with clocks of 920/1100 at 1.125v, i tend to use this for games like GTA and it runs really well, even with my lower OC GTA works a treat .

Just think if the extra heat and money is going to gain you that much? you already have a great card give it some juice and it will fly

 

[Marine-RX179]

Eh, did you look further up the page?

I was refering to how you quote one thing I posted, while ignoring the rest:

Right right. So looks like you have a i5 750 and a x8/x8 Crossfire capable board...so crossfire does seem worth considering now (I'd overclock the i5 750 than leaving it at stock speed though).

I myself only just upgrade to a 5850 over Christmas along with a BenQ G2222 1920x1080 LED monitor. I've managed to overclock it to 975MHz/1100MHz, but found that I don't even need it for most game I play, so I just using another overclock profile of 835MHz/1100MHz for most games I play.

I'm planning on using this card for 2 years, then upgrade to 2nd gen 28nm GPU graphic card or something like that.

So the question remains...do you NEED another 5850? Is your 5850 struggling at the moment? Graphic card will be moving from 40nm process onto 28nm process from next gen onward, so you have to think about if it is worth you to invest another £130 on a 5850 (and do remember that 5850 has weak tessellation performance).

 

[fireisdangerous]

For overclocking your CPU, you can just make a topic on the CPU or Overclocking forum (I'd just use the CPU forum since there are more viewers there), list your hardware details and people should be able to give you pointers on what settings to use for overclocking your i5 750.

As for overclocking the 5850, I use MSI Afterburner (which can overclock ANY graphic card). However, if your HIS 5850 is a none reference card, then you might not be increase voltage for higher overclock...but I've read some people mentioning Sapphire Trixx can increase voltage for non-reference 5850 as well, don't know if it's truth though.


But remember frame rate won't be the only thing getting bumped...heat/temp, power consumption and energy bill will get bumped too

Thanks again for your advice, ive started a thread:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18231694

If i can get more performace without spending any money ill be very happy.

 

[liamcrane]

Drivers can also play a big part, im still using 10.3 with my 5850 and refuse to change as they work like a charm, hardly come across any trouble while playing high end games