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XFire Question

dante671

dante671

dante671

Associate
Joined
19 Jul 2011
Posts
63
Just built myself a new gaming PC and I am trying to decide whether it's worth getting another graphics card for XFire or not. The specs for my PC are as follows:

Motherboard: Asrock Extreme4 Z68
Processor: i7 Sandybridge 2600k
RAM: 16Gb Kingston HyperX Genesis
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 (60Gb)
Graphics Card: ATI 6950 Twin Frozr III http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-128-MS

I have tried searching online but there's surprisingly little info/explanation of the advantages/disadvantages of XFire, so hoping someone can give me some advantages/disadvantages of XFire?
And whether or not they think it's worth me getting another graphics card for XFire?

The main games I play are Rift and BattleField: Bad Company 2. I use a 50" plasma TV as my monitor, I think the resolution is currently set to 1920x1080 (or something close to that).
 
get the single card first. If it does not meet your requirements, get another one for x fire.

x fire is just the name for using two AMD graphics cards. a single card is better most of the time
 
Ok thanks for the quick reply, I already have the single card and it runs everything on the highest settings with over 60 fps. I had just thought that since you need the exact same card to have XFire it may be worth investing in another.

I don't plan on building another new PC for at least 3-4 years, and I doubt I will need to upgrade any of the other components in order to run any new games that come out between now and then, so thought I might as well check if it was worth getting another. Is it better to just wait until the graphics card struggles with a new game, and then just buy a new card rather than XFire?
 
u can xfire with any other 6950 or 6970 or even a 6990.

the benefit depends on the game you play, some games benefit at 80-100% scaling meaning if u have 60fps now, you can up to 120fps with a extra card, often however the scaling is around 80% or so in average.

some games don't benefit much or even at all, so check the games you play, and then decide if its worth it, single card is simpler due to no hassle with drivers which can happen with crossfire sometimes.

I use it for Bc2 which is the main game I play, and I get good scaling for the price.
 
flopper said:
u can xfire with any other 6950 or 6970 or even a 6990.

the benefit depends on the game you play, some games benefit at 80-100% scaling meaning if u have 60fps now, you can up to 120fps with a extra card, often however the scaling is around 80% or so in average.

some games don't benefit much or even at all, so check the games you play, and then decide if its worth it, single card is simpler due to no hassle with drivers which can happen with crossfire sometimes.

I use it for Bc2 which is the main game I play, and I get good scaling for the price.
Click to expand...

you can't xfire with a 6970 can you?

OP, wait until your card struggles then Xfire or get a new single card
 
dante671 said:
Ok thanks for the quick reply, I already have the single card and it runs everything on the highest settings with over 60 fps. I had just thought that since you need the exact same card to have XFire it may be worth investing in another.

I don't plan on building another new PC for at least 3-4 years, and I doubt I will need to upgrade any of the other components in order to run any new games that come out between now and then, so thought I might as well check if it was worth getting another. Is it better to just wait until the graphics card struggles with a new game, and then just buy a new card rather than XFire?
Click to expand...
If you are happy with the current performance of your single 6950 at the moment, just leave it be. Because in games that your single 6950 is not struggle, if you gone crossfire you won't really notice too much improvement...so instead, wait till there's a game which your single 6950 struggle with, THEN you can consider going crossfire, or if the performance gap between the next gen card and current get card big enough worth upgrading instead of going crossfire. The thing is if you get another 6950 NOW, it will cost your £200...but when you get one to crossfire after the launch of next gen card, the chances are their price will be dropped to sub £150 level.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone, think I am going to just stick with the single card for now and then upgrade if and when required. Now that I know that the 6950's scale well it is an option for the future.
 
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