Graphics card upgrade?

[Longy]

Looking to upgrade from Crossfire 2 x 5770's to a single powerful card for around £200.

AMD or Nvidia I aint bothered.

 

[conneh]

6950 reference design, then unlock it so it's a 6970. Done.

 

[Darren S]

Looking to upgrade from Crossfire 2 x 5770's to a single powerful card for around £200.

AMD or Nvidia I aint bothered.

I'm with you on this.

I'm increasingly becoming disillusioned with multiple cards. I've had SLi in the past and currently in Crossfire with two 4890s. Tbh, I don't think the extra expense, fitment and cabling - not to mention power draw is actually worth it. So few games actually fully utilise the power of both cards concurrently and what benefit is gained, is usually blown out of the water by a superior, single card as a replacement.

The fact that ATi can't enforce V-Sync (which is a 100%-of-the-time requirement, imo) while enabling Crossfire is just silly. I've done multiple tests recently where a game appears smoother running on a single 4890 than when Crossfire is enabled. Put bluntly, the next upgrade - like yourself, either nVidia or ATi - will be a single card for me.

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

SLi > Crossfire

Basically

 

[Longy]

I'm with you on this.

I'm increasingly becoming disillusioned with multiple cards. I've had SLi in the past and currently in Crossfire with two 4890s. Tbh, I don't think the extra expense, fitment and cabling - not to mention power draw is actually worth it. So few games actually fully utilise the power of both cards concurrently and what benefit is gained, is usually blown out of the water by a superior, single card as a replacement.

The fact that ATi can't enforce V-Sync (which is a 100%-of-the-time requirement, imo) while enabling Crossfire is just silly. I've done multiple tests recently where a game appears smoother running on a single 4890 than when Crossfire is enabled. Put bluntly, the next upgrade - like yourself, either nVidia or ATi - will be a single card for me.

D.

I feel the exact same way mate, been looking at the 6950's but getting the right board that can be flashed could be tricky? so I've looked at getting an actual 6970 which seem to be low on stock everywhere?

I quite fancy a change from AMD and was looking at the GTX570 overclocked editions for about £250.

 

[Darren S]

SLi > Crossfire

Basically

Quite probably. But when I last dabbled with SLi, the results were less than impressive vs. the cost. I bought a 7900GTX at about £245 when they were good cards to get. Later, a bought the same card again off eBay for £99 from a chap in Scotland.

SLi'd those mofos together and felt smug in my quite potent setup for the time . Ran the Half-Life 2 : Lost Coast benchtest and got 90fps on one card, 112fps in SLi. My m8 bought a generic, unbranded ATi 3850 for about £70 and it pissed on my setup at 160fps+.

I'm far from saying that either technology is the best, nor is there a benefit in having two cards under the lid. But I just think in real terms - by that - what you actually see going on with your own eyes on the screen - the additional card really doesn't amount to much. The benchmarks may tell you differently and perhaps in one game, an SLi or Crossfire configuration would clearly have a significant edge. But generally across the board, such gains are really few and far between. I'd rather cut back on the fan noise, the power used and allow better air-flow through the case by just using a single, decent card.

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

aye,

I should of been less vague lol. SLi as a technology is far better imo - maybe not exactly cost effective though! Crossfire is let down by driver support massively, Catalyst A.I was a huge issue with Crossfire for me at the time (5870)


Oh, but 580GTX SLi is the tits.