2 CrossFire/SLI Middle End Cards or 1 High End Card?

[StarScream345]

Im sure that this has been asked be fore but i'd like to see what you people think to this. What would you go with and what i mean by mid end is this:

5770

5750

6770

6850

6870

GTX460

GTX560 TI

GTS450

Etc...

And by high end i mean:

5970

5870

6950

6970

6990

7950

7970

GTX570

GTX580

GTX680

So it would be two of the mid end cards or one of the High end cards

I have 2 6850's and they work pretty well, But i'd like to know what you think.

Scream.

 

[Master&Puppet]

It is always to be better to invest in the best single card you can until you hit the premium range which adds more price than performance. As soon as you add a second card you loose a little value for money depending on the scaling.

For me the best high end card is the 7950. When you look at the top cards available (680, 7970, 7950) and overclock them all they perform almost identically. Therefore the 7950 wins because it is so much cheaper than the others.

Mid range card choice for me would be the 7850. It 2gb of ram which will chew through anything, has a cracking little processor which will overclock to perform what the 7950 can do at stock and it's performance per Watt is just astounding. Now, you can get cards at the £200 pound mark which will perform as good or slightly better than the 7850 (like the 480) but they won't have the other advantages.

 

[thehidecheck]

7850 crossfire hits a 3d mark 11300p score with a modest oc. Don't ask me where i got those numbers, spent ages looking to find them, thank you google translate, lost the link.

I'm also in the market for a 500$/400[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans] pound graphics solution. Consider the following as i did and do(its a work in progress)[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]2 7850's crossfire[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]1 aftermarket 680(asus directcu looking the best at this point)[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]2 gtx 660's(announced sometime in the next 3 weeks, 1 month tops)[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]-The gtx 680 option is sitting pretty on its throne, its price isnt going anywhere, it wont have any competition anytime soon. If you are going after this option, buy it now, no point in waiting.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]-7850's option is prolly something you should wait on. Both the 77xx and the 79xx took huge price cuts and I expect the 78xx to follow suit. The gtx 660 release should expedite(sp?) this trend.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]-660's, I really think this is where my money is headed. Kepler is great, there is no denying it. Rumor mill also has it that its gonna have 2gb memory, a great sli feature.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]Perhaps you considered some 560ti 448's or 570's? Quite honestly, they are a waste of time at this point. Not enough vram, score similarly to 7850's, support will dip before 7850's. They may hold a few fps lead over the 7850's on a single 1080p display on current gen games, 1 year of driver development or greater resolutions or even future titles demanding more ram will see that gap close and the 7850's pull ahead (and the power too!).[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]Again, myself being in a similar situation, suggest holding out till the 660 release.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]Other things you might consider if you decide to expand your budget, gtx 690, 7870's, 670's. Rumor mill also suggests that nvidia's dual gpu wont be priced as aggressively this time around. 7870's, see above for projected price cuts. 670's, its a cheap 104gk core, what can i say?[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif, FreeSans]Edit: Oh, as it stand's, I'd get a 680 over 7850's. No crossfire issues to deal with and just look at those scores...[/font]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-gtx-680-directcu-ii-top-2gb-review/15614-4.html

AMD is gonna have to save me abit of money before i consider 7850's over a 680.

 

[StarScream345]

Currently have CrossFire XFX 6850's, Wish i had gome for a single 6970 as the main game i play i found doesn't work so well with CrossFire.

ALWAYS! Check that your games support CrossFire!!

Scream.

 

[S_I_N]

always get best single card ya can afford and sli/xfire later if needed.

 

[thehidecheck]

Relevant for this thread, gk104 based card coming out at half the price of the gtx 680.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-gk104335a2-specifications-performance-detailed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Wccftechcom+%28WCCFtech.com%29