4way crossfire help choosing cards.

[PunisheR_`]

witch card is the best for 4 way crossfire?

was thinking 6950s or maybe 6850s

would buy cards one at a time, price each max 300.

5 screens all at 1920x1200. is what they are needed for.

(Not for me just for friend and i am already jelly of him)

 

[AMDFTW]

4way crossfire wont scale mate in games anyway is it for eyefinity?

 

[Chaney579]

Yea, there is no way 4 way would scale correctly, need more info anyways.

-What games or software are you running?

-what are the system specs? Like what motherboard and cpu/RAM for bottlenecks etc.

 

[-warheart-]

if it is for gaming, go with 3 way cf with more expensive cards!

 

[PunisheR_`]

not sure what he is using it for.

Also not sure the motherboard is but it has 2 CPUs slots. he runs 2 Xeons with 48 gig of ram on windows 7 ultimate

ram is cosair dominator (2000mhz)

 

[I Hunta x]

Are you working in £, $, C$, AU$?

From the sounds of it its probably the EVGA SR2, tell him to save his money and buy 2 GTX580's as they have MUCH better scalability, hell he can get 3x 580's for a little more than 4x 6950's if he realy wants giant epeen status for games.

3 monitors are overkill let alone 5 for gaming, as few games support it properly and it just messes up the HUD/side screens, unless he uses the extra monitors for some kind of work and he needs them then 3 will be plenty, 3 580's should allow you to have the middle 3 screens set up in nvidia surround + the 2 extra's either side as just extra monitors if he does need 5.

 

[Rastalovich]

My Philosophy has always been; get the best single gpu card you can afford, and fill out the blanks with the rest of your cash.

Better for drivers, better for stability, scale is always 1:1 (duh), no bother with profiles and compatibility. Less issues on a whole.

If someone must, MUST buy more than one... get 2x of the best cards available IF you MUST. (don't cry to me when things don't play as well as you thought or you get problems. bit harsh ? I tend to fix very best of mates' computers, family and hot chicks. if you don't fit in that category you got no chance)

Buying 3 - you're wasting cash you could spend on 1 (if you don't use the best single gpu x3)

AND if you're buying 4x of the best single gpu available - AND can afford it - knock yourself out. Why the hell not, you've obviously got the cash - BUT I will chastise you if you have anything less than the very best in 30"+ monitors, as, again, you're wasting cash.

I do that palm to face thing when people buy more than 1 card that isn't the best single gpu - but hey, each to their own.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

i dont think the 6950 does 4 way only the 6970 (correct me if im wrong).

either way if you are going to do 4 way i would get 2 6990s, reason being if you are going to do 4 way you NEED, MUST, user water cooling. and watercooling 2 6990s will be a few HUNDRED $$$ cheaper than water cooling 4 individual 6950/70. using 4 individual cards is VERY expencive!

And to the other posters >> He did say 5 1920x1200 screens

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

If this has already been said I apologise but you can't use 68xx cards in tri-fire or quad-fire.

 

[Chaney579]

i dont think the 6950 does 4 way only the 6970 (correct me if im wrong).

either way if you are going to do 4 way i would get 2 6990s, reason being if you are going to do 4 way you NEED, MUST, user water cooling. and watercooling 2 6990s will be a few HUNDRED $$$ cheaper than water cooling 4 individual 6950/70. using 4 individual cards is VERY expencive!

And to the other posters >> He did say 5 1920x1200 screens

I agree with the 6990 choice. But on the other hand nobody asked for the screens. We were all interested in the Mobo, CPU, What case, etc. xD... we all seen what monitors he said he would be using.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

I agree with the 6990 choice. But on the other hand nobody asked for the screens. We were all interested in the Mobo, CPU, What case, etc. xD... we all seen what monitors he said he would be using.

thats the other benifit of the 2 6990s is that you only need 2 pci-e slots as apposed to 4

 

[Chaney579]

Yea if its a must he wants that kind of performance, 2 6990's, but watercool them if not, two 590s, Best bet. But without water cooling on those 6990's your looking at a jet engine spinning up in there. D:

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Yea if its a must he wants that kind of performance, 2 6990's, but watercool them if not, two 590s, Best bet. But without water cooling on those 6990's your looking at a jet engine spinning up in there. D:

its not just the sound though, its the temps they get at. My 6990 on air would frequently hit 90c+. now that i have it watercooled the hottest it has gotten is 72c. I cant imagine what TWO 6990 temps would be like, the top card would easily hit 100c, and even 2 590s. from what i heard the 590 cooler is quieter but in terms of heat dissipation they are both around the same.

 

[Chaney579]

Yes, But again without any other specs we could be talking out of our asses trying to figure out what would be the best >.>

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Yes, But again without any other specs we could be talking out of our asses trying to figure out what would be the best >.>

I think the only spec we would need is what processor he is using, to confirm there is no bottleneck. a 990x/980x at 4.5ghz is all hill need