Crossfire 6950's or Buy a new card.

jamed2017

jamed2017

New member
Hi Guys,

After some advise. I'm thinking about updating the graphics card to cope with some of the newer games. I'm not sure if the rest of my system is going to cause a bottleneck though?


I'm debating either a new R9 390 8gb or purchasing 2x 6950 / 6970 and cross-firing them.


The long term plan for the rig is to wait for the new AMD SuR stuff and then do a big update.


Any advise appreciated!

Jimmy
 
I was considering adding another two which would give a grand total of three 6950.

Do you see my current system creating any bottleneck issues? I realize its now getting on.


Long term plan, I was thinking of updating to AM4 but after further reading then i'll be going down the skylake route and spending a few extra quid over the next few months. Unless anyone else can see a less expensive upgrade route!


Thanks guys
 
Well if you want AM4 that's great as it should release within 3 months but Zen CPUs won't be here until end of the year so it would be a long wait.

I'd still advise for a single 390 over a TriFire setup of 6950s.
 
Hmm. From very quick calculations from the top of my head here.

3x6950 scaled perfectly at 3xfull power will be about the same as a 390. However, that never happens and the third card will add about 5%.

Then there's the heat and the electricity bills which would actually worry me running those. You would also need a 1000w PSU.

If they are flashed to 6970s they should be worth about £50 each. I would sell them and buy a 390, then consider adding another 390 later.

If you're still on the Phenom that will be a bottleneck too, even with the 390 so I would consider buying a new CPU at board at some point.

Edit I see you have the last bit covered. TBH I still run a 1055T with a Mars 760 so you should still be OK with a 390 :)
 
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the 290(x)!! After all OP is planning to do an overhaul soon and the 390 will drop way more in value.
 
I've had 6970 crossfire *close to 6950 crossfire* and it was beyond poo, As the others have said just get yourself a modern card.
 
You should be able to find a second-hand xfx r9 290 that thing is a beast!! Shouldn't cost an awful lot and hopefully will work untill you upgrade
 
I'm running 2x 6870s OC'd quite a lot and it's barely doing the job. Get a new card would be much better.

I'll be upgrading to a new gen AMD card soon!
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I'll be going for the 390x at the next pay day. I take on board the comments around the 290x, however as this is going to be a rolling upgrade over the course of the next 6 months I'd rather put the best that I can reasonably justify at the time in.


I know this is kinda off the original topic, but what are peoples thoughts on this.

GPU + PSU upgrade. My PSU is underspec and wont cope with what is to follow ....I don't think!
Mobo - Probably a Maximus viii formula
Processor - I7 Skylake 4ghz
RAM - will have to go DDR4 so can't carry any over, aim for 32GB.
Storage - keep the current setup for the time being.
Case - keep the HAF x


Open to cost saving suggestions / possible kit rollovers to save where possible!


Thanks
Jim
 
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Get a 750 Corsair/Seasonic/Superflower PSU
CPU I5 if you will be gaming I7 if you will be doing rendering and the like with it
Ram 16 is really the max amount you need unless you will be doing heavy work loads
And you can keep the current case and storage systems if you want
But you will want a good CPU cooler for the chip too
 
The 390(x) is pretty much an overclocked 290(x) with a customized board and cooler. None of my 290x cards haven't been able to OC past 1150mhz on the core and I have had quite a lot of them.
 
jamed2017 said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. I think I'll be going for the 390x at the next pay day. I take on board the comments around the 290x, however as this is going to be a rolling upgrade over the course of the next 6 months I'd rather put the best that I can reasonably justify at the time in.


I know this is kinda off the original topic, but what are peoples thoughts on this.

GPU + PSU upgrade. My PSU is underspec and wont cope with what is to follow ....I don't think!
Mobo - Probably a Maximus viii formula
Processor - I7 Skylake 4ghz
RAM - will have to go DDR4 so can't carry any over, aim for 32GB.
Storage - keep the current setup for the time being.
Case - keep the HAF x


Open to cost saving suggestions / possible kit rollovers to save where possible!


Thanks
Jim
Click to expand...

If you are thinking of going Crossfire over time I would go with a 1kw unit. You may get away with less but the price difference from 850w-1kw is negligible so it's always better to be safe than sorry.

As for Skylake I7? I don't know if they have more PCIE lanes than the 4790k had but if they don't then I strongly advise going to X99 and the 5820k if they do not.

The reason? I run a 5820k with two Fury X and even with my X4 PCIE SSD in there I still get X16 X8 over my two GPUs. If the Skylake I7 is the same as the 4790k then you will be on X8 X8. I know I know, it's not a massive difference but it is a difference.

A 5820k and board is not much more expensive than a Skylake I7.

*goes off to read about Skylake lanes*

Edit. I just checked and the Skylake I7 has 16 lanes total. So that means X8 X8 and you won't be able to use the M2/whateveritis slot because that would drop you to X8 X4.

So erm yeah, multi GPU = 5820k. The X99 platform has a much broader upgrade selection too (8 cores, soon to be 10 cores etc).
 
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