GPU Upgrade Help for 1440p

[Sorphius]

I built my machine for 1080p last summer. The single 2GB Sapphire Radeon 7850 OC has performed admirably for me, and I must say I've been very pleased with it. That being said, I recently bought a new 27" 1440p monitor, and while overall I'm satisfied with my machine's performance at the larger resolution, my FPS has dropped noticeably in graphic-intensive situations. So, with the ~$200 I have left to work with, I'm looking to optimize it for the larger resolution.

Newegg today has an ASUS GTX660 TI on sale for just under $200 after coupon codes and a $20 MIR.

Alternately, I could pick up a second 7850 for around $150-175 and run it in Xfire with my current card.

How would I get the most bang for my buck (for ~$200) upgrading the rig to run at 2560x1440? Or is any improvement I'd see in my price range not worth the expense, and would I be better off waiting 6-8 months until the current generation of cards come down in price?

[Deleted]

Dont get the 660ti. It wont be that much better due to its membus, which is smaller than your 7850.

It is difficult for me to give solid advice. When talking about a single card, Id say the 770/7970 is the minimum for high/ultra gaming, followed by 760/7950/670 for some more tweaking with settings. On the other hand, crossfire 7850s should be better than a single 7970 and AMD did release new drivers which helped a lot with their microstutter problems.

I would google around a bit more and see what you can find. If you do decide on crossfire 7850s, be sure to check your motherboard supports it (and than I mean that the second slot runs at 8x). I think PSU wise you should be fine, from the top of my head the 7850 only needs one power connector. But be also sure to check that out.

[Deleted]

Yes the 7850 only use one power connector.

Assuming you play games that can actually utilize CF and your PSU is powerful enough then I'd say a second 7850 would be the way to go. That or wait for next generation AMD, a GTX 770 would be good but it's obviously not within your budget.

ASUS HD7850 $151

Your Price: $170.99
With Promo Code
EMCXMXM53
$150.99 After $20.00 MIR

[Sorphius]

Thanks for the code, Notarget!

Question though... do two cards in xfire have to be completely identical? Or just the same chipset? (Basically, are all 2GB 7850s created equal for purposes of running Crossfire with my current one)

[Deleted]

They should, but they will run at the clockspeeds of the lowest clocked card. But you can use msi afterburner and overclock them both etc.

[Sorphius]

Alright, thanks. And for mild-moderate overclocking (up to ~950-975mhz) do I need to be concerned with heat buildup too much with two cards? That Asus card Notarget linked and my current Sapphire one both seem to have pretty good cooling systems on them, and I've got pretty good ventilation set up in my HAF XM case...

[Deleted]

Alright, thanks. And for mild-moderate overclocking (up to ~950-975mhz) do I need to be concerned with heat buildup too much with two cards? That Asus card Notarget linked and my current Sapphire one both seem to have pretty good cooling systems on them, and I've got pretty good ventilation set up in my HAF XM case...

Well you can take GPU up to 80C without any worries (some passive GPUs run as high as 95C+, but they're not really know for their durability). Usually it's the noise that gets you before the cooler's maximum capacity runs out.

[Deleted]

Alright, thanks. And for mild-moderate overclocking (up to ~950-975mhz) do I need to be concerned with heat buildup too much with two cards? That Asus card Notarget linked and my current Sapphire one both seem to have pretty good cooling systems on them, and I've got pretty good ventilation set up in my HAF XM case...

I think as far as GPU's are concerned, if you dont touch the voltages but do increase the clockspeeds. The temperature of the card(s) wont go up by that much. But do keep in mind that the top card will most likely reach higher temps.

[Sorphius]

Okay, last question (I think)...

How does this 7850 from MSI compare to the one Notarget linked above for my purposes? To my eyes it looks like the only difference is that this one is factory overclocked to 900mhz and $11 cheaper. I'm not familiar with MSI as a brand, though.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay so I lied about the last question part. I took a look at my MoBo to make sure I'd have room (I do), and another question came to mind... this time about ventilation/cooling for the top card.

My motherboard is an AsRock Z77 Extreme4..

Right now My Sapphire 7850 is plugged into PCIE2.

Moving down, I have a PCIe soundcard connected in PCIE3 (which I'd need to move to either 1 or 4 to accomodate the new card), followed by a wifi adapter in PCI2.

Since the cooler on the second GPU would cover PCI2, PCI1 is the only place to put it. However, that would have it sitting pretty much flush against the intake fan for the top GPU.


Here's a picture of the inside of my rig as it stands now.

Would it be a problem to have my wireless adapter right up next to the top GPU? Or should I look for a smaller PCIe adapter to plug into 1 or 4 while I'm shopping?

- - - Updated - - -

Added a picture of the inside of my tower. Would it be okay to put my PCI wireless adapter in PCI1, which is right up against the intake fan on the top GPU? Or should I find a PCIe one to plug in elsewhere?

[lordsphinx]

Okay, last question (I think)...

How does this 7850 from MSI compare to the one Notarget linked above for my purposes? To my eyes it looks like the only difference is that this one is factory overclocked to 900mhz and $11 cheaper. I'm not familiar with MSI as a brand, though.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay so I lied about the last question part. I took a look at my MoBo to make sure I'd have room (I do), and another question came to mind... this time about ventilation/cooling for the top card.

My motherboard is an AsRock Z77 Extreme4..

Right now My Sapphire 7850 is plugged into PCIE2.

Moving down, I have a PCIe soundcard connected in PCIE3 (which I'd need to move to either 1 or 4 to accomodate the new card), followed by a wifi adapter in PCI2.

Since the cooler on the second GPU would cover PCI2, PCI1 is the only place to put it. However, that would have it sitting pretty much flush against the intake fan for the top GPU.


Here's a picture of the inside of my rig as it stands now.

Would it be a problem to have my wireless adapter right up next to the top GPU? Or should I look for a smaller PCIe adapter to plug into 1 or 4 while I'm shopping?

- - - Updated - - -

Added a picture of the inside of my tower. Would it be okay to put my PCI wireless adapter in PCI1, which is right up against the intake fan on the top GPU? Or should I find a PCIe one to plug in elsewhere?

Is there any particular reason you don't just use an external wifi adapter? Unless you don't have any free USB ports I can't see why you don't just go get an external adapter for like 30 bucks.

[Sorphius]

I suppose that's always an option, but I don't have any experience with them and have heard horror stories about overheating, lost packets, dropped connection, poor signal, etc.

[lordsphinx]

They're obviously not going to be as good as a hardline connection, that's for sure, but I've been wireless for a while now and it hasn't bothered me. I would only steer you away from an external adapter if you are very far from your router, or if you do very competitive, high-end gaming (race for world first kinda stuff). I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've lost signal in 2 years while raiding.

Edit: I would also recommend that you check out your router. If it's 5 years old and antiquated technology then you'll have problems, but I'm not sure if you'll have any more problems with an external adapter than an internal one.

[Evil Inside]

I suppose that's always an option, but I don't have any experience with them and have heard horror stories about overheating, lost packets, dropped connection, poor signal, etc.

As long as the equipment isnt faulty and you're not too far from the router then you should have no problems. I'm currently using my down-stairs neighbour's wifi without any problem whatsoever.

[Sorphius]

Nah, router's not an issue... have a ~8 month old Asus RT-N66U. Might be worth looking into, I suppose. And I guess there's not much difference between having a USB stick hanging out the back of my computer and having several antennae poking out.