Crossfire and power requirements

[Deleted]

Hello

I am switching my old GTX550ti for a crossfire setup.

My plan is to replace this card with 2xAMD6870's (this is an example but I am looking at a couple of different models all around a similar price http://www.ebuyer.com/397970-powerco...0-1gbd5-m2dhv2)

The rest of my hardware is as follows,

ASUS P8Z77-LX
Intel i5-3570K
16GB Corsair vengeance 1600mhz
120GB OCZ SSD
2 x HDD (140gb and 500gb)
750W OCZ Fatality PSU.

Will my PSU cope with 2 6870's?, I ideally need to go back to using 3 screens for work purposes so that renders pretty much all the Nvidia 500 series useless and my board only supports Xfire and not SLI.

Would love some input.

Thanks all

FLob

[Deleted]

750watt is more than powerful enough for a dual card system.
also the 6870 should be tripple screen on a single card, I know my 6950 can manage it. (or at least it has the connections too)

[Deleted]

yeah most AMD card are fine with 3 screens I just want some power so 2x6870's would cover that side of things I think without going to far over my 200 quid budget

[sizzlinsauce]

750W could do 3 waysli with the 6870's to be honest though you're best off doing SLI with a 2gb+ card so if you ever decide to go multi monitor you wont be gibbed by not having the gpu ram to hold you back. i made the mistake with triple 6950's(1gb versions) never again..

[Deleted]

Why not get a single 7870?? Than atleast you got 2 gb of ram, instead of just 1.

for instance
http://www.ebuyer.com/349749-sapphir...t-11199-00-20g

[Deleted]

Why not get a single 7870?? Than atleast you got 2 gb of ram, instead of just 1.

for instance
http://www.ebuyer.com/349749-sapphir...t-11199-00-20g

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't 2x6870's give more power?

[Deleted]

Most likely yes, but with the higher resolution the 2 gb will help. And you get the crossfire issues such as micro stuttering etc. (But that doesnt have to happen ofcourse)

Also, you are saying 3 screens for work. So im assuming some extra desktop space to look at different things etc. I dunno how money is for you, but you could also get a 7850 and crossfire that later?

I just think getting an older generation card is a bit pointless.

[vesseblah]

Would love some input.

Don't crossfire old midrange cards. You get all the problems that comes with it but very little benefit compared to single new card. You'll get microstuttering and low video RAM problems.

Single 7870 is almost on par with 2x 6870, and single 7950 way above the pair.

[Deleted]

thanks all

if i picked up a 7870 and Xfire'd it later is it like Nvidia's SLI which needs to be exactly the same chipset and board manufacturer or it fails or can I mix and match the same chipset with a different board manufacturer?

[vesseblah]

thanks all

if i picked up a 7870 and Xfire'd it later is it like Nvidia's SLI which needs to be exactly the same chipset and board manufacturer or it fails or can I mix and match the same chipset with a different board manufacturer?

First two digits need to be the same with Crossfire, ie. another 78xx card. There are few exceptions, but you'll never go wrong with the first two digits rule.

[Deleted]

First two digits need to be the same with Crossfire, ie. another 78xx card. There are few exceptions, but you'll never go wrong with the first two digits rule.

Thanks, really appreciate the help from everyone in this thread.