not the wisest upgrade

[Noir]

I bought a ASUS 6870 DirectCU II a few monthes ago, its very fine, except that since then I went Eyefinity and the card is struggling a little bit to drive all 3 screens. It does surprisingly well actually, but I want better.

I'm considering two options, the first one is to go crossfire for 150euros, with no guarantee that every game will work flawlessly and that my power supply will support it, or get a 7950 for 250euros and try to sell my 6870...thoughts?

[katanaso]

I'd go with the 7950 and sell your current 6870, mainly to avoid any issues with Crossfire in AH.  AMD doesn't have a Crossfire profile for AH, and after the annoyance of microstutters due to Crossfire, I'd be reluctant to do it again.

Also, depending on the flavor of 7950, it can be OCd nicely.

My thoughts.

[Masherbrum]

I run Crossfired 5770's and see no hindrance in AH.   

[Skuzzy]

I just ordered this 7950 for my new computer build.  I needed the video RAM more than the performance, and figured this one would do the job for what I need it for.

[Noir]

I just ordered this 7950 for my new computer build.  I needed the video RAM more than the performance, and figured this one would do the job for what I need it for.

I need to check the reference cards if there's any, but these 2 fans seem to be massive!

With that amount of RAM I was assuming that the 7950 was a dual GPU card, but looks like it's not  I any case large amounts of video RAM is good to drive large resolutions IIRC.

[ToeTag]

I just ordered this 7950 for my new computer build.  I needed the video RAM more than the performance, and figured this one would do the job for what I need it for.

OK So I guess you are going to make us ask what your are putting in the rest of the slots?

[Skuzzy]

I need to check the reference cards if there's any, but these 2 fans seem to be massive!

With that amount of RAM I was assuming that the 7950 was a dual GPU card, but looks like it's not  I any case large amounts of video RAM is good to drive large resolutions IIRC.

Well, I need it to be quiet and that is one of the things consistently stated in the reviews I found.

I need the RAM for video work.  It is a big card.  It is going to be a tight fit.

OK So I guess you are going to make us ask what your are putting in the rest of the slots?

Nope.  He was talking about the 7950, I thought I would chime in on which one I thought was a good one.  If he holds off for a week or two, I can give a first hand impression of the card.

[katanaso]

I run Crossfired 5770's and see no hindrance in AH.   

I had very annoying microstutters when I ran Crossfired 4870's.  I haven't tried Crossfire with my two 5850's though.  It must be better with the 5000 series and/or better drivers than when I tried it with the 4870's.

[titanic3]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/19/hd-7850-1gb-crossfire-benchmarked-this-generations-best-multi-gpu-buy/

[Gman]

Triple monitors is the key thing here I think.  If you were running just one screen, I would vote to sell your current card like you said, and get the 7950, hands down.  With 3 screens however, all the reviews and tests I've read say that running xfire or SLI is THE way to go, the extra video RAM is crucial for running at those crazy high resolutions.  Like Masher said, his 5770 xfire works fine for AH, so your 6870 being a faster card than the 5770 by a bit should work just as well once it has a twin installed in the slot next door.

Do a search regarding Xfire and single card/xfire solutions at TomsHW or overclockers/etc/etc type sites, every one I've read say that unless you have a purpose built single card solution for triple or more monitor gaming, such as the 7970 6gb Saphire Toxic, or the 690 GTX nvidia card, you NEED to be running dual cards in order to push the detail limits up at all at the 57xx by 12xx high resolutions you run with the 3 screens.

So, although the 7950 is a super card, VERY capable for single screen gaming, it won't be as capable as two 6870 according to the search I did.  It'll be close in terms of single screen, the 7950 can be easily overclocked and tweaked to be withing a couple of percent of the lower end 7970's.  Your BEST solution would be if you can afford it at least is to sell your current card and buy TWO 7870 or 7950's for your 3 monitor setup. 

[ToeTag]

Well, I need it to be quiet and that is one of the things consistently stated in the reviews I found.

I need the RAM for video work.  It is a big card.  It is going to be a tight fit.

Nope.  He was talking about the 7950, I thought I would chime in on which one I thought was a good one.  If he holds off for a week or two, I can give a first hand impression of the card.

ok he s going to make us beg.....

[1Cane]

My understanding is you cannot run triple monitors off of a 6800 in crossfire.  I have dual 6850s but they will not run triple monitors in crossfire.  Off of a single 6850 using the HDMI, display port and VGA plug I am able to run three monitors at 5760 by 1080 and I get a constant 59 to 60 frame rate.  If anyone knows how to run three monitors off of dual 6850s please tell me.

[Noir]

well GMAN the thing is that my 6870 is a 1Gb card, and the 7950 I'm looking at is a 3GB edition, so the RAM argument is for the 7950. I need to find the articles you were looking at, it will give me food for thought.

[gyrene81]

Triple monitors is the key thing here I think.  If you were running just one screen, I would vote to sell your current card like you said, and get the 7950, hands down.  With 3 screens however, all the reviews and tests I've read say that running xfire or SLI is THE way to go, the extra video RAM is crucial for running at those crazy high resolutions.  Like Masher said, his 5770 xfire works fine for AH, so your 6870 being a faster card than the 5770 by a bit should work just as well once it has a twin installed in the slot next door.

Do a search regarding Xfire and single card/xfire solutions at TomsHW or overclockers/etc/etc type sites, every one I've read say that unless you have a purpose built single card solution for triple or more monitor gaming, such as the 7970 6gb Saphire Toxic, or the 690 GTX nvidia card, you NEED to be running dual cards in order to push the detail limits up at all at the 57xx by 12xx high resolutions you run with the 3 screens.

So, although the 7950 is a super card, VERY capable for single screen gaming, it won't be as capable as two 6870 according to the search I did.  It'll be close in terms of single screen, the 7950 can be easily overclocked and tweaked to be withing a couple of percent of the lower end 7970's.  Your BEST solution would be if you can afford it at least is to sell your current card and buy TWO 7870 or 7950's for your 3 monitor setup. 

sorry but you have been reading old stuff. with eyefinity and nvidia surround, running dual video cards is not the "only way to go" for running triple monitors. running crossfire or sli video cards does not automatically guarantee the best performance. it will depend on whether the game is cpu dependent or gpu dependent and whether or not the game can take full advantage of dual video cards. ah will run just fine with triple monitors on a single 7950 3gb video card, just don't expect to run all maximum graphics, especially shadows.

My understanding is you cannot run triple monitors off of a 6800 in crossfire.  I have dual 6850s but they will not run triple monitors in crossfire.  Off of a single 6850 using the HDMI, display port and VGA plug I am able to run three monitors at 5760 by 1080 and I get a constant 59 to 60 frame rate.  If anyone knows how to run three monitors off of dual 6850s please tell me.

you can't run eyfinity with crossfire if the video card(s) does not have the proper connections and/or you don't have an active display port adaptor. if you have 2 6850s with a single display port and two dvi ports, then you would setup crossfire and then setup an eyefinity profile in the ccc, and run the monitors off the primary card. you won't be getting double gpu power, more like 25-40% extra.

[Skuzzy]

ok he s going to make us beg.....

Not following you.