6950 X-Fire or 7950/7970

[kilroyst]

So, I just joined the Korean 1440p IPS monitor craze and while I'm loving the IQ, I'm underwhelmed with my GPU horsepower.

Honestly the most taxing thing I play is fully modded Skyrim, but my framerates are averaging low 40's. I'd like better framerates now and the option to play newer games with decent FPS going forward. I also run some Solidworks and PC-Dmis on this system, but nothing mission critical.

I feel like I have a couple of options which are: 1. Add a second 6950. I have never had the gumption to run dual GPU before and am leary of driver issues etc. 2. Sell off the 6950 and invest in a 7950/7970. I guess there is a 3rd option which is wait and see what the next gen offers up.

So, what do you guys think would be my best option?

My system at present:
I-5 2600k running at 4.5
Gigabyte P67 ud3
8Gb DDR 3
Antec TruePower New 650W
MSI 6950 Twin Frozr II OC

 

[Smoblikat]

Does your 6950 unlock? If it does grab another and unlock it for 6970 Xfire, otherwise your best bet would be to grab A 7970 if you can afford it.

 

[InfoTiger]

The cheapest way is to X-fire.

 

[Silverforce11]

Does your 6950 unlock? If it does grab another and unlock it for 6970 Xfire, otherwise your best bet would be to grab A 7970 if you can afford it.

No, never waste $ on 7970.

A custom 7950 OC ~= 7970 OC and using less power, for much cheaper.

 

[Smoblikat]

No, never waste $ on 7970.

A custom 7950 OC ~= 7970 OC and using less power, for much cheaper.

You are quite wrong. While in your opinion a 7970 might not be the most economical choice, a 7950OC does not equal 9or roughly equal) a 7970. Simple mathematics disprove that.

 

[MTDEW]

My system...
2600k @ 4.6ghz
Asus P8Z68-V Pro mobo
16gb ram
Corsair HX850w
Two 2gb Sapphire 6950's with shaders unlocked and overclocked to 6970 speeds.

Now, looking at my specs vs yours, i'm sure you can see why i'm posting this.

If Skyrim is your top priority game, then i suggest you DO NOT do crossfire.
There are still bugs, with Skyrim and crossfire that will probably never be worked out.

Also, i bought a Catleap monitor with 2560x1440 resolution and i didnt feel my "6970's in x-fire" were really up to the task at that resolution playing Skyrim.
So i use my 2560x1440 monitor for web surfing and play my games on my 1920x1200 monitor.

To put it bluntly, 6950/6970's in x-fire are not enough to play any demanding games at 2560x1440 with any AA on.

If i were YOU, i'd sell the 6950 and get a 7950/7970.
You'll have way less issues with a single card.

Crossfire setups and waiting on drivers sucks.
I love my x-fire setup when it works right, it just seems every-time a new game is released, we're stuck waiting on x-fire drivers and trying all kinds of workarounds until AMD finally gets it right.
And heck i'm usually about done with a new game b4 good crossfire drivers show up for it.

IMO, crossfire is good for one thing...BENCHMARKS.

Ive x-fired and SLI'ed several times throughout the years, and every time i swear i'll never do it again.
Then I look at benchmark numbers when i wanna upgrade and get sucked back in.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and go with the single most powerful card you can afford.
Me, I'm waiting for next gen cards b4 looking at upgrading again.

 

[kilroyst]

Nope, this 6950 did not unlock for me.

I'm heavily leaning toward selling the 6950 to subsidize a 7950, which would come out about the same as picking up a used 6950. My only question is whether that is going to give me the increase I wanted. Should I just bite the bullet for a 7970?

Given an option I will always pick a single card solution, TBH I just dont want to deal with the issues of X-Fire...unless I'm making it out to be more of a problem than it is. I'm not hugely picky about being able to run absolute max settings either, a little AA and I'm good. I feel like this resolution lessens the need for agressive AA at least in some games. Settings at med/high to high and framerates averaging above 60 are what I'm looking for. Unrealistic?

Googling around to see some benches between 6950 XFire and single 7950 at this rez.

Thanks for replies so far!

 

[lehtv]

Definitely 7950 3GB. At stock, it will be this much faster:

It will overclock from 800MHz to 1100MHz, almost +40%, making it around twice as fast as a stock 6950 2GB. And this is at 1920x1200 - the difference will be slightly in favor of 7950 at 2560x1440.

 

[Silverforce11]

You are quite wrong. While in your opinion a 7970 might not be the most economical choice, a 7950OC does not equal 9or roughly equal) a 7970. Simple mathematics disprove that.

By roughly => +/- 5%.

Can you tell the difference in 5% FPS ingame?

Clock for clock its not a big difference.

 

[SheHateMe]

Did you pay for a perfect pixel? How much did you pay and from what seller?

 

[MTDEW]

Nope, this 6950 did not unlock for me.

I'm heavily leaning toward selling the 6950 to subsidize a 7950, which would come out about the same as picking up a used 6950. My only question is whether that is going to give me the increase I wanted.

Given an option I will always pick a single card solution, TBH I just dont want to deal with the issues of X-Fire...unless I'm making it out to be more of a problem than it is.

Googling around to see some benches between 6950 XFire and single 7950 at this rez.

Thanks for replies so far!

I'm not sure any of todays cards are going to give you the performance you'd want at 2560x1440.
Unless you bought an x-fire'd a 7950/7970 setup.
But then you are back to dealing with multi-card issues.
That is why i'm personally waiting for next-gen and will only hook my Catleap back up to my gaming rig when there are single cards that can handle games at that rez with ease.

 

[cmdrdredd]

My system...
2600k @ 4.6ghz
Asus P8Z68-V Pro mobo
16gb ram
Corsair HX850w
Two 2gb Sapphire 6950's with shaders unlocked and overclocked to 6970 speeds.

Now, looking at my specs vs yours, i'm sure you can see why i'm posting this.

If Skyrim is your top priority game, then i suggest you DO NOT do crossfire.
There are still bugs, with Skyrim and crossfire that will probably never be worked out.

Also, i bought a Catleap monitor with 2560x1440 resolution and i didnt feel my "6970's in x-fire" were really up to the task at that resolution playing Skyrim.
So i use my 2560x1440 monitor for web surfing and play my games on my 1920x1200 monitor.

To put it bluntly, 6950/6970's in x-fire are not enough to play any demanding games at 2560x1440 with any AA on.

If i were YOU, i'd sell the 6950 and get a 7950/7970.
You'll have way less issues with a single card.

Crossfire setups and waiting on drivers sucks.
I love my x-fire setup when it works right, it just seems every-time a new game is released, we're stuck waiting on x-fire drivers and trying all kinds of workarounds until AMD finally gets it right.
And heck i'm usually about done with a new game b4 good crossfire drivers show up for it.

IMO, crossfire is good for one thing...BENCHMARKS.

Ive x-fired and SLI'ed several times throughout the years, and every time i swear i'll never do it again.
Then I look at benchmark numbers when i wanna upgrade and get sucked back in.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and go with the single most powerful card you can afford.
Me, I'm waiting for next gen cards b4 looking at upgrading again.

Problem is...if you are using 1440p no single card will cut it IMO. At least not in every game and in some titles AA must be turned off to get playable framerates. You need SLI or XFire.

This is my opinion though, I'm not happy with 40fps averages. Also for what it's worth, I have zero issues with SLI. I don't know what problems you may have had but XFire is notoriously less supported in various games and has a little more microstutter so maybe that was what you experienced? OP, don't be afraid of SLI if you have to go that route.

If you are absolutely stuck on a single card I have to say go with an AMD card and overclock. Honestly I'd grab a 7970 for $460, to me it's worth the extra $60 because of the extra performance. Especially if you overclock it...nothing but dual GPUs would touch it.

 

[MTDEW]

Problem is...if you are using 1440p no single card will cut it IMO. At least not in every game and in some titles AA must be turned off to get playable framerates. You need SLI or XFire.

This is my opinion though, I'm not happy with 40fps averages.

EXACTLY...That is why i'm putting off a GPU upgrade until single cards are released that can handle 2560x1440 easily. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[cmdrdredd]

EXACTLY...That is why i'm putting off a GPU upgrade until single cards are released that can handle 2560x1440 easily. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

That's reasonable. I went SLI even at 1920x1200 because some games just didn't work up to my standards, plus at the time it was a pretty good deal for me and cost less than $380 shipped for a second card (amazon gift card to use). Everyone is different and has different expectations which makes it very hard to make a flat out fool proof recommendation.

 

[Silverforce11]

You guys realize 79xx OC to 1.25ghz gets ~55 fps average in BF3 at 1600p with 4xMSAA? 1440p should be averaging 60 fps, is that enough?? There's review benches, i'll let u search.

 

[lopri]

Just lower the settings (usually shaders or shadows) a notch or two. It's not too bad. I've been there, done that and it is not a winning position.

Edit: Didn't mean to say the above to OP. I was talking about chasing after the "MegaUltraTurboBellyMissileMyAss" settings @2560x1600 in general.

 

[cmdrdredd]

You guys realize 79xx OC to 1.25ghz gets ~55 fps average in BF3 at 1600p with 4xMSAA? 1440p should be averaging 60 fps, is that enough?? There's review benches, i'll let u search.

Averages in single player mean very little when you go online and the fps is hammered more. MSAA off is actually pretty good though, although IMO not good enough. Average doesn't tell the whole story. How many times are you under 30fps or even 20fps?

Like I said everyone has different goals.

 

[RussianSensation]

For single GPUs I would look at HD7950 MSI TwinFrozr or similar + OC for best value.
Otherwise, HD7970 Sapphire Vapor X with coupon code BIGBEN is $450:
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7970GHZ

Performance is ~ HD6990!

Honestly the most taxing thing I play is fully modded Skyrim, but my framerates are averaging low 40's.

Having said that, I agree with the sentiment that CF/SLI is probably the better option but for single GPUs, it's hard to go wrong with an overclocked 7950 or HD7970 GE for high resolutions.

Specifically SKYRIM performance at 2560x1440/1600 is much better on the 7970 vs. an HD6950/6970 or even the HD6990/HD6970 CF:

I would sell the 6950 to offset the cost of the 7950 / 7970 upgrade and then bitcoin mine on the side to make up the cost of the 7950/7970 upgrade. If you are willing to wait 6-7 months, then sure HD8000 series will be better

 

[MTDEW]

Specifically SKYRIM performance at 2560x1440/1600 is much better on the 7970 vs. an HD6950/6970 or even the HD6990/HD6970 CF:

I would sell the 6950 to offset the cost of the 7950 / 7970 upgrade and then bitcoin mine on the side to make up the cost of the 7950/7970 upgrade. If you are willing to wait 6-7 months, then sure HD8000 series will be better

Looking at that chart, i'd say a 7950/7970 is the way to go for the op.
Since you wont be dealing with the flickering/stuttering issues that Skyrim has with x-fire and better performance too.

 

[Silverforce11]

Wow i can't believe how much faster in Skyrim compared to 7970 release. Use to be slightly slower than gtx680. Now its in a different league.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Wow i can't believe how much faster in Skyrim compared to 7970 release. Use to be slightly slower than gtx680. Now its in a different league.

At that resolution yes. AT lower resolutions the situation is reversed. Really shows the strain on the memory I guess.

 

[bryanW1995]

Yeah, I'd be interested to see what a 4gb gtx 680 would do.

 

[Silverforce11]

He means memory bandwidth?, not vram bottleneck, as performance would tank. It's still a proper lead for the gtx680 vs gtx580, thus not vram limited.

 

[RussianSensation]

Wow i can't believe how much faster in Skyrim compared to 7970 release. Use to be slightly slower than gtx680. Now its in a different league.

Ya, I know. As I went through this July 31st review, I couldn't even believe it where GTX680 vs. HD7970 GE are now relative to each other, especially at 2560x1600. At 2560x1600, GTX680 won only 3 games (WOW, SC2 and Shogun 2) and lost 14.

I've never seen AMD's drivers make such a turnaround in 3 months. It's like night and day between when GTX680 launched and now. At 1080/1200P, 680 does well though.

 

[SlowSpyder]

At that resolution yes. AT lower resolutions the situation is reversed. Really shows the strain on the memory I guess.

I'm not sure if this is a resolution thing here or not, in this case. Drivers have really done a lot for the 79xx cards as of late. It may be a little of both, high resolution combined with driver improvements, who knows.