Crossfire GFX cards

[firky]

Anyone running this set up?

Toying with buying two of ATI HD 6950 2GB graphic cards:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... ce=froogle

[SK3W3R]

what res you running, that setup should last you a good few years, whats the rest of your specs?

[Astral]

What cooling system were you planning on buying?

[hugh]

check the reviews on page dude

"A SMALL WARNING


Reviewed by: Paul (Northampton)

Do not be fooled by the product photo. While this card is technically the same as the first revision, the new revision (which does not have the dual firmware switch) uses a non-reference card and cooler design. The cooler makes the card run hot. Very hot. In fact, 10 degrees hotter than my two first revision cards I have in my Tri-Crossfire setup. I've had to put the new card on the bottom most PCI-E slot or the temp goes over 100 degrees if I put it in between the other two.

Overall, a good card, no better or worse than the first revision (unless you want to flash to a 6970), but a terrible design for muli-GPU systems."

Looks like temps could be an issue, I would imagine this guy knows what he is doing but it may just be a rare case. The real question you should be asking yourself is is there any point in buying two high end graphics cards that can already run pretty much any game/app out at the moment when running them individually? It just seems to be extreme future proofing. Are you restricted to ATI products? If not I would look at Nvidias 400 series cos you could save a ton of cash without losing much performance at all.

[ascent]

i imagine 2 of those side by side would run very hot.. need more info on your build to make a judgement
possibly quite noisy too

[SK3W3R]

also, theres a driver hack for nvidia cards that allow you to run sli on any board with 2 PCIE slots

[firky]

I haven't built the rig yet but it is going to be:

AMD Phen II X6 @ 3.6 (Prob OC it)
8GB DDR3 Kingston memory
60GB SSD (for windows)
1TB HDD (for everything else)
950W Cosair PSU
Mobo???
GFX??? Dual cards maybe?
Sound??? Prob' just use a mid-range Creative Labs card
Extras??? Wireless keyboard, mice, speakers.

I'll need a full tower case to keep it cool and keep the airflow efficient - was looking at liquid cooling of course. I have two 23" HD Samsungs that I run side by side, was going to buy a another 30" one as the main monitor, but that in the middle and flank it with the two 23".

My budget is a grand it's not easy building an uber gaming and graphics / photography PC on such a tight budget.

This money has been burning a hole in my pocket, I keep going to spend it but can't bring myself too - keep thinking "wait until something comes along!". But what's set me off looking at computers is Battlefield 3

also, theres a driver hack for nvidia cards that allow you to run sli on any board with 2 PCIE slots

Ooohhh? I don't understand why you can't run two different cards side by side, I mean surely the drivers and software can sort out all the hocus pocus?



I have twice filled my basket up with what I need on overclockers.co.uk and gone through the entire process just not to hit 'submit' at the end.

[ascent]

Personally I'd say go for an i5 2500k instead of the phenom... after looking at benchmarks the Intel chip seems way ahead (you can get amazing overclocks on its stock air cooler) and it doesn't cost much more. I'm building a rig on an 800 quid budget and that's what I'm going for.. but no ssd or dual cards for me (yet).

You may as well buy one card then upgrade to sli later, the 6950 should run everything fine (but I guess you cant have your 3 monitors). Also don't forget you'll need to buy windows 7

[SK3W3R]

I haven't built the rig yet but it is going to be:

AMD Phen II X6 @ 3.6 (Prob OC it)
8GB DDR3 Kingston memory
60GB SSD (for windows)
1TB HDD (for everything else)
950W Cosair PSU
Mobo???
GFX??? Dual cards maybe?
Sound??? Prob' just use a mid-range Creative Labs card
Extras??? Wireless keyboard, mice, speakers.

I'll need a full tower case to keep it cool and keep the airflow efficient - was looking at liquid cooling of course. I have two 23" HD Samsungs that I run side by side, was going to buy a another 30" one as the main monitor, but that in the middle and flank it with the two 23".

My budget is a grand it's not easy building an uber gaming and graphics / photography PC on such a tight budget.

This money has been burning a hole in my pocket, I keep going to spend it but can't bring myself too - keep thinking "wait until something comes along!". But what's set me off looking at computers is Battlefield 3

also, theres a driver hack for nvidia cards that allow you to run sli on any board with 2 PCIE slots

Ooohhh? I don't understand why you can't run two different cards side by side, I mean surely the drivers and software can sort out all the hocus pocus?



I have twice filled my basket up with what I need on overclockers.co.uk and gone through the entire process just not to hit 'submit' at the end.

as far as i remember its down to data being the same on both cards and they render alternate frames, itd mean alot of wasted cycles o the more powerful card, the other downside to this is it means that video memory doesnt expand, say if you had 2 1gb cards itll still be only 1gb of vram but it gives far more stable framrates

[firky]

Thinking about scrapping the computer idea and buying a new car

[sigbowls]

im so glad i dont have a car anymore

[pkay]

we demo'd these at work a while back

Theres one that has a heatsink and 2 fans and multi monitor support that demo'd way better for us. Theres nothing that you can be doing on your pc that would demand 2 full cards.

[borrowed]

Just sayin