Basic Crossfire Question

[Gunslinger08]

I've never really looked into Crossfire before, but I'm considering giving it a shot now. I have a Sapphire Toxic 6950. Do I need to get the exact same card, or will any 6950 work just as well?

 

[Gordon Freemen]

I've never really looked into Crossfire before, but I'm considering giving it a shot now. I have a Sapphire Toxic 6950. Do I need to get the exact same card, or will any 6950 work just as well?

Any 6950 will work but your OCed Toxic card will automatically down clock to clocks of the 6950 you CF it with so I suggest trying to get another Toxic card.

 

[hdfxst]

you don't need the same card,as long as the first 2 numbers are the same it'll work.and you can set the clocks separately for each card.a 1GB card will work with a 2 GB card but both will seen as 1 GB.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Any 6950 will work but your OCed Toxic card will automatically down clock to clocks of the 6950 you CF it with so I suggest trying to get another Toxic card.

I'm not OC'ing anyway - shaders wouldn't unlock and I got tired of trying to find the highest OC and dealing with higher temps/fan speeds, so I just set it to stock. Sounds like I might be best served by a standard 2GB 6950. Now to find one for a good price.

 

[hclarkjr]

i am running an XFX with a sapphire 6950 right now with no troubles at all

 

[Gordon Freemen]

I'm not OC'ing anyway - shaders wouldn't unlock and I got tired of trying to find the highest OC and dealing with higher temps/fan speeds, so I just set it to stock. Sounds like I might be best served by a standard 2GB 6950. Now to find one for a good price.

The Toxic is factory OCed right out of the box if I am not mistaken thats why I said try and get another one becuase it seems you and I are alike because I agree trying to OC GPUs is just not worth the headache and fuss that's why I always try and go for the factory OCed models. Any normal reference 6950 will work just fine for you and to be honest it is most likely all you will find cause 6950 supply's are drying up and they were a real popular card they had a great run. XFX 6950 for $230 on Newegg is probably a good bet.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

i am running an XFX with a sapphire 6950 right now with no troubles at all

Hows the performance "Beasting" I presume how about the dreaded microstuter and noise output ?

 

[hclarkjr]

i really never pay attention to noise so i can't really comment on that. microstuter is something i was never concerned with and never really notice it on any of the games i play. i think the whole debate over it is overblown. performance wise it kicks ass

 

[Gordon Freemen]

i really never pay attention to noise so i can't really comment on that. microstuter is something i was never concerned with and never really notice it on any of the games i play. i think the whole debate over it is overblown. performance wise it kicks ass

Yes I agree as well for I have never had microstuttering issues on any of my CF and SLI setups that I have rocked in the past heck I never even heard or seen it tell like a year ago no joke. I guess if the noise is not enough to make you take notice than it's not very noise. Performance wise I am sure you are very competitive back and forth with the 7970 despite how everyone and there dog will tell you 7970 is faster and even more so some would go as far as to saying such blasphemy as to sell your 6950s while they are still worth something and get a 7970 to that I claim BOLLOCKS PURE BOLLOCKS ! LOL enjoy your 6950s in CF I admire your setup but I have sworn off the high end because it was literally worse than a drug addiction for me at one point LOL.

 

[BrightCandle]

Microstutter unfortunately is not a myth, its a very real problem. AMD has a lot of games where the MS is so bad that despite the game reporting its running at 60 fps its the equivalent of 30 fps because its showing you the same frame twice, each having been rendered on different cards. Take that FPS down to 45 and where on a single card it would be 45 fps and all happy a micro stuttering CF set-up will be giving you the equivalent of 22, unplayable in other words.

The saving grace is that the second card is also giving you higher FPS to begin with, ideally double. In my experience having CF for 4 years I would say its worth it if you have the cash to burn, because some games (like crysis) really utilise it well and it does help deliver graphics you couldn't otherwise have. But practically you don't get to just sit and game anymore, you need to find the settings that work well both in game and in your GPU. Often when a game is first released you'll be turning off CF for a month or more until the profiles come out.

Me personally I have had enough of AMD's problems and I'm selling my two 7970s and going NVidia. Just too many problems with AMDs latest cards that I can't live with and AMD is showing no signs of fixing them.