Does it make sense to try Crossfire?

[Kokiafan]

System Specs
ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W CPU
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
OCZ vertex 30 gig SSD with Windows7 64 bit, Samsung 1 TB SATA drive
500 gig SATA WD hard drive 1 year old with Windows xp sp3
2-400 gig SATA WD hard drives two years old as storage.
2- Pioneer 16x dvd burners, one year old
23" ASUS monitor (5ms grey to grey)

As you can see I have the HD 4870. I have the latest NFS, Crysis, Far Cry and a couple of other FPS. The First person shooter games are where I spend the most time. I do very little graphics work on this, my gaming machine.
What kind of card can I use for crossfire? 4870's seem a bit hard to find nowadays, and I would like to see a decent jump in framerates with better resolution.
Do I dump the 4870 and go crossfire with something else? I would prefer to spend less than 150 for this upgrade.
Thanks.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

It's also possible to Crossfire a 4870 with a 4850. If you're looking for a cheap performance boost then Crossfire is your answer. You should be able to find a 4850/4870 under $100 and you won't be able to beat that performance at that price with any other solution.

An alternative is to perhaps wait for price drops on the 6870 or 5870. Both of these cards will provide performance roughly equal to 4870CF, but should do so more consistently and without any woes. Although you could be waiting longer than you want.

Another option is to go for a 6850, GTX 460, or 5850 and overclock them. These will still cost a bit more than $150 though.

 

[blanketyblank]

Depends how much you can get for the 4870.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Not a fan of SLI or Crossfire.

2 cards does not = 2x the performance but it means 2x the price.

 

[Absolution75]

Your card is low end enough now that I don't think it warrants the negative effects of xfire or SLI unless:

a. You can get another 48xx card for REALLY cheap
b. You can't sell your 4870 for much at all

Kind of mutually exclusive though - though I don't either is the case.

 

[Kokiafan]

When I look at the video card reviews on THF, it shows the 5870 is actually slower than the 4870 in some specs...and when I look up prices I see that the 4870 (when you can find it) is at the 150$ price point still. But where do I find any kind of review on what gains you get when you crossfire a lower and higher end card...so I look up 4850's...I guess the cpu is not a bottleneck here?
Any other thoughts? Anyone?

 

[tweakboy]

Nope. Maybe one day their drivers will match the hardware. Enjoy your bad experiences with Xfire. good luck,,

 

[blanketyblank]

When I look at the video card reviews on THF, it shows the 5870 is actually slower than the 4870 in some specs...and when I look up prices I see that the 4870 (when you can find it) is at the 150$ price point still. But where do I find any kind of review on what gains you get when you crossfire a lower and higher end card...so I look up 4850's...I guess the cpu is not a bottleneck here?
Any other thoughts? Anyone?

You must be confusing 5770 and 5870.
Roughly:
5870 = 5770 CFed in performance.
4870 = 5770 in performance.

I don't think 5870 will ever be slower than a 4870 unless in some really old game there is some kind of driver problem.

 

[nOOky]

Not a fan of SLI or Crossfire.

2 cards does not = 2x the performance but it means 2x the price.

By the same token, you can have more performance for less money. Example, 2 HD6870's Crossfired ($460) are faster than a GTX580 ($500), but less expensive.
Just one example, there are others.

 

[happy medium]

Nope. Maybe one day their drivers will match the hardware. Enjoy your bad experiences with Xfire. good luck,,

wow, go get em' tweakster

advice?

Just sell the current card and get a single card solution

 

[fffblackmage]

By the same token, you can have more performance for less money. Example, 2 HD6870's Crossfired ($460) are faster than a GTX580 ($500), but less expensive.
Just one example, there are others.

But that $40 "saved" ends up going towards a beefier PSU and a compatible mobo.

 

[jlooooooooo]

Nope. Maybe one day their drivers will match the hardware. Enjoy your bad experiences with Xfire. good luck,,

You're a moron. How's that Thermaltake water cooling treating you? Oh that's right....

Personal attacks are not acceptable.

Please familiarize yourself with the AnandTech Forum Guidelines

We want to give all our members as much freedom as possible while maintaining an environment that encourages productive discussion. It is our desire to encourage our members to share their knowledge and experiences in order to benefit the rest of the community, while also providing a place for people to come and just hang out.

We also intend to encourage respect and responsibility among members in order to maintain order and civility. Our social forums will have a relaxed atmosphere, but other forums will be expected to remain on-topic and posts should be helpful, relevant and professional.

We ask for respect and common decency towards your fellow forum members.

Your moderation staff joins your fellow forum members in asking you to please help us in keeping this forum civil, respectful, and open-minded towards ALL of its members.

If you have nothing good to say regarding any one of your fellow members then please refrain from posting your personal opinions regarding them.

If you feel you have a valid concern or complaint regarding a post or poster then you are expected to report the post and restrict your communication of this concern to the comment box therein and leave the matter to the discretion of your moderator staff.

Moderator Idontcare

 

[Mono44]

http://www.bwmonitor.com/

Then you can just copy an ISO and see the speed in realtime.

 

[3DVagabond]

A 5870, some are going pretty cheap now, will give you about the same performance as 4870 crossfire. Another option for less would be a 5850/6850 and O/C it. That will also get you similar gaming performance as a single stock 5870. Of course, you can also O/C the 5870 for a bit more performance.

 

[jrvalencia]

System Specs

Do I dump the 4870 and go crossfire with something else? I would prefer to spend less than 150 for this upgrade.
Thanks.

Hi! (first of all sorry for my english, I'm Spanish ) Well, I had a 4870CF and it's more powerfull than a 5870 in high res. Moreover, you could overclock both and gain some performance. Your PSU can hold it without any problem.

But I think your cpu will do bottleneck, you must try to overclock it to more than 3,5Ghz

Now I have a PHIIX6 1055t@3,9ghz with a (4870x2+4870)@775/950 , and it is soooo good (3dmark vantage H17000 ).

 

[Face2Face]

Just find a cheap 4870 1GB card and throw it in there. 4870 1 GB crossfire is a killer combo even today. Would you get better frame rates with a faster CPU -- Yes --- Will your current games run faster across the board with 4870 (X2)---Yes. Go find a used one on craigslist or on these forums. Case closed...

 

[nOOky]

But that $40 "saved" ends up going towards a beefier PSU and a compatible mobo.

It appears the OP already has that covered.

 

[-Slacker-]

I personally wouldn't want to buy more performance on a dx10.1 setup, but, if you think that's the only reasonable alternative for you, it's already been explained that crossfire 4870's perform in line with a single hd 5870, so it's be a decent upgrade (I'm a cheap ass, so I wouldn't pay $100 just to get from 5770 performance to 5870 performance, but that's me)

I do think think crossfire is worth it as far as the hd 6000 series goes, though, having up to 2x fps increase is drool inducing to me I would recommend selling the 4870 and getting either one hd 6850 and then another one later, if you're cash restricted right now, or get 2 of them right off the bat, although it's be better to wait until the gtx 560 is released and see if there's going to be any price cuts on the 6850's.

 

[Vdubchaos]

By the same token, you can have more performance for less money. Example, 2 HD6870's Crossfired ($460) are faster than a GTX580 ($500), but less expensive.
Just one example, there are others.

Correct, BUT I'm not a fan of SLI/Crossfire drivers and unpredictable performance (at times).

I would prefer paying extra 40 and going with 580.

 

[Zargon]

Correct, BUT I'm not a fan of SLI/Crossfire drivers and unpredictable performance (at times).

I would prefer paying extra 40 and going with 580.

I only had real issues with my onchip xfire(4850X2) with 2 games, Saints Row 2, and BC2

 

[deimos3428]

If you want to buy now and your budget is limited to $150, two 4870 1G in crossfire is a decent solution. (Or a 4890 for the second one, depending on price/availability.)

You didn't mention your case/cooling. Depending on your airflow, I'd be concerned about the heat output of two 4870s.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I only had real issues with my onchip xfire(4850X2) with 2 games, Saints Row 2, and BC2

yes, but in general performance gains with SLI/Crossfire is sketchy vs Single video card.

Personally I would never CF or SLI

 

[Zargon]

eh maybe 6 months ago, they have both come along way

 

[Yuriman]

yes, but in general performance gains with SLI/Crossfire is sketchy vs Single video card.

Personally I would never CF or SLI

Might have been true 5 years ago.

CF and SLI are solid now.

 

[evolucion8]

I had the HD 4870 1GB CF setup and only Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2, Singularity and Splinter Cell Conviction showed some strange issues with CF, Singularity got fixed quickly using RadeonPRO tools and the scaling was near 100%, while Splinter Cell Conviction scaling was a little over 40% without using RadeonPRO tool and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 wasn't playable because with Crossfire enabled, the screen looked totally white and blurry and only appeared on screen the road with a solid gray color and some car wireframes loll. All other games scaled well with no issues, my only problem was the high power consumption and heat dissipation of it plus some microstuttering which was easy to pinpoint because of my overclocked eyes. :awe: