R7870 Hawk, should I go crossfire?

[Kokiafan]

I have a fairly mild gamer setup:
256 gig SSD, AMD Black 965, Gigabyte Motherboard, 8 gig of ram, and the R7870 Hawk video card. I was wondering if it would make the most sense to buy a second used 7870 series card (I cannot find another Hawk) and go crossfire, or should I just buy a new card and run it single? I have a three 24" monitor setup.
Suggestions?

 

[lavaheadache]

I would just pick up a used 290 for a little over $200. You could still get $100 for that hawk I bet.

 

[SlowSpyder]

For three monitors (1080P I assume?) if you can live with turning down a setting or two, sure. If you want graphical settings maxed, you'll probably want something with more vram.

 

[Kokiafan]

Yes, three monitors at 1080p.
...hate buying used video cards...
I have no other machine this card could go into either.
Will check pricing on new 290's.
Thanks

 

[wilds]

If you're going new the GTX 970 is the way to go.

 

[rancherlee]

if you plan on running the 965 for some time yet I really wouldn't bother too much with an upgrade. My Phenom X4 @ 3.9 kept my 7850 fed pretty good in most games but jumping to a 7950 clearly showed the processor was holding the card back. Since your running 3x monitor setup you MIGHT see a decent performance boost out of a faster card but I wouldn't hold my breath. A 290 is roughly equivalent to crossfire 7870's without the crossfire headache.

 

[wand3r3r]

I would just pick up a used 290 for a little over $200. You could still get $100 for that hawk I bet.

Best choice here.

 

[Kokiafan]

if you plan on running the 965 for some time yet I really wouldn't bother too much with an upgrade. My Phenom X4 @ 3.9 kept my 7850 fed pretty good in most games but jumping to a 7950 clearly showed the processor was holding the card back. Since your running 3x monitor setup you MIGHT see a decent performance boost out of a faster card but I wouldn't hold my breath. A 290 is roughly equivalent to crossfire 7870's without the crossfire headache.

...staying with AMD...where do I go from here with an OC'd 965?

I have a GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-HD3 FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) board lying around here. Should I grab a better processor and upgrade along with a new 290x card, in order to take away that bottleneck? What processor would you recommend?

 

[lavaheadache]

There is a nice used 290x in the fs section right now for $225 shipped. nearly impossible to pass up IMO

 

[SlowSpyder]

...staying with AMD...where do I go from here with an OC'd 965?

I have a GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-HD3 FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) board lying around here. Should I grab a better processor and upgrade along with a new 290x card, in order to take away that bottleneck? What processor would you recommend?

What board are you using to run your Phenom II? If it is AM3+ you might have some options. If it is AM3 / AM2+, don't bother with a different CPU.

 

[Kokiafan]

What board are you using to run your Phenom II? If it is AM3+ you might have some options. If it is AM3 / AM2+, don't bother with a different CPU.

Sorry...current setup with the Hawk:
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s

CPU: AM3+/AM3/AMD Athlon II Chipsets: AMD 990FX/AMD SB950. Revision 1.1.

Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1333 MHz (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory (CMX16GX3M2A1333C9)