Hey!
First of all thanks for taking your time to view this post. Im upgrading my PC at the moment but I am stuck on what to do with my GPU. I have a HD 7870 at the moment and I was thinking of crossfiring it with a R9 280X but is this even possible? If not could you recommend what I should buy instead, I dont really mind if its Nvidia or AMD based as long as its under $650. I would prefer it to be the chepest option out though.
Thanks,
Translight.
Don't think so. They have different CPU's. 280x uses Tahiti and 7870 uses Pitcain.
Pick up another 7870? that will still give some pretty hefty performance.
If I add another 7870 will the performance outweigh the drops from SLI'ing the two cards?
I don't quite understand what you mean? assuming you have enough PCIe lanes, the Crossfiring (this is AMD's SLI) generally goes
1 card on it's own: 100% performance
2 cards: ~190% performance
it depends on what game, how well it's optimized for crossfire and a few other things, but that's theoretically about the performance increase you will get. it won't outright double your performance, but it shouldn't be too far off.
Sorry for not making much sense. I was saying when you SLI two cards dont you get alot of FPS drops? I was just wondering if the fps was high enough so you wouldnt notice it. I also play also want to play alot of BF4. Sorry about that :P
Indeed you cannot CF a 7870 with a R9-280X. because they use 2 diffrent gpu´s.
But you could crossfire a 7870 with a R9-270X, the only con is that the 270X is a ghz edition and the 7870 you have right could maybe not.. i dont know which 7870 you have right now?
I would personaly sell the 7870, and buy a R9-280X. and if this card is not powerfull enough for you, you could allways CF it.
I do in fact have a GHZ edition. My card is the 'XFX RADEON 7870 GHZ EDITION' its what it says on the box. Is that the best option then just buy a 270X and crossfire?
Well that could be an option indeed like i said you can CF it with a R9-270X what is basicly a 7870 ghz edition..
But im personaly not a big fan of multiple gpu setups, the reason forthat is because 2 gpu´s use more power, so you realy need to have the PSU for it, that delivers enough power.
Also a CF setup will run great if you have games, that are good optimized for it, like most modern games probably will be, but there are also some older titles, that are not realy optimized for it, and they will be offcourse a pain in the ass.
So yeah it realy has its pro´s and cons..
Well thanks so much for answering my question, its a real toss up between selling it for a R9 280X or buying a R9 270X and CF it. Just curious though, would buying a 7870 ghz edition be a cheaper option then a R9 270X. But anyway thanks alot for the answers.
a r9 270x in my area is $229 a 7870 in my area is $210 i will pay the little bit extra for mantle support.
yeah but mantle will also be supported with the 7870, thats not realy an issue, but im not the biggest fan of multiple gpu setups, its also important which mobo you use. (amount of pci-e lanes availeble)
I'd sell it and get a 280x. That isn't the most economical choice in terms of price to performance. However, a single card, with higher capabilities, will have fewer problems.
You will receive severe frame pacing. Frame pacing is lag that is unrelated to FPS, you could be getting 144FPS but still have lag that is as bad as if you were getting 2FPS. Get a SINGLE 7970, 290, 290X, or 780ti.