system:
cpu: i5-3670k (stockclock)
ram: 8gb 1600
mobo: asrock extreme6
HDD: 2tb WD blue
psu: thermaltake 850w psu
gpu: HIS Ghz ed 7870
i have $200 right now.
What i was wondering is where i should get another 7870 and crossfire (if i did would probaly start running 3-4 monitors.) or should i just save up and buy a new card.
Well the 7870 is a good card and two of them would be quite powerful. That being said, Crossfire can be a bit of a pain in the ass.
You will not get double the performance. Only double the noise, heat and power consumption. Additionally the 7870 is known not to play nice in Crossfire. It can be a real pain in the ass to get it working properly. I've had problems when I did it and so have quite a few people on the forum. I'd recommend against it.
Usually I'd only recommend getting another GPU when you have the highest end card available (780 Ti or 290X) and still need more performance.
A single 290 is fully twice as fast as a 7870, with none of the downsides of crossfire. I would go for one of those, and I say that as someone who also has a 7870 and is looking to upgrade.
Here is a video that Logan did some time ago. Its and old one but may help. Some things have changed. AMD drivers are a lot better and crossfire stutter is mostly fixed. However I myself would just use one card. I have still seen some games be a pain from time to time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMaSdtPIm08
I also have a 7870 and if I had the cash a 290 would be the weapon if choice.
But the tinkering mind in me would love to do a cross fire just for kicks. Only if I had the extra cash for both cards. Yes I would end up with three but it would be a hoot.
Currently running two 7870s. However, updated drivers and now they wont work in Crossfire. I have spent the past three days pulling my hair out trying everything in my power to get the Crossfire working again to no effect. A lot of forum trolling for a solution has led me to believe that Crossfire is something of a monster. Lots of other people seem to be having a similar problem and very few seem to get it figured out in the end. It has been a huge headache for me, so something to think about (I am going back to Nvidia).
Running two 7870's myself with no issue. Which drivers are you using and what games are giving you issues? Haven't met much in terms of issues since I have bought second card.
I'd get another 7870/R9 270/270X.
Sell your 7870 and grab a higher end single card. Crossfire is more pain then pleasure. It worth noting that lots of peeps are offloading their higher end cards - ie 770's, 780's 290's really cheap due to the new maxwell cards. So I'd recommend having a hunt around for a nice 2nd hand card.
I would wait, with high resolution displays crashing in price and affordable UHD monitors entering the market the 2GB of Vram just won't cut it, if you want to stick to AMD then I'd wait for the next generation, otherwise I'd save up for the GTX 970, which is a quite reasonable price.
I suppose I should add that I picked up my second card used, same manufacturer (sapphire) with same bios on gpu to minimize the headaches. Battlefield seems to love the second card, and haven't had any issues with any games in my steam library. Guild Wars 2 has no issues. So long as the drivers are good it shouldn't be that bad of an experience. Both Metro's seem to do decent, running the benchmarks for either game it doesn't stutter too bad, or drop fps too much. I guess.