What GPU to get?

[Lius]

Okay Christmas is coming up and id like to beef up my rig so i can play Skyrim with all these fantastic visual mods, HD textures, HD landscape, HD water, FX injector, Skyrim Shaders, etc. Also i have a couple questions as well. My rig,

X6 Phenom II 1090t OC'ed to 3.9ghz (trying for 4.0ghz but it seems my PSU isnt enough?)

AMD Radeon 6870 series (stock speed)

8GB of RAM

Corsair 800W PSU

WIndows 7 x64

1080p 1920x1080 23" monitor

 

It runs Skyrim on Ultra, with a constant 60 FPS (excluding in some towns, town parts, and certain random areas) but for the most part a nice 60+ And yes I haven't applied any sort of visual mod, so everything is vanilla graphics.

 

So my initial thoughts were, i should either upgrade to a 6970/GTX 580 or even go for a long term investment for a 6990 or GTX 590. Then i thought about my budget, and was thinking about a crossfire setup? So to get to the point, my question is what are your opinions on what is the best route for me to take? Is crossfire all that helpful? I also saw that the 6870 crossfire setup was high on the list of GPU graphics thread. Or should i just skip the crossfire altogether and jump unto a newer card for future protection. Also should i need a PSU upgrade as well if i do go crossfire or a better card?

 

-Get the 6870, go crossfire. Perhaps you can go with a PSU upgrade as well.

 

-Skip crossfire, just go ahead with a 6970 or GTX 570.

 

-Skip all, just bang it up to GTX 580.

 

Anyways any wisdom or insight would be much appreciated Dragonborns.

 

PS-Actual 6870 crossfire users, id appreciate it if you told me how much FPS your getting.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Lius

[maboru]

At the moment AMD/ATI aren't having much luck with their drivers as most Xfire users are finding the game works better with Xfire disabled. However, AMD is recommending that Xfire users update to the 12.1 beta driver. Just have to see how that works out but your least expensive option would be to buy another 6870 for Xfire and wait a few months until the next gen Vcards are released.

 

Personally I'm running on a GTX480oc and the game is running on ultra with no problems but I have a GTX560ti 2win (2x560ti Slied on one card) (stopgap until the next gens) but am waiting for nVidia's next driver to work out the rest of the kinks for Skyrim Sli before installing it. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

 

Also it seems we're hitting the limit with only 1 gig VRAM on Beth games now so waiting to invest in the next gen with 3 or 4 gig VRAM could prove prudent.

[stconquest]

Get a second/third monitor, run the Eyefinity. =) I would not go higher than the 6970/570(maybe 580), depending on a budget of course. Any higher is relative "overkill", especially at current prices.

 

A second 6870 with a new primary(32" display), while keeping the 24" as a secondary is a thought. I believe 6870's x2 would handle that. Going 3 24" displays in Eyefinity might require a beefier (6970+)card.

Edited December 14, 2011 by stconquest

[Lius]

I have just installed the latest 12.1 drivers from AMD, but im not seeing any significant boost in performance per say. But if what you say about crossfiring is true, then maybe i should just stick with buying a newer card for now. Ive heard numerous bugs and problems regarding crossfire, and im not sure i want to deal with them for a performance gain. I totally hear you about the next gen cards and it worries me, but at the same time, i dont want to wait around another half a year either.

 

For eye infinity, it sounds really nice but i doubt ill ever play with more than 1 monitor. Im not much of a multiple monitor fan; maybe when i get my own place ill consider it, but for now, not an interest.

 

Anyways, thanks for the reply guys c;

 

Thinking about the GTX 580 heavily...but im not sure.

[maboru]

AMD will eventually straighten out their driver problem for crossfire in Skyrim I'm sure, the game is just too wildly popular not too. Don't get me wrong, the nVidia 500 series is great, that's why I bought one. However, unless you play games that use PhysX (Beth games don't yet) then paying a little money now to Crossfire your cards for immediate benefit and saving up for the next gen cards with their new architecture, expanded VRAM and processors early next year would seem more financially sound. (I'm saving for the GTX690 myself!)

[Lius]

Hm you have a point there. Crossfire my 6870 for now and wait for the next gen cards, doesnt sound too bad.

 

I have a X6 Phenom II 1090T, does this motherboard support 6870 crossfire? Im highly positive it does, but just want to make sure.

 

And nobody has answered my PSU question, will i need a new PSU if i crossfire or upgrade my GPU?

[BigBodZod]

Hm you have a point there. Crossfire my 6870 for now and wait for the next gen cards, doesnt sound too bad.

 

I have a X6 Phenom II 1090T, does this motherboard support 6870 crossfire? Im highly positive it does, but just want to make sure.

 

And nobody has answered my PSU question, will i need a new PSU if i crossfire or upgrade my GPU?

 

OK, you mentioned having a Hexacore CPU but not the motherboard make/model so we can gleen the chipset info from there ;)

 

I would assume it to be an AM3 or AM3+ board based on the 800 or 900 chipset..

 

If you have a mainboard designed on the 890FX or the 990FX chipsets then you have a full 32 lanes of PCIe bandwidth, i.e., 2 x 16 Lane PCIe slots rather then like in the GX Chipsets which share 16 lanes of bandwidth thus leaving an x8 split between the pair of PCIe slots.

 

As for the PSU, check the +12v rail/rails rating in AMPS, how many rails do you have and what are the total output of these rails.

 

That PSU should have at least one dedicated GPU connector, some models have multiple dedicated GPU cables, especially the modular type PSU's

 

I would check out Corsair's website and confirm it supports either SLI/Crossfire setups before purchasing a second card, just in case :)

[maboru]

Any mobo that takes a X6 will use crossfire or Sli. PSUs though come in many flavors and need to be Sli certified in order to advertise that. You should have at least a 650w that puts out at least 30a on the 12v rail. (The sticker on the back of your PSU should have that information.) The PSU also needs to have two of the proper connectors to hook up both cards.

[Lius]

Im sorry its a AM3 (938), and its model is GA-870A-UD3 from Gigabyte. And as for the PSU information, how do i check how much amps im getting? "As for the PSU, check the +12v rail/rails rating in AMPS, how many rails do you have and what are the total output of these rails." - this. Edited December 15, 2011 by Lius

[maboru]

There should be a large sticker with all that information attached to a side of your PSU. You'll probably have to open your case to see it. At the very least the manufacturers name and PSU model number should be there.