2 cards?

[newguy24]

A place where I bought a card from might have messed up and I may be getting two 6850 cards..I was wondering if I do can I run two graphics cards? I only have one monitor...what would it do? How would it help? Is it even worth it? And do I just plug it in and go with it? Noticiable difference? Anyways this is a long shot so I'm just wondering ...my mobo is gigabyte x58 1366

 

[mdsx1950]

Firstly, can you please fill in your system specs.

techPowerUp! Forums

 

[Yukikaze]

A place where I bought a card from might have messed up and I may be getting two 6850 cards..I was wondering if I do can I run two graphics cards? I only have one monitor...what would it do? How would it help? Is it even worth it? And do I just plug it in and go with it? Noticiable difference? Anyways this is a long shot so I'm just wondering ...my mobo is gigabyte x58 1366

Yes, you can Crossfire two HD6850 on a X58 motherboard for increased performance. You plug both cards in, connect a Crossfire bridge between them, and enable Crossfire in the Catalyst Control Center.

It can be quite worth it, especially at higher resolutions. If you're running a single 1280x1024 monitor, though, the second card will be pretty much wasted.

 

[mdsx1950]

Helloooo are we forgetting about PSUs?

newguy24 could be having a 400W, you never know. So until he fills in his system specs, we can't be 100% certain that he can run two HD6850s.

 

[newguy24]

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135528&page=3

My psu is 850 Watt n ram is 12gb ...so Idk much about crossfire ...and you said the 2nd card would be useless if I had one monitor

Cross fire a card? Or just an option??

 

[Volkszorn88]

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135528&page=3

My psu is 850 Watt n ram is 12gb ...so Idk much about crossfire ...and you said the 2nd card would be useless if I had one monitor

If possible, get 3 monitors for an eyefinity set up. Those 2 cards would scale very well w/ 3 monitors.

 

[newguy24]

If possible, get 3 monitors for an eyefinity set up. Those 2 cards would scale very well w/ 3 monitors.

Probably only getting one monitor that's why I'm seeing if its worth it.

 

[HammerON]

Your full system specs would be helpful.
The real question if you are going with one monitor is what size (resolution). If it is a 30" that is running at 2560x1600 that is one thing, but if it is a 23" running at 1920x1080 that is another.

 

[mdsx1950]

It's a HD6850 so even if it was just one 1080p monitor, the two cards will be worth it.

 

[micropage7]

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135528&page=3

My psu is 850 Watt n ram is 12gb ...so Idk much about crossfire ...and you said the 2nd card would be useless if I had one monitor

Cross fire a card? Or just an option??

not really, when you crossfire or SLI you make the performance get double and it helps especially when you use high resolution, anti alias etc
both 1st and 2nd card will run together but theres only output to the monitor, so theres no idle card

crossfire or not, i guess depends on you. crossfire needs higher wattage, needs better airflow. if you just use your rig for gaming sometimes, the most is do multimedia thing its kinda better you put single card on it, but if you gaming much, need high resolution, anti alias and so you could put crossfire or single high end card

 

[newguy24]

Here is the monitor
LG E2350V-SN Glossy Black 23" 5ms Full HD HDMI LED...
System specs are in link above
850watt psu 12gb ram and it would be TWO hd6850 is it even worth it?? Show a big noticeable difference? ?

 

[newguy24]

not really, when you crossfire or SLI you make the performance get double and it helps especially when you use high resolution, anti alias etc
both 1st and 2nd card will run together but theres only output to the monitor, so theres no idle card

crossfire or not, i guess depends on you. crossfire needs higher wattage, needs better airflow. if you just use your rig for gaming sometimes, the most is do multimedia thing its kinda better you put single card on it, but if you gaming much, need high resolution, anti alias and so you could put crossfire or single high end card

Ok so no lol wouldn't really help thanks bud... probably wont be so lucky to get two. Thanks bud...I would be watching movies and some gaming one card should be good for that

 

[gumpty]

Ok so no lol wouldn't really help thanks bud... probably wont be so lucky to get two. Thanks bud...I would be watching movies and some gaming one card should be good for that

I disagree. Well kind of ... it depends if you're paying for the card and your personal preferences. You will notice a difference with the second card - with one HD6850 you'll be able to play any game, but many of them you wont be able to push to max graphical settings. With two you should be able to destroy pretty much any game (crossfire profile scaling notwithstanding) at max settings and max res. You'll have a system that will kick ass for many years to come.
But that will come down to your personal preferences - whether you want to pay for the second card and the diminishing returns, and whether you are happy playing with reduced settings is some games. One card will do you fine, as you say, but two will kick serious ass.

 

[micropage7]

Ok so no lol wouldn't really help thanks bud... probably wont be so lucky to get two.

i mean, its up to your purpose
if you gaming much and you use high resolution with all the effect (AA,AF etc) crossfire would help you so much to gain better gaming experience coz you know most of game today require power both - the rig and the graphic card
if you use it mainly for multimedia, i guess having crossfire wouldnt give you much difference coz single graphic card could handle it

 

[newguy24]

Wow I thought having this card alone would be kick azz ...last time I spend 250$ on a card anyways I guess if I'm lucky and get a second card ill run it (long shot) also what is crossfire? Just a setting or is it hardware??

 

[gumpty]

Wow I thought having this card alone would be kick azz ...last time I spend 250$ on a card anyways I guess if I'm lucky and get a second card ill run it (long shot) also what is crossfire? Just a setting or is it hardware??

Crossfire is what AMD/ATI calls it when you have two of their cards in a PC (Nvidia call it 'SLI'). Using two AMD cards will require that they are linked with a small Crossfire connector (there should be one in the box with your graphics card). This connector allows the GPUs to communicate and share the graphics load.

 

[Cruc1al]

Wow I thought having this card alone would be kick azz ...last time I spend 250$ on a card anyways I guess if I'm lucky and get a second card ill run it (long shot) also what is crossfire? Just a setting or is it hardware??

Don't spend $250 on 6850 .. .you can get it for $200.

 

[newguy24]

Where? Lowest I seen was 243... hd6850

EDIT!!!
im sorry its the HD6870

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 P...

so two of these worth running together????IF IF IF IF i even get two...big if!!

 

[AlienIsGOD]

what we are talking about in system specs is going to the USER CP tab at the top of the forums and hit the system spec link on the left side. This way u don't need to link a forum thread for ur specs. It makes it way easier for us to read it, instead of having to scroll thru a thread.

 

[newguy24]

what we are talking about in system specs is going to the USER CP tab at the top of the forums and hit the system spec link on the left side. This way u don't need to link a forum thread for ur specs. It makes it way easier for us to read it, instead of having to scroll thru a thread.

ok thanks ill be sure to do that, once i build the system. right now i technology dont have a system yet.in process of being shipped

 

[gumpty]

Where? Lowest I seen was 243... hd6850

EDIT!!!
im sorry its the HD6870

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 P...

so two of these worth running together????IF IF IF IF i even get two...big if!!

Yeah, the 6800 series scales really well, so it is worth using both if you have them. You'll be able to breeze through every game you throw at it with beautiful quality graphics.

 

[DannibusX]

A place where I bought a card from might have messed up and I may be getting two 6850 cards..I was wondering if I do can I run two graphics cards? I only have one monitor...what would it do? How would it help? Is it even worth it? And do I just plug it in and go with it? Noticiable difference? Anyways this is a long shot so I'm just wondering ...my mobo is gigabyte x58 1366

They messed up? Are they sending you two cards and are you paying for both of them? If you're not, I would send one back, for honesty's sake.

 

[razaron]

As a rule of thumb sli/crossfire scales by a factor of 1.7-1.8ish for two mid-end cards @1920x1200.

 

[newguy24]

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 P...


so this card by its self wont be able to play games on the "best" resolution ????then why is this an expensive card? whats so good about it , if its not able to do it???will my 850 psu be enough to run two? Or shall I run one...overclock it and use 240$ for sad and blueray burner?? Lmfao

Also razaron sry but ya lost me lol

 

[gumpty]

so this card by its self wont be able to play games on the "best" resolution ????then why is this an expensive card? whats so good about it , if its not able to do it???will my 850 psu be enough to run two? Or shall I run one...overclock it and use 240$ for sad and blueray burner?? Lmfao

Also razaron sry but ya lost me lol

This card by itself will be able to play every game out there at any resolution. It's just the 'extra-fancy' graphics effects that it wont be able to handle in a few games. Games like Crysis and Metro 2033 you wont get playable frame rates with everything cranked to the max. But don't worry, even playing those games on slightly reduced settings (and I mean slightly - it usually only takes dropping the quality on a couple of settings), the games still look gorgeous.

The card is expensive, but not that expensive. From an enthusiast point of view it is a mid to upper-mid range card, and is priced accordingly. For me it struck the balance of being able to play every game with great settings, without being really expensive. To get a graphics card that can play all games on the best settings you have to pay a lot more, for very little actual gain. Just look at W1zzard's reviews and look at the bang-for-buck graphs. The best bang-for-buck comes from the cheapest cards - but you can't play many games with those, you have to find a balance that is right for you.

What razaron was talking about with scaling, is that if Card-A can play Game-A at 100FPS, adding a second card in SLI/Crossfire will not add another 100FPS. It will most likely add another 65-85FPS - i.e. it doesn't scale perfectly.