Should I: Tri-fire 6870 or Tri-fire 5850s?

[alexsubri]

VS

That's right. I've upgraded my rig to be ready for the next gen of AMD Chips. Yes, FX-1850 wasn't so killer against the i7 2600ks, but that's another topic. Right, my next move is to upgrade my GPUs or add another card for Tri-Fire. The million dollar question is, is my CorsairTX 750 Watt V2 strong enough to add to a 6870 Tri-Fire?

Here is a graph on total power comsuption:

+

492 Watts + 163 Watts = 655 Watts (Not including Blu-Ray Player, Fans, HDs, CPU, etc..)

Final Thoughts

Tri-Fire 6870s are wicked sick, since the 6870 Crossfire is faster than a 6970 and even GTX 580. So, it's a bit pricey since the 6870x2 is around $500 a pop.

____________

Now, the 5850 Tri-Fire. Here is the power consumption chart:
(5850 Crossfire)

+

316 watts + 305 watts = 621 Wattage (Not including Blu-Ray Player, Fans, HDs, CPU, etc..)

____________

Final Thoughts

You can never go wrong with a 5850 Tri-Fire because even with a 5850 Crossfire, its faster or same FPS as a 5970. The upside is I can probably buy a used 5850 for around $150 and just flash it with a 5870 XFX XXX Black Edition like my two cards now.

So, any advice would be nice

 

[de.das.dude]

you must be insane....

im sorry i have nothing else to say

 

[N-Gen]

With your wattage calculations I don't think a 750 would hold them. You need to have at least some headroom with a PSU.

 

[alexsubri]

you must be insane....

im sorry i have nothing else to say

I'm actually stoned lol

 

[MRCL]

Umm I had a Corsair TX750 blow up bearing a watercooled dual 4890 setup and a heavily overclocked CPU. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say dude, upgrade your PSU you madman!

Granted I threw more at the PSU than it was designed to handle and it still held up for a decent amount of time but man, I wouldn't even begin to think about considering to do what you want with that PSU:

 

[Darkleoco]

Be like me and get a 1200w psu so you can literally throw anything in their with no worries if your PSU can handle it or not but you are making me want to Tri-fire my Twin Frozr II 6950's

 

[alexsubri]

Umm I had a Corsair TX750 blow up bearing a watercooled dual 4890 setup and a heavily overclocked CPU. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say dude, upgrade your PSU you madman!

Granted I threw more at the PSU than it was designed to handle and it still held up for a decent amount of time but man, I wouldn't even begin to think about considering to do what you want with that PSU:

I just bought this PSU . I could go at least 6950 Crossfire and just flash it with a 6970, but its more expensive

 

[Darkleoco]

I just bought this PSU . I could go at least 6950 Crossfire and just flash it with a 6970, but its more expensive

If you could get a good deal on the 6950's I would recommend that since Crossfire is liable to be better than Tri-fire regardless of what cards you are using.

 

[alexsubri]

If you could get a good deal on the 6950's I would recommend that since Crossfire is liable to be better than Tri-fire regardless of what cards you are using.

pm me price ... but even with a less than 750 Watts, its still not enough to handle?

 

[JrRacinFan]

Don't bother with any of it. Wait for the HD7k's and enjoy your 5850's for a while longer.

 

[alexsubri]

Don't bother with any of it. Wait for the HD7k's and enjoy your 5850's for a while longer.

Good point. I was thinking the same thing before

 

[Darkleoco]

Hopefully there will be a large enough performance increase in the HD7K series to justify the new cards or to add a third card to any Crossfire setup *crosses fingers* I want to be able to have cards that blow my current pair away completely :/

 

[alexsubri]

Hopefully there will be a large enough performance increase in the HD7K series to justify the new cards or to add a third card to any Crossfire setup *crosses fingers* I want to be able to have cards that blow my current pair away completely :/

Yes. 7xxx series are coming early Q1 2012 and even rumored some more details or release in Dec 2011

 

[NdMk2o1o]

I just bought this PSU . I could go at least 6950 Crossfire and just flash it with a 6970, but its more expensive

Much better idea as tri-fire scaling isn't as good as dual, and you only have 1 1080p monitor

 

[sneekypeet]

Just taking a guess, but I'd imagine the 3rd slot is only X4 anyways. There wasn't much to be seen when I added my 3rd GTX470, I'm sure you are likely going to run into the same. Although it looks cool as hell for images and bragging rights, there was very little gains had.

 

[erocker]

Just taking a guess, but I'd imagine the 3rd slot is only X4 anyways. There wasn't much to be seen when I added my 3rd GTX470, I'm sure you are likely going to run into the same. Although it looks cool as hell for images and bragging rights, there was very little gains had.

On top of that, with an AMD quad already bottlenecking a dual GPU system, I don't see any gains with a 3rd card. Plus, that PSU isn't going to cut it.

Your best upgrade move would be to grab a 2500/2600k, a decent p67/z68 board and go.

 

[ensabrenoir]

Tri-Fire 6870s are wicked sick, since the 6870 Crossfire is faster than a 6970 and even GTX 580. So, it's a bit pricey since the 6870x2 is around $500 a pop

not all 6870 can tri fire. Only one brand(cant remember which) has dual fingers for that. Xfired 6870s are fun Originally paid about $240 for my first one got the 2nd for $185 and prices are still falling...If mine could , would trifire just because would have to upgrade my psu(antec true power 750 blu- modded with red leds) too

 

[alexsubri]

On top of that, with an AMD quad already bottlenecking a dual GPU system, I don't see any gains with a 3rd card. Plus, that PSU isn't going to cut it.

Your best upgrade move would be to grab a 2500/2600k, a decent p67/z68 board and go.

meh...depending on how bulldozer plays out, I'll probably go 2600k next year.

As for my motherboard its 3 (dual x16 or x16, x8, x8),1 (x4 mode, black)

 

[Volkszorn88]

Tri-Fire 6870s are wicked sick, since the 6870 Crossfire is faster than a 6970 and even GTX 580. So, it's a bit pricey since the 6870x2 is around $500 a pop

not all 6870 can tri fire. Only one brand(cant remember which) has dual fingers for that. Xfired 6870s are fun Originally paid about $240 for my first one got the 2nd for $185 and prices are still falling...If mine could , would trifire just because would have to upgrade my psu(antec true power 750 blu- modded with red leds) too

Tri-fire 6870s? What now?

Other than the Power Cooler 6870x2 + 1x 6870? If that's what you're referring to. Because 3 single 6870s can't tri-fire.

 

[INSTG8R]

Don't bother with any of it. Wait for the HD7k's and enjoy your 5850's for a while longer.

Pretty much this. I hung onto my 5870 after building my SB rig for just that reason. 5850's in Xfire still have plenty of horsepower to keep you until then.

 

[n-ster]

You definitively need an intel setup (ie: SB or SB-E ideally, but last generation is good too, though $/perf isn't there) if you want to take advantage of tri-fire

SB-E quad might be worth it to you if you want the PCI-E lanes, the mem bandwidth and the better upgradability possibilities in the future, especially if you wait until next year

 

[DrunkenMafia]

Don't waste your money bro. the 5000 series doesn't scale anywhere near as good as 6000 - crossfire 6870 is faster than crossfire 5870. I would imagine that 3 5XXX cards would scale pretty bad.

I would keep the 2 5850's for now. You can still play any game maxed out no probs and wait for 7XXX.

As for the PSU, have you checked out the FX overclockers thread? Erocker has tested 8150 and it chews 500+watts when overclocked. You will not be able to OC your 8150 at all if you have 3 gfx cards.

 

[Jack Doph]

As for the PSU, have you checked out the FX overclockers thread? Erocker has tested 8150 and it chews 500+watts when overclocked. You will not be able to OC your 8150 at all if you have 3 gfx cards.

That's not the power usage for just the CPU though

 

[N-Gen]

Tri-fire 6870s? What now?

Other than the Power Cooler 6870x2 + 1x 6870? If that's what you're referring to. Because 3 single 6870s can't tri-fire.

Tri-Fire 6870s are wicked sick, since the 6870 Crossfire is faster than a 6970 and even GTX 580. So, it's a bit pricey since the 6870x2 is around $500 a pop

not all 6870 can tri fire. Only one brand(cant remember which) has dual fingers for that. Xfired 6870s are fun Originally paid about $240 for my first one got the 2nd for $185 and prices are still falling...If mine could , would trifire just because would have to upgrade my psu(antec true power 750 blu- modded with red leds) too

The Powercolor 6870 PCS++ can tri-fire.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_6870_PCS_Plus_Plus/27.html