GPU upgrade

[DryzonDigital]

I have a Gigabyte R9 280x, awesome card but im looking to add some firepower. My main objective is to find a way to keep the 280x I have and still upgrade my gpu performance, so I thought, why not another 280x in crossfire? Why do I want to keep the 280x? Pretty hard to sell,especially here in Greece

What do you think? Budget is around 600-700 euros. Check the rest of my specs in my signature if need be.

[AliveGhost13]

What PSU do you have? I wouldn't Xfire on your board as it'll only run at x16x4. Minimum I'd want is x8x8

[DryzonDigital]

What PSU do you have? I wouldn't Xfire on your board as it'll only run at x16x4. Minimum I'd want is x8x8

I have the Thermaltake SmartSE 730w. I am going to upgrade that as well, advice on a new psu would be sweet.

I did not quite get what the issue is with my mobo.

[AliveGhost13]

Ok. Basically, SLI isn't supported on your board, as the minimum SLI requires is x8 x8 on the PCIE lanes (8 lanes on each PCIE slot.) Crossfire can be used on x4 slots, however there likely won't be enough bandwidth on your second slot for the second 280X to run at full/max speed efficiently.

[DryzonDigital]

I see, thank you for the explanation. What would you recommend though, 290x? I mean i bet the outcome would be pretty much the same with two 290xs if not worse.

[AliveGhost13]

I would try as hard as you can to sell your 280X, then yes a 290X would be brilliant. 

[Splashzed]

Ok. Basically, SLI isn't supported on your board, as the minimum SLI requires is x8 x8 on the PCIE lanes (8 lanes on each PCIE slot.) Crossfire can be used on x4 slots, however there likely won't be enough bandwidth on your second slot for the second 280X to run at full/max speed efficiently.

Actually we are talking about crossfire here and not sli and his mobo supports crossfire but my main concern of running two 280x's is the power supply, you'll probably be fine with that but get a better one..and getting another 280x is the best choice right now imo

[AliveGhost13]

Actually we are talking about crossfire here and not sli and his mobo supports crossfire but my main concern of running two 280x's is the power supply, you'll probably be fine with that but get a better one..and getting another 280x is the best choice right now imo

 

I was giving SLI as an example - the x4 speed will still hold back the second 280X.

[Splashzed]

I was giving SLI as an example - the x4 speed will still hold back the second 280X.

Just noticed that it's not pcie 3.0, with 2.0 you're going to hold back the second card, i suggest to just change mobo if your budget is 600-700 and then getting a 280x or wait for the r9 300 series, specifically the r9 380/x which will have performance similar to the 290x but it's probably going to be cheaper and more efficient

[DryzonDigital]

Yeah but I mean hold it back for how much? If we are talking like 10-15% loss in capability crossfire is still the way to go.

EDIT: this upgrade will be done in July probably. You know after exams and shit.

[AliveGhost13]

10-15% is quite a lot

[sgloux3470]

What PSU do you have? I wouldn't Xfire on your board as it'll only run at x16x4. Minimum I'd want is x8x8

 

PCi-E speeds aren't a huge deal.  It's a small % difference.  

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-scaling-p67-chipset-gaming-performance,2887-10.html

 

A second card would still be a massive performance boost.

 

 

10-15% is quite a lot

 

Less than 10 FPS in most games.  Not noticeable at all without a frame counter.

[Splashzed]

You're going to hold it back by about 10%

[AliveGhost13]

For the price of the new PSU, I'd just try and sell it and get a higher end card like 980. No problems with crossfire profiles and malarky either

[DryzonDigital]

I would love to snatch up a gtx 980 since half the games I play lately seem to be very poorly optimized for AMD cards. The thing is, the chances of me actually selling the thing are minimal. Even though I could still buy a 980 right now, I would be left with a perfectly nice 280x with no use for it. Also, would I need a psu upgrade for a 980?

[AliveGhost13]

I would love to snatch up a gtx 980 since half the games I play lately seem to be very poorly optimized for AMD cards. The thing is, the chances of me actually selling the thing are minimal. Even though I could still buy a 980 right now, I would be left with a perfectly nice 280x with no use for it. Also, would I need a psu upgrade for a 980?

No, the 980 would be fine on your PSU.