7970 Crossfire

[LennyIsLife]

I am in the process of collecting the parts for a new computer, and I currently have 2 Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 OC graphics cards. Would it be better to keep the graphics cards and run everything at max graphics or sell one of the cards, turn down the graphics slightly, and have an extra $100 in my pocket for the rest of the computer? Selling one of the cards would mean that I wouldn't have to get such a high wattage PSU as well, which would also save me some money.

 

Thanks

[TheSLSAMG]

I would personally keep both cards since games are definitely becoming more intensive (though that's a given.)

 

And realistically, you could get more than $100 USD for it.

[LennyIsLife]

I can get more, but I was just giving a rough estimate

[sgloux3470]

Where else would you put the extra $100 into the computer?  I think trading the GPU power for something like a boot SSD would make sense, but I dunno if it'd really make sense to throw it anywhere else in the build.  

 

Also I look at power supplies like an investment.  You spend an extra $50 and get a higher wattage high quality PSU, and then you use it in every PC you build for the next decade or two no problems.  Way better than buying a new PSU for each build.

 

But yeah if you're only playing at 1080p, I think a single 7970 is lots of GPU power if you dial back a few settings.  

[Opcode]

It depends on what you plan on having in the machine with both cards and without. Where would you spend that extra $100.

[LennyIsLife]

I would use the extra money towards the computer without adding anything else, I already have a mobo, hd, gpu/gpus, and would just want to spend it on the rest of the parts

[alphaproject]

Keep 1. I guess they are still pretty decent cards.

[-rascal-]

Considering a HD 7970 = R9-280X, one will still do just fine if you don't mind turning MSAA off or tune one or two settings down to High from Ultra.

It depends on what you are going to spend the $100 ~ $150 on.

If you don't already have say...an SSD or an aftermarket CPU cooler, then yes, selling the card is worth it.

If you are going to upgrade the stock fans that came with your case, or get a case that is next level up....eh maybe not worth it.

Upgrade from a i5-4690K to a i7-4790K for a gaming perspective? Debatable.

(7970 Crossfire triad FTW :3)

[LennyIsLife]

My main game is counter strike, but I also want to play Battlefield 4, GTA 5, and other graphically intensive games. 2 gpus is overkill for cs:go, and looking at some benchmarks, the 7970 seems to be easily capable of playing games at high (not max) graphics at good framerates.

[-rascal-]

My main game is counter strike, but I also want to play Battlefield 4, GTA 5, and other graphically intensive games. 2 gpus is overkill for cs:go, and looking at some benchmarks, the 7970 seems to be easily capable of playing games at high (not max) graphics at good framerates.

CS:GO is a CPU dependant game. My i5-4690K with a HD 7950 gets 250~300 FPS. I'm sure something like a GTX 750Ti should have no problems.

BF4, GTAV, and such will definitely require a bit more GPU power to run fluidly at maximum settings -- just turn some graphical settings down.

What do you plan on doing with the money from selling your second HD 7970?