Dual AMD HD 6870's?

[AppleWhizzer]

Hi all, as some may know my 770 died. Anyway, i did get some good recommendations for new (to me)  gpus to replace it with. Anyway a few of them are bidding auctions, and are a few days away from completion and are already at $95+ and with 45 bids, so im going to guess it'll go ballistic at the last minute. So i found 2 AMD HD 6870's for $100 AUD for the both of them. They look very very clean for the age, and they really caught my eye and i've always wanted to try out dual GPU, and i guess now's my time at such a low price. 

 

What i am asking is, is $100 AUD fair for the both, and in CFX will i have a satisfactory gaming experience at 1050p? I play BF4, GTA 5, CS:go, Project cars, COD (nothing newer than BO II) and some other vehicle sims.

Also, will i need a CFX bridge to use CFX on my z87 Mpower Max? Or will it be alright as its a newer mobo, is it just newer AMD cards that don't need the bridge?

~Elias

[Cracklingice]

I got my 6870 1gb for 40$ US.  They seemed to sell on ebay between 40 and 60 each.  Personally I wouldn't.  I would get a GTX 950 or GTX 750TI if you're more budgeted than the 950.  Currently I've seen the 750TI as low as 80$ after rebate and the 950 100$ after rebate from Newegg.

[AppleWhizzer]

5 minutes ago, Cracklingice said:

I got my 6870 1gb for 40$ US.  They seemed to sell on ebay between 40 and 60 each.  Personally I wouldn't.  I would get a GTX 950 or GTX 750TI if you're more budgeted than the 950.  Currently I've seen the 750TI as low as 80$ after rebate and the 950 100$ after rebate from Newegg.

Yes but i am in Australia, so stuff is much more expensive. 

[unidentical]

Dual GPU is pretty in the case but usually causes problems due to jack of mainstream support. 

 

I will always recommend  the best single card solution available over any dual GPU config.

[cantalOPe]

22 minutes ago, AppleWhizzer said:

Hi all, as some may know my 770 died. Anyway, i did get some good recommendations for new (to me)  gpus to replace it with. Anyway a few of them are bidding auctions, and are a few days away from completion and are already at $95+ and with 45 bids, so im going to guess it'll go ballistic at the last minute. So i found 2 AMD HD 6870's for $100 AUD for the both of them. They look very very clean for the age, and they really caught my eye and i've always wanted to try out dual GPU, and i guess now's my time at such a low price. 

 

What i am asking is, is $100 AUD fair for the both, and in CFX will i have a satisfactory gaming experience at 1050p? I play BF4, GTA 5, CS:go, Project cars, COD (nothing newer than BO II) and some other vehicle sims.

Also, will i need a CFX bridge to use CFX on my z87 Mpower Max? Or will it be alright as its a newer mobo, is it just newer AMD cards that don't need the bridge?

~Elias

A wise man once said, get the best single GPU solution you can afford.

 

Unless your really set on those, and getting it from auction, I would say get something else.

[AppleWhizzer]

6 minutes ago, cantalOPe said:

A wise man once said, get the best single GPU solution you can afford.

 

Unless your really set on those, and getting it from auction, I would say get something else.

Yeah i mean i have seen that they are strong (ish) on their own like BF4 settings turned down a bit sits comfortably on 60fps. What would you recommend? There are heaps of GTX 560's,570's and 580's on eBay from $60-90. 

[Cracklingice]

@unidentical This too.  Dual GPU isn't good for everything.  Some things scale well like synthetic benchmarks, but not all games can take advantage of it.

[cantalOPe]

1 minute ago, AppleWhizzer said:

Yeah i mean i have seen that they are strong (ish) on their own like BF4 settings turned down a bit sits comfortably on 60fps. What would you recommend? There are heaps of GTX 560's,570's and 580's on eBay from $60-90. 

To be honest, I don't really know a lot about low end GPUs, I would suggest getting a Sapphire Nitro RX480 once it comes out.

[AppleWhizzer]

10 minutes ago, cantalOPe said:

To be honest, I don't really know a lot about low end GPUs, I would suggest getting a Sapphire Nitro RX480 once it comes out.

Ah righto thanks. I'll probably have to wait until Christmas as i am only 14 and don't have $300 or so to just throw at a GPU, so i just need a filler until then.

[AppleWhizzer]

Also forgot to ask, will 6000 series CFX work with my Intel z87 chipset/ i5 4670 CPU??

[-rascal-]

42 minutes ago, AppleWhizzer said:

Also forgot to ask, will 6000 series CFX work with my Intel z87 chipset/ i5 4670 CPU??

Crossfire will work on a Z87 chipset motherboard and CPU.

As long as the PCI-E slot is X4 electrically, it will work.

 

The older AMD cards will NEED a Crossfire Bridge to work.

It was only with the R-200 series and newer that the Crossfire Bridge was dropped.

 

You are better off spending $100 AUD on a single more powerful card than on two weaker GPUs.

This is especially true IF the two HD 6870's are 1GB variants.

 

[dizmo]

I got my 7970 for $75. I'm sure you can find something similar.

[AppleWhizzer]

22 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

Crossfire will work on a Z87 chipset motherboard and CPU.

As long as the PCI-E slot is X4 electrically, it will work.

 

The older AMD cards will NEED a Crossfire Bridge to work.

It was only with the R-200 series and newer that the Crossfire Bridge was dropped.

 

You are better off spending $100 AUD on a single more powerful card than on two weaker GPUs.

This is especially true IF the two HD 6870's are 1GB variants.

 

Would something along the lines of gtx 560ti-580 be better?

[-rascal-]

14 minutes ago, AppleWhizzer said:

Would something along the lines of gtx 560ti-580 be better?

Two 6870's is roughly (VERY roughly) the performance of one GTX 580.

Are there any other options for $100 AUD?

 

Any:

• GTX 660 Ti
• GTX 670
• GTX 680
• HD 7850
• HD 7870
• HD 7950
• HD 7950

[AppleWhizzer]

2 hours ago, -rascal- said:

Two 6870's is roughly (VERY roughly) the performance of one GTX 580.

Are there any other options for $100 AUD?

 

Any:

• GTX 660 Ti
• GTX 670
• GTX 680
• HD 7850
• HD 7870
• HD 7950
• HD 7950

Thanks. I've come across a nice cond. GTX 580 Asus model for $85. Heat/power requirements is no concern (rm850 psu) to me, but i've been reading and apparently it's a great card for 1050p. What do you have to say about the 580? also i am keeping an eye out for the cards you mentioned as well!!! 

[-rascal-]

20 hours ago, AppleWhizzer said:

Thanks. I've come across a nice cond. GTX 580 Asus model for $85. Heat/power requirements is no concern (rm850 psu) to me, but i've been reading and apparently it's a great card for 1050p. What do you have to say about the 580? also i am keeping an eye out for the cards you mentioned as well!!! 

The GTX 580 uses the revised "Fermi" GPU architecture.

If you are not aware, the nickname it got was "Thermi" cause those chips -- especially the GTX 480 -- produced a lot of heat, and used quite a bit of power.

 

Performance wise, the GTX 580 is quite good but make sure it is a model that does not use the reference cooler.

 

Of course, it would be a better option if you could find a GTX 600 series GPU instead.

Those used the much more efficient "Kepler" architecture, similar to what your GTX 770 uses.