$500.00 to Spend. Need Advice On These Cards..

[akmirdock]

Hi everyone. I am thinking of doing an upgrade. I currently have a 6870 card. Looking to replace it with either dual 6950's and do the bios mod to make them 6970's or one gtx 580. I mainly play RIFT and Crysis 2. Im wanting to keep it around a $500. budget. Im currently running an i7 950 just at stock speeds, 6gb corsair ddr3 1600 and 2 60gb ssd in raid 0. Its only for gaming. I dont do anything else with it. The screen I use is a 23" LCD with a resolution of 1920X1080. With one 6870 it dips to low 40s at times, and Im trying to get a graphics solution that will keep it pegged at 60fps constantly. Any ideas? I was also considering saving 200.00 more and doing 6990. Any ideas???

[potatochobit]

buy a new monitor

and crossfire your 6870

[El_Capitan]

Two HD 6950 2GB's (reference) and BIOS mod = win for $500. At least overclock the i7 950, that thing can get to 4.37GHz easily running 24/7 (proper watercooling), or 4.0GHz on the best air cooler. However, with your resolution, another HD 6870 in crossfire will be fine, no need for a super duper upgrade.

[akmirdock]

Im using a hyper 212+ with 2 Coolermaster fans in push/pull configuration. I can get it stable at 4ghz fairly easy and stable. but even overclocked, it didnt really do anything for the fps in the games i play. I thought it was the 6870 giving me a bottleneck. I was thinking of doing another 6870 and xfire it, but I was reading online that the 6950's that flash to 6970 with bios mod is on par with the 6990 in terms of performance, and its like 200.00 cheaper than getting a 6990. So is 6870 xfire even worth it?

[El_Capitan]

Although another 6870 will help, it may not be what you're looking for, so it's probably not worth it. My dual overclocked GTX 460 1GB's in SLI will still outperform two overclocked 6870's in Crossfire. The HD 6950 2GB's will be your best bet, even if it isn't BIOS modded.

[Water_Hazard]

not sure if it is still true but I heard that crossfire scaling in both Rift and Crysis 2 was pretty much non existent

[El_Capitan]

not sure if it is still true but I heard that crossfire scaling in both Rift and Crysis 2 was pretty much non existent

That'd be good to look up to make sure it's true. I guess the GTX 580 1.5GB's looking better at this point, and you can get them for $435 after MIR's and promo codes these days.

[Water_Hazard]

That'd be good to look up to make sure it's true. I guess the GTX 580 1.5GB's looking better at this point, and you can get them for $435 after MIR's and promo codes these days.

 

I've been seeing reference design 580's go for less than $400 new on ebay

[El_Capitan]

I've been seeing reference design 580's go for less than $400 new on ebay

I don't trust ebay... and I want warranties with the high-end cards.

[potatochobit]

The first thing you have to understand is that RIFT is an MMO.

it is perfectly normal for your FPS to dip during the rift raid events.

you can throw more money at the problem but it will always dip, just less.

[MercuryDoun]

Step 1) Buy another 6870.

 

 

Step 2) Buy a Real CPU cooler(Noctua NH-D14, Prolimatech Megahalems)

 

Step 3) Overclock i7-950.

 

Step 4) Overclock 6870's in xfire.

 

Step 5) Enjoy 60+ FPS at all times.

 

 

 

 

If your REALLY that worried about future gaming needs, Do all of the above, then 6-12 months later, Sell the 6870's and buy something new from the HD 7xxx series or GTX6xx Series. Overclocked i7-950(4.0Ghz+) ought to be more than enough for any current and future needs in gaming, so no problems there.

[medbor]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/23.html

says 6870 CF will outperform a 5970, that not so bad...

definitely better than a single 6950!