need some opinions

[Steapa Snotor]

Right here it is, I'm going to be building a new pc soon. The budget is approximately £500.

This is my list so far.

Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600MHz
XFX 750 Watt (Haven't really decided on which psu to get, but around the £70 mark).
Case, again haven't chose a case but iv seen a few i like (not over £50 mind you, I'm open to ideas).
I don't need a monitor,hdds key/mouse or OS.

Now here's the thing, I have a HD 6850 and was thinking would it be worth getting another and going the crossfire route, or upgrade to a better card. Keep in mind that my budget is going to be extremely tight.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

dont bother with crossfire your board isnt ment for it

PCIE 3.0 = 1 slot at x16
PCIE 2.0- = 1 slot at x4

second card will be bottlenecked heavily

[Steapa Snotor]

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the help.

What I'm trying to ask is, is there a board cheap enough that will crossfire 2 6850's (i have 1 already) and show better performance than say a sub $200 card.
If not what card is recommended.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

honestly better off with the single better gpu and sell off the 6850

example GTX 660 or HD 7870 are both around $200-250

both are at stock around 40% faster than the HD 6850,

crossfire while i love it does NOT work in every game and it DOES NOT double your frame rates at best you see an 80-90% increase in many situations you will only see 50-70% increase

also the Crucial memory is pretty garbage in terms of timings 10-10-10 -28 timings are worse than my 1866 Mhz sticks hell 10 10 10 can be found on 2133 mhz memory better timings means lower latency which is a good thing

where are you located exactly? UK ? Germany? etc where are you purchasing from.


Look at the images below the % increase has the 6850 Crossfire being roughly 40% faster across the board in a test group of 10-20 games, if you look at the 660 / 7870 situation you will see its also 40%

In this situation 1 gpu is always better than 2,
6850 Crossfire


GTX 660 / HD 7870

[Steapa Snotor]

I see, yer understand a bit better now. Also with a single card, it will be less stressful (less power consumption and heat).
Im the UK.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

okay so thats ebuyer / scan / overclockers then ill see what i can come up with when i get some free time,

[Steapa Snotor]

I appreciate it, you do know your stuff.