7970 Xfire or 7970+7950 Xfire. Worth another $100?

[Abram]

I have a 7970. Pretty happy with it. In the spring i thought I'd treat myself to another card, but I'm cheap enough to consider combining it with a 7950 instead. I'm not broke, but I'm not swimming in cash, either.

I've tried some searching for clues as to performance but nothing really shows. From what I read, the 7950's should easily clock to match the speeds of the 7970. M PSU is sufficient for either (Corsair HX850w) and my mobo (Gigabyte P67a-ud5-b3) has lots of space, so I'm fine for everything else.

So... you folks think it's worth saving 100 bucks to OC a 7950? I think maybe I'm just looking for permission to spend it

[Slinky]

I didnt think you could pair a 7970 with a 7950 but I could be wrong. My vote is for a second 7970. It's so much horsepower plus awesome bragging rights. I'll be buying a 2nd 7970 soon.

[Delphium]

You can indeed match a 7970 with a 7950, check out the compatibility matrix here http://www.wsgf.org/article/amd-crossfi ... ity-matrix

As for the 7950, it will of cause add some additional performance, however what puts me off the 7950 at present is all these recent talks of FPS latency and microstuttering, where by the 7950 has been picked on for being quite bad, its really been getting a grilling these last couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago I'd have said sure go for it, but now I would hold fire, do some more research and see how this might effect you.
You may see your games running at a higher FPS, but not actually running any smoother due to latency introduced by the 7950.

Maybe, if you ask nicely ask skipclarke to perhaps do a fps and latency graph for a game or two across the 2 cards alone and then them combined.
He is a busy man so I hold no guarantee but worth politely asking

[Abram]

Hahah yes, that'd be sweet.

Since I've pretty much been ignoring 7950-related information (having picked the 7970 long ago), I've not noticed any kerfuffle over it. But ya, as with any big purchase, I always research till my eyeballs bleed. When I bought this 7970, I started to wonder how long I could hold out for an upgrade...

[Haldi]

Mhmm, 7970 and 7950 both use AMD Thahiti Chips, 70 the XT and 50 the Pro, they both have the same Memory interface. So i don't see any reason why the 7950 should have stutter problems and the 7970 wouldn't !

If you go with a 7950, take a close look what Graphics card you're getting! The new HD7970 Cards (not ghz edition) don't have Dual Bios anymore, and most of them have a locked Voltage. best thing would be to get an "old" card. but, oh well. you wouldn't want a reference Cooler! I had two of them in my case for a short time. A starting plane would make less noise!


The "new" 7950 clock with 850mhz and 925mhz Boost clock. Boost clock sucks hardcore! Better get a normal/old card and OC it! less voltage required and keeps cooler.

The question is always how do you want to spend your money. If you can invest those 100 bucks somewhere else that would make you happier, do it. The chances that 7970+7950 run fine together are quite high.