Do PC Specialist set up crossfire for me?

[deh-cheesekake]

I am looking to buy a new PC for powerful multi monitor gaming and advanced video editing. I am planning on using the HD 7870 as my graphics card but I am unsure of one thing, if I select 2 of them (graphics card 7 2nd graphics card) will the people who make the PC set it up with crossfire for me or will I have to do that myself? I do not know how to go about setting up crossfire and I do not want to go jumping into the workings of the PC where I could break something.

Is anyone able to tell my if selecting 2 of the same graphics card (AMD) will mean the people who build my PC will set it up so its got crossfire working?

[Rakk]

Yes it will be set up in crossfire when you receive it.
Noting that occassionally the crossfire/sli bridges can come loose in transit, but if thats the case they can easily step you through how to put it back on.

[deh-cheesekake]

Thanks, I don't know enough about PCs to build one myself. i only know enough to tell whats good for me. Thanks again

[PadForce]

I thought the general guidance was to go 1 more powerful card rather than crossfire 2 less powerful ones due to the diminishing returns from crossfire.

So cost/performance wise I would assume 1 7970 > 2 7870s?

[deh-cheesekake]

Oh, I do not really like the sound of "diminishing returns from crossfire". Do you know if Nvidias cards are any better when linked together?

[dangro474]

Oh, I do not really like the sound of "diminishing returns from crossfire". Do you know if Nvidias cards are any better when linked together?

It varies from game to game sadly, however diminishing returns from xfire usually do not set in until you're running 3+ cards, hence being bottlenecked by your PCI-E port / CPU (unless you are running an ivy bridge 3550+ and Z77 pci-e 3.0 board).

xfire 7870's would slightly outperform a 7970 in most cases, however again this would vary from game to game and xfire GPU's can bring complications such as stability issues and micro stutter.

My personal rule of thumb is to avoid multi GPU solutions at all costs. I would recommend opting for a 680 GTX, or a 7970 if you prefer ATI GPUs.

[deh-cheesekake]

Thanks - I think I may take your advice

[dangro474]

Thanks - I think I may take your advice

to elaborate on my previous comment, whether or not you require multiple GPUs is a matter of necessity over appeal.

Having two GPUs in your system looks extremely cool, however given that the 7970 and 680 GTX are more than enough to max out even the most demanding current gen games in 1080p on a single screen at 60+ FPS, the potential complications of using multiple GPUs outweigh any relevant performance gains. I would only recommend multiple GPUs to someone who intends to play games in 3D on a 120 hz monitor or intends to use 2 or more monitors in 3960x1080 or greater resolutions.

[keynes]

the potential complications of using multiple GPUs outweigh any relevant performance gains.

Hi Dan,
What kind of complications are you referring to?

[dangro474]

My biggest grievence with multi GPU's is the inevitable micro-stuttering.

You can argue that the performance increase is worth it as much as you want, but the moment you are forced to play games with below 60 FPS you will run into microstutter.

This leads 30 FPS on a single GPU to be far smoother and more playable than an SLI/xfire setup with 59 or less fps. And yes, I do say this from experience (SLI 285M's, SLI 460M's).

My personal opinion: avoid multi GPU's at all cost.

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