What res are you playing at?

mitu123

1080p

Another 6870 would be cheapest, but you will probably be hitting the VRAM neck before those two card begin to struggle. So because of that I would also suggest waiting for the 88XX series to be released. [QUOTE="matrixian"]

If I were you I would wait for Sea Islands HD88XX to come out in Q1 2013. But if you must upgrade now, I suggest a single 7870 because it has a better tessellation unit and you wouldn't have to keep track of Crossfire profiles.

horgen123

Any idea what the prices will be for 88XX series will be?

[QUOTE="NailedGR"]

getting a 2nd 6870 would be the cheapest and quickest solution. Some things will perform way better and some things will perform the same.

godzillavskong

I game in 1080p so it definitley sounds like a second 6870 is the way to go. :)

You will get better performance in crossfireMonsieurX

I thought so, but I wanted to check. Thanks for the reply!

I currently have a single HD 6870 and am thinking of upgrading. Would I get better performance out of another 6870 in Crossfire, or a single 7870, I'm thinking this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

I was just having the same problem with Crysis 2 just a couple days ago. All I had to do was disable DirectX 11 through the in-game settings, restarted the program and BAM fullscreen! One difference in my case though is that I'm playing in 1080p, so I don't know if this will work at 720p resolution or not. Couldn't hurt to try though!

Drop the PSU to like 500w, you dont need 700w for a single card setup.V4LENT1NE

This makes sense, but keeping it at 700 watts will allow you some room to upgrade in the future.

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

Alright, so what you suggest my changes be is go back to the Caviar Green and dial down on the RAM so I have 8GB rather than 16. So if I did that I cut down about $50-60. Should I appropriate these funds somewhere else or is it not worth spending it somewhere else on this build?

Edit: I think I will go with that GTX 660 you posted then.

blaznwiipspman1

the 7950 is a much better card than the 660ti, it even competes with the geforce 670, go with that instead it will last you longer and has 1gb more vram as well. The radeon 7870 costs $250 and is also a decent choice in video card. Instead of the i5 2500k go with ivybridge 3570k....they're the same price. For motherboard you can go with any z77 for $100 and you'll be fine. 4gb of ram is enough for anything you need to do, 8gb is overkill and anything more is just un necessary.

I'm with you on everything except the RAM part. 4 GB is okay, but you're really pushing there. While it's true that most games only require 2 GB minimum and 3-4 on recommended setting, don't forget about your OS and any other programs and processes running in the background. Windows 7 takes up about 1.5 to 2 gigs of your memory at any given time. For example, I have 8 GB on my rig right now, but when I check the system information, I have only 5.95 gigs available, and the only program I have open is my browser. If I had only 4 gigs of memory, I'd only have about 2 left for gaming, which is NOT enough. Stick with 8. You'll be glad you did.

[QUOTE="shufu7-11"]

[QUOTE="Schreek"]

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

Schreek

Well my video card is significantly underpowered compated to the 660 you chose, and while I haven't run BF 3 on my system, I can run almost everything on Ultra at about 45-50 fps. Nexuiz drops to about 25 fps on ultra, but a little overclocking pushed up to 40 no problem. The reviewes for your card say they are running BF3 and other more recent games on ultra and excellent frame rates.

As far as upgrading, I can only speculate since technology advances so fast, but my best guess would be between 3 and 5 years if you have to have to play everythign on ultra. If medium or high is acceptable to you, you may be able to go another 1 to 2 years past that. But again, that's just an educated guess, so don't hold me to it!

You're very welcome! Good luck!

So if I were to do this build, what settings would I be playing with good frames per second on a recent game such as Battlefield 3? Also, how long do you think this build would last before needing a major overhaul of updates?

Schreek

Well my video card is significantly underpowered compated to the 660 you chose, and while I haven't run BF 3 on my system, I can run almost everything on Ultra at about 45-50 fps. Nexuiz drops to about 25 fps on ultra, but a little overclocking pushed up to 40 no problem. The reviewes for your card say they are running BF3 and other more recent games on ultra and excellent frame rates.

As far as upgrading, I can only speculate since technology advances so fast, but my best guess would be between 3 and 5 years if you have to have to play everythign on ultra. If medium or high is acceptable to you, you may be able to go another 1 to 2 years past that. But again, that's just an educated guess, so don't hold me to it!