9 replies to this topic

[Sharpstick68]

I have a system running on a Phenom II X4 965 BE proc with 4 gb ram, Radeon HD 6870 running on a 650 watt power supply. I'm thinking of buying a second one so I can run cross-fire but will I be bottle-necking my system by doing that or no? And should my power supply be good enough or would I need something stronger?

[+Brando212]

you'd be cutting it fairly close with that power supply,

600 watt is the minimum recommended psu for cross-fire with the 6870 but that doesn't take into account for other things plugged in as well

so I'd recommend upgrading PSU then you'd be fine

[Sharpstick68]

i have 3 hard drives, an avermedia livegamer hd installed too, and a dvd rw drive

[Blackhearted]

The PSU may be able to handle it, but i'd wager that old Phenom II could be a limiting issue in some cases.

[Slammers]

What is the model of PSU. 650w should be fine if it's a decent one. I'd consider getting a new mobo and an intel CPU if I was you. Your 6870 shouldn't be having trouble with much right now? Having said that two 6870's should chomp anything you throw at them for a year or two.
Do you have a SSD yet? Consider that also if you don't.

[Sharpstick68]

The model of my PSU is here http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139005 In January of 2013 the computer will be 2 years old because thats when I built it. I didnt have the money back then for an intel build so thats why I went with an amd build. Also, no I don't have an SSD yet but have heard the increase in performance is so much better. Can you recommend a good one for cheap?

[Wakers]

That PSU will be fine for crossfire as long as it has 2 PCI-E connectors. No worry on the power draw, crossfired 6870s require 38A on the 12V rail and your PSU can handle 54A.

Yes, the AMD CPU might bottleneck your system on newer games.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Psu is not the thing to worry about.
Processor might, just might bottleneck the situation. Are you running it at stock speed? If not, then I'd recommend overclocking it

[Sharpstick68]

Yea I'm running it at stock speed, and also using the stock cooler, not using an aftermarket one yet.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

You should consider overclocking the processor, if you are not planning to upgrade it in near future