Crossfire vs SLI
 

Ok so I am building a system that will have 3 27 inch monitors. I have SLI'd 680s before but I currently have a 7950 I was thinking of crossfiring for this system since I can pick up another at a decent price. My question is in anyonr else's experience how do the compare? I have heard stories of pros and negatives but just looking for some more input. I very interested in going the 7950 direction because it would be something new.

Just keep in mind that with crossfire all your monitors have to be plugged into one card. I personally run 3 off my one 7970 and I see no difference between that and running crossfire. Not sure if you actually "need" to add another card unless you just want to do it so you can say you did it.

What will your main use be? If it's gaming, than just which cards perform at the games you'll likely play most and decide. Although with so many pixels to push and quite a lot of graphics horsepower, I'd opt for the bigger and faster memory/bandwidth of the Radeons.

It will be just for gaming. I am leaning towards cross-firing 7950s.

you need to list the res for the displays you are going to use! You say 27".... so is that 1920X1080? 2560X1440?

Sorry, its 2560x1440

In that case you need all the fire power you can get. I would say 7970 CFX but perhaps 7950 will be adequate. Regardless of what you decide it would be my guess that you will find out quickly that 2560X1440 eyefinity will be a real chore to render. Please post back with your initial impressions once you get it running!!

I 2nd the 7970's I have two in crossfire and they seem to run easily at the 1125 core and 6ghz ram. It rips through everything at my rez, but I am thinking almost a 3rd card for those resolutions. Get 2 test and be prepared to get a 3rd if you want to run it that high.

Honestly you dont need two, with the new drivers the 7970's will rock out 3 monitors for you easy.

Not at that res