new build ~$800 Gaming Build - Page 2

it does support crossfire, only that the second PCI-e card will be limited by the PCI-e 2.0 bandwidth... which probably is negligible.

Just remembered I hadn't updated you guys on anything in awhile. I got back to my dorm and all the parts were here waiting for me. I put everything together in about 2.5 hours with the hardest part, by far, being the heatsink installation. I opted to go for a Hyper 212 Evo so that I could safely overclock the processor without any worries. The processor is set for boosting to 4.3 GHz now instead of just 3.9.

I also overclocked the GPU quite a bit and tested it out in Furmark. By my interpretations of that score and the comparison chart for 720p, my card is capable of outperforming a (not sure if it is overclocked) 7970 and 680 with my current OC configuration. Was short of 6970 crossfire though. All that matters for me, though, is that it seems to be running my games just fine! Battlefield 3 runs everything on Ultra with 4x MSAA no problem with V-Sync on. I had it without Vsync and the FPS was typically in the 100 FPS range but put GPU use at 99%, now it maxes around 60% utilization. Here are my exact settings which, with Vsync, stay at 60 FPS all the time.

I also ordered a SteelSeries 6Gv2 keyboard with Cherry MX Black switches and I love it so far, such a pleasure to type on and I got it for a steal of a price at just $55 shipped (was a review unit).

Here are a few pictures I took.