Crossfire

[computernoob1]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 3870 512 mb PCI-E 2.0 and I was wondering if I should get two of these (http://www1.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=219&grp=3).
I play games like oblivion, fallout and mass effect. I am very impressed with the graphics but unfortunately I cannot set them to high because it becomes very difficult to play, would these cards in crossfire give me a big boost in performance?

 

[Damascus]

IMHO, you'd be better off selling the 3870 and using the money to buy a newer, faster, single card, like a 4870 or GTX260, or better...
SLi and Crossfire does increase performance, but most people think by adding another identical card, they get double the performance... This isn't the case, you may see a 20% increase at best (generally)... One of the newer mid-level or mid-top-level cards will blow the CF setup away, and use a lot less power doing so, and take up much less space, and no hassle setting it up. Just my 2 units of a dollar.

 

[jevery]

In the Normalized Cumulated Frame Rate Chart the single 3870 scored 170 while two 3870s scored 248, or a 45% increase. Another Sapphire 3870 will set you back about $85 at Newegg. Now a single 4850 would perform a little better than the pair of 3870s with a score of 254. Personally I’d get a new 4850 for $95 – just $10 more than the 3870. Then you have the option of adding a second one later for performance better than a single 4870 or even the 4890.