Thermal shutdown for a modern desktop video card is 105C, as long as you keep it under 95 the card is fine.

I run a single card crossfire setup (4870x2 1+1Gig Vram). It works well for me at 1920x1200 (mostly)Ultra settings. Crossfire performance was an issue when the game first came out but since driver version 12.1 those issues have largely disappeared. The drivers in general have been very stable from a crash point of view. I would definitely agree with others that a single card setup is preferable if the performance is there (fewer timing considerations for the driver to deal with) and that more vram is better. I am seriously considering upgrading to the 7970 myself as the 4870 is getting a little long in the tooth, although it has served me well.


Win7-64 12G, ATI 4870x2 2G 12.2 preview drivers, Quad Core 2 9550 @ 2.83 GHz, Asus Maximus II Formula MB

The AMD 7970 is a great card, maxing every game (except Crysis 2) at 5760x1080 with 45+ FPS. Mine overclocked very well too.

Starforce if you die can I has your stuffz?

@ OP I am sure some have mentioned but Skyrim is very CPU intensive too so make sure you have a strong CPU as well.

You have no idea how many people ask me that lol.

Not a surprise I mean my rig is totally capable but dammmmmmn Eyefinity on a 7970 omnomnomnom plus an agility 2 its like all the top hardware you got there.

Lol I'm jealous too.


If I had a bit more time to game I might go for some more upper-end hardware, but as it is I just can't justify it.

I hear that I feel like most of my hardware is not going to be used to its potential for a while now....I just got lucky and got a really sweet gift
and his stuff makes mine laughable

I want to be a physicist as an advlt, so if I'm lucky I may work in a lab with computers that put any consumer ones to shame.

Great field sir........I am a student of modern science and arcane alchemy and they have more in common than most would think. Physics is one of the most tangible of the sciences they are def not all created equal.

FYI I am running the HD DLC and skyrim HD with my 570. I has some bad and frequent FPS drops. I lowered AA from 8x to 4x and it smooth as silk.

Im gonna throw vurts flora in and see if it can handle it

Yes, now that I have Eyefinity, I could never go back to a single screen. I had a single 6970 up until January 9th and it ran most games fine in Eyefinity. But this 7970.....quieter, cooler and so nice.

You do realize that the 6950 with a non referrence cooler is one of the lowest power consuming, highest performing, lowest heat generation gpu on the market....

60*C is pretty damn amazing, majority of the other ati gpus can usually touch on 70 and 80*C.. nvidia's have a tendency to run even hotter than that.

And don't look at any of the dual GPU cards from either.... they have been known to hit the 105*C.. which is imo WAY WAY to hot.

Yeah, those 7xxx cards are sweet.... but the rumors and such floating about plus with my source.. either we'll see a rev 2 of the 79xx very very soon with 3rd party manufacturers using more robust coolers and perhaps breaking the 3gb vram limit.... My next purchase i'm waiting on is a 4gb model, If i have a buyer for this 6950 2gb.... i'll splurge on a 7xxx... but i just, even with eyefinity haven't found a need, i'm already sustaining 60fps in almost everything.

In my case for Skyrim heat and GPU usage or mostly tied to AA with it off or FXAA enabled the GPU is used at around 60 to 70% load and the temps are cold for gaming period. If I turn AA up I can easily get to full load (99%) and much more normal gaming temps....however I get a bit of chop now and then in first person and without any mods decided to just run with FXAA.

Those are ATI model numbersNvidia have 460/480/560/560ti/570/580 and so on, ATI have the 5xxx/6xxx/7xxx series cards and the Nvidia 6xx series should be out Q1this year so probably March April as to ATI, well I don't know as I don't use ATi cards.

PS. I'm getting the same CPU as you, it should show up tomorrow.

wow 65 degrees!
my ATI 6570 HD is 70 degrees and it is like 2x worse than HD 6970. back to topic...I agree that single GPUs are better than crossfire etc, and i think you shld get the Nvidia cards since the latest beta drivers are really good in performance. Not sure about ATI though, not really a fan of it

the ATI driver and skyrim provided your running single gpu like NVidia card running single gpu run exceptionally well... as sli/crossfire is unpredictable and not officially supported by skyrim....