GA-880GM-USB3 and ATI Hybrid CrossFireX

[trublubiker]

Hi all ! 

Greetings from a new member posting my first thread.

I'm in the process of updating my set-up and was wondering if it is worth also changing my GPU to maybe the HD 5450, and enabling Hybrid CrossFireX.


When the courier arrives and I assemble it, this is what I'll have.

Gigabyte Mobo GA-880GM-USB3 (NEW)
AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 MHz Black Edition (NEW)
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 (Intend to run @1333) (NEW)
Gigabyte GeForce 8400GS (512MB/64bit/DDR2 @ 400MHz)
2 x 500GB WD SATA (Green)
Vantec iON2 460w PSU (?)
Windows 7 64bit

I don't play games, but I do use Photoshop and other photo processing software. One of these, a focus stacking program, maxed out my RAM (4GB DDR2 @ 1066) and CPU (Athlon 7750 Dual Core @ 2.7), not to the extent of a shut-down, but close. The process takes forever. I've noticed Windows 7 is a RAM hog, currently using 42%, and nothing else happening.
 
So, does the Hybrid CrossFire work OK, or am I better off just upgrading my Video Card?

Cheers

[absic]

Hi,

you would be better off using a dedicated Graphics card as then none of your RAM will be taken by the Graphics. Your current card is OK to keep but if/when you decided to upgrade then the 5450 or similar would be fine but maybe one with 1 Gig of RAM rather than 512 Mb.

[trublubiker]

Hi,

you would be better off using a dedicated Graphics card as then none of your RAM will be taken by the Graphics. Your current card is OK to keep but if/when you decided to upgrade then the 5450 or similar would be fine but maybe one with 1 Gig of RAM rather than 512 Mb.

Thanks for that. I was looking at the HD 5670, seems to tick most of the boxes.

Cheers