5850 + 5870 Mining

[ChanceCoats123]

I'm always searching for cards to add to my mining fleet, but with the inflated prices of 5870's it's difficult to find the cards in the price range I want. I can occasionally find 5850's though. I have space in two rigs for one card each. One rig is empty (not currently running ) and the other is running with a 5870 right now. I would add to the running rig first, obviously, but my question becomes this:

If I'm running a 5870 and and 5850 in the same rig, will the 5870 only produce the mhash of the 5850? I'm wondering because when you crossfire a 5850 and a 5870, the 5870 drops to the clocks/performance of the 5850. But is crossfire required for mining, or can I simply plug the card in and the device manager will see it, and I start mining?

Is anyone currently doing this? If so I would sincerely appreciate any and all advice you can give me. Thanks in advance!!!

-Chance Coats

[Chomp]

I have 2x 5870 and  5850 running in windows. To get windows to recognize my cards I had to crossfire the 1st time. after crossfire drivers are installed you should turn it off in ccc for full speed.

[ChanceCoats123]

Thank you! No dummy plugs necessary?

[ssateneth]

I never had to crossfire, ever, and I have mixed 5830 + 5870. Dont need dummy plugs since driver 11.7. best sdk for 5xxx is 2.1

[bangra]

Running mixed 5850's and 5870's with no issues

[ChanceCoats123]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate it!