3x 4870x2... possible?

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mobusta1

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I was just reading a few reviews on 3x 280 sli and 2x 4870x2 CF and started thinking if it would be possible to do a 3x 4870x2... Than I googled it and found no results (possibly because no one has tried it yet). Anyways, I was just wondering if this would be even possible (Ya I know you would be paying an assload of money for the cards). Just imagine the FPS you would get in crysis!!
 
mobusta1 said:
I was just reading a few reviews on 3x 280 sli and 2x 4870x2 CF and started thinking if it would be possible to do a 3x 4870x2... Than I googled it and found no results (possibly because no one has tried it yet). Anyways, I was just wondering if this would be even possible (Ya I know you would be paying an assload of money for the cards). Just imagine the FPS you would get in crysis!!
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Not possible. DX9/DX10 only supports a max of 4 x GPUs. Since one HD4870X2 is two GPUs.....
 
Ah, I see. Silly me, I shoulda read that somewhere.. Even so if DX 11 supports > 4x GPUs, that would be pretty epic :D
 
The problem is that there are still too many situations where Crossfire breaks or doesn't work for some stupid reason (like running a game in windowed mode, etc). In a dual config, that would mean worst case you're limited to 1/2 your graphics horsepower. in a dual 4870x2 config you would be limited to 1/4th your graphics horsepower. Add in more GPU's and it only gets worse. I can only imagine how much someone would whine and cry if they setup a 6+ GPU config only to find out that they play a game or a mode in a game which only uses <17% (1/6th) of their total graphics horsepower.
 
GotNoRice said:
The problem is that there are still too many situations where Crossfire breaks or doesn't work for some stupid reason (like running a game in windowed mode, etc). In a dual config, that would mean worst case you're limited to 1/2 your graphics horsepower. in a dual 4870x2 config you would be limited to 1/4th your graphics horsepower. Add in more GPU's and it only gets worse. I can only imagine how much someone would whine and cry if they setup a 6+ GPU config only to find out that they play a game or a mode in a game which only uses <17% (1/6th) of their total graphics horsepower.
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But who in their right mind would run a game in windowed mode with a config like that?
 
mobusta1 said:
But who in their right mind would run a game in windowed mode with a config like that?
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A lot of people with multiple monitors run their games in Windowed maximized mode, which actually looks the same as fullscreen but allows you to move your mouse seamlessly off of the screen onto a 2nd (or 3rd, etc) monitor without having to alt-tab or anything. This is especially popular with people who play MMOs.
 
The only people I know that have 3x or 4x cards like that is us that run Folding@Home.
We are not running them in SLI / Crossfire mode though.
There are quite a few of them down there that have 4 x 9800GX2 in one system.

I have one system with 4 x ATI 4850s, and another with 3 x 4850s for the same reason.

As far as gaming, I think the other posters are correct, you will see limited returns once you have that many cards.

 
uhh... isn't there only one crossfire connector? how are you supposed to connect 3 together? i was under the impression you needed two on each card to get over 2 cards?

admittedly, i was thinking about this the other day, i suppose you could crossfire a 4870x2 to a 4870 that has two connectors, and then connect that to another 4870x2, making a 5 way 4870 sandwich.
 
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