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Crossfire Question

D

Denamian

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 14, 2005
Messages
198
So, I'm building a new computer - and I'm trying to decide if right now I want to drop the money on a 4870x2. If I don't do that yet (for a myriad of reasons that I won't bore all of you with), I will get a 4870. If I get a single 4870 now, I will probably get an x2 in a year or so.

My question is: would I be able to crossfire together the 4870... and the 4870x2?

Thanks guys!
 
Should be able to, although no one has done any evaluations on whether this is a good pairing though. The only thing I see being an issue for performance is the fact that each GPU in the X2 has access to 1gb of vram, on the 4870 it only has access to 512mb. I'm not sure if the X2 would be hindered if paired with the regular 4870.
 
With the 3870x2 you could go 3-way with an additional 3870. The Crossfire rules haven't changed so I'd be really surprised if you couldn't do what you want. Keep in mind, however, that a 4870 now only has 512MB and the two on your x2 will have 1gb. That could end up being a performance problem for you.
 
I bought the X2 and it arrives today.

I have a 4870 512MB as well and an X48 MB.

So this weekend I plan to run some games and compare performance of the X2 alone and the X2 plus the 4870 Crossfired with it.

I'm planning on Crysis,COD4 and something Unreal engine( like Rainbow 6 Vegas)
I've been done with Crysis for a while but I figure it will torture the cards well, however it has been known to be a poor Crossfire performer.
I don't have an extensive library.....but I'll have something that might help somebody.:D
 
In a year, you'll be better off selling the 4870 and buying a new single card. Guarantee it. Crossfire, like SLI, is a horrible upgrade path 9/10ths+ of the time.
 
Well, I'm not set in stone on the crossfire situation. I was just thinking that if it would work, and would increase performance... I might as well get the x2 if I already had a 4870.

If it doesn't scale well, I could just dump the 4870 and use only the x2.

Thanks magoo, I look forward to it.
 
silent-circuit said:
In a year, you'll be better off selling the 4870 and buying a new single card. Guarantee it. Crossfire, like SLI, is a horrible upgrade path 9/10ths+ of the time.
Click to expand...

This. Usually the ONLY reason to go crossfire or sli is when you buy both(or more) cards at the same time. Usually by the time you need to add a card, a more powerful card is out for just a little bit more out of pocket than buying a 2nd card.
 
Wolfkin said:
No problem, read this review where these guys did just that.
They have the HD4870x2, crossfire with two HD4870x2, crossfire with one HD4870x2 and one HD4870 and crossfire with two HD4870, take your pick.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15293
Click to expand...

Thank you a TON for that! It was exactly what I was looking for!

It would appear that the 4870 + 4870x2 setup is indeed a viable option. Actually, in a few cases on that review, it out-performed two 4870x2's (the x3 setup beating the x4 setup, ironically).

So I think that I will go with the single-core 4870 for now. Then add an x2 in a year or so. I know that it will no longer be 'top of the line' then. But It'll be plenty fine for most of the stuff that I play (esp since I have a 22" monitor). And that way, with the price gouging the way it is, if I buy the single card right now, and add an x2 in a year or so. The total cost will come out to about the cost of a x2 right now... and I'll have an additional core (x3 total).

Thanks!
 
Does anyone know anything about the release dates on the 1GB DDR5 HD4870's? I found the info on the ASUS and the PowerColor versions of the cards. Both of which were announced recently.

Anyone think we might see them by the end of the month? Or do we know exactly yet?
 
Denamian said:
Does anyone know anything about the release dates on the 1GB DDR5 HD4870's? I found the info on the ASUS and the PowerColor versions of the cards. Both of which were announced recently.

Anyone think we might see them by the end of the month? Or do we know exactly yet?
Click to expand...

Over here in Sweden one of the largest internet store have HIS listed for Sep 1 and PowerColor and Sapphire listed for Oct 1.
 
Wolfkin said:
Over here in Sweden one of the largest internet store have HIS listed for Sep 1 and PowerColor and Sapphire listed for Oct 1.
Click to expand...

Ugh, I was really hoping that we would be seeing the PowerColor and/or ASUS cards before Oct1... guess I'll have to wait and see.

Thanks for the info wolf!
 
Interesting, thanks!

Hopefully that means we might see ours in the states more like mid September or so.
 
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