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HD 4870X2 Questions

E

EscaroN

n00b
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
57
1) How much of a bottleneck would I be looking at with my E6600 at 3ghz if I was to upgrade to the 4870X2. Do you think it would be worth it to pick up an E8400 for about $180 and OC that to 3.6Ghz or so?

2) If I do pickup an E8400 would I be able to use my current heatsink (Zalman 9500)

3) Finally, will my current powersupply, OCZ GamerXStream 600W be enough for the 4870X2. The only stuff I'm running in my system is basically 1 HDD, 1 DVD-RW, couple 120mm, Asus P5W DH dlx, 8800GTS and a fan controller. The power supply is rated for about 80% efficiency and has 4 12v rails with 18A on each one of them.

With this upgrade I want my computer to last me for about a year or a year and a half until the prices of Nehalem, DDR3 and the new motherboards settle down around next summer.

Thnx for any help.
 
1, not really, at the resolutions your going to gaming at with a 4870 X2. you would get a few more FPS perhaps but I don't see it as being worth it.

2. if it fits the e6600 it will fit the E8400. they use the same socket

3. good question. The short answer is yes but I would def check into it. Look up some reviews and make sure that the PSU will produce what it claims. If it will then your good. if not replace.
 
1) You shouldn't be bottlenecked at all. A C2D at 3GHz should be plenty for any game.

2) It will work fine.

3) Your PSU will be plenty for a 4870X2, providing it's actually capable of handling its rated load. Check out some reviews and make sure it's good for at least 450W DC load.
 
Thnx for the help, that's actually the Stealth PSU, mine's the Gamer, but the review says they seem to be identical in their build (except for the 12v rails), at least as far as I can tell.

I used the power calculator tool and it recommended that with my current system and a 4870 crossfire setup to simulate the 4870x2, at 100% power draw I should have a 577W PSU. I know the 4870x2 will draw less then two 4870's and I don't think I'll ever have my system at 100% but it still seems like it's cutting a little close to the theoretical limits of my current PSU.

In the review it says the PSU can handle 600W no problem but I think I might spend the extra $200 and futureproof my computer with a new PSU, wouldn't want to risk under powering an expensive video card. I can always keep a 1000W PSU for my new build next year, not like I'll have to change that.

PS. The resolution I'm looking to game at would be 1920x1200, 4AA And 16AF.

Again, appreciate all the help :)
 
EscaroN said:
Thnx for the help, that's actually the Stealth PSU, mine's the Gamer, but the review says they seem to be identical in their build (except for the 12v rails), at least as far as I can tell.

I used the power calculator tool and it recommended that with my current system and a 4870 crossfire setup to simulate the 4870x2, at 100% power draw I should have a 577W PSU. I know the 4870x2 will draw less then two 4870's and I don't think I'll ever have my system at 100% but it still seems like it's cutting a little close to the theoretical limits of my current PSU.

In the review it says the PSU can handle 600W no problem but I think I might spend the extra $200 and futureproof my computer with a new PSU, wouldn't want to risk under powering an expensive video card. I can always keep a 1000W PSU for my new build next year, not like I'll have to change that.

PS. The resolution I'm looking to game at would be 1920x1200, 4AA And 16AF.

Again, appreciate all the help :)
Click to expand...

my bad

if that is what your after save your self some money and get 2 4850. they pretty well kick anythings ass (except a couple of games, crysis) at that res. not sure on your PSU, as all the reference I have is not the same. ask at johnnyguru.com for a complete answer.
 
why dont you just oc the e6600 to 3.5 and call it a day.. Im almost @ 3.6 with low volts and very little heat (30c@ idle/41c while gaming)... I have never seen a e6600 that couldnt go well above 3.0 -- so why not try pushing yours... UP the volts a bit-- raise that multi and as the capatin says on MXC--- "Get it on" :p....

Depending on what ram you have.... lets say you have ddr2-800 ram... you can go 9x 387 and that will put you @ 3.5ghz-- seeing as your not pushing the ram-- you can try gettig those timings tighter... Though i would work my way up to 3.5... try 8x400=3.2ghz-- then just keep going up and up -- who knows what you can get.. Wont cost you anything to try :)
 
I had considered getting two 4850's in crossfire but some people said that with my current motherboard, Asus P5W DH Deluxe, I wouldn't be getting the full benefit of crossfire in my system because my board only supports dual 8x on the PCI-E ports when it's in crossfire and not dual 16x like the newer boards, it also doesn't have PCI-E 2.0. I don't know how bad of a bandwidth issue this would cause but I'm sure that would be some. I was hoping of avoiding this problem by getting a one card solution.

My E6600 is a launch unit and I don't think it's a good OC'er. Right now, I'm at 1.3875v on the v-core just to hit 3Ghz and be Prime Stable. I idle at around 40C and up to 54C or so at load. This makes me sceptical about how much further I could push the processor. I could probably get 3.4Ghz on air but by the same logic I could OC the E8400 to 4Ghz.

Thnx for all the comments, I'll see what I can do with my current processor.
 
Valset said:
dual 8X takes only a small performance hit. do a search and you will find a dozen threads here on. I would still think that the most cost effective way to get were you want. a 4870 would also work for you. and really the differnce between 3 and 4gh at high resolutions is nil.

CPU scaling http://www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-scaling-in-games-with-quad-core-processors/


PCIe scaling http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-2-0,1915.html
Click to expand...

With that CPU scaling article, the test system had a 8800ultra, which mean the computer will be GPU bottlenecked far earlier than a system with a 4870x2. I'm not saying your CPU will be abottleneck, simply that that article isn't representative of your situation because you'll be more likely to be CPU bottlenecked.
 
Tudz said:
With that CPU scaling article, the test system had a 8800ultra, which mean the computer will be GPU bottlenecked far earlier than a system with a 4870x2. I'm not saying your CPU will be abottleneck, simply that that article isn't representative of your situation because you'll be more likely to be CPU bottlenecked.
Click to expand...

that is true, but it just sets the limit higher. I don't think (I don't know) that at what he is planing that he will see any different even with a 4870X2. would be interesting to try it out though.
 
Valset said:
that is true, but it just sets the limit higher. I don't think (I don't know) that at what he is planing that he will see any different even with a 4870X2. would be interesting to try it out though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well every game they tested was GPU limited except GRAW, which was CPU limited at low resolution and GPU limited at high resolution. However going from an 8800ultra to a 4870x2 is a pretty big jump in GPU power, it'd be approaching twice the GPU performance (depending on how well the game scales with the dual GPU of the X2).
 
slideways666 said:
why dont you just oc the e6600 to 3.5 and call it a day.. Im almost @ 3.6 with low volts and very little heat (30c@ idle/41c while gaming)... I have never seen a e6600 that couldnt go well above 3.0 -- so why not try pushing yours... UP the volts a bit-- raise that multi and as the capatin says on MXC--- "Get it on" :p....

Depending on what ram you have.... lets say you have ddr2-800 ram... you can go 9x 387 and that will put you @ 3.5ghz-- seeing as your not pushing the ram-- you can try gettig those timings tighter... Though i would work my way up to 3.5... try 8x400=3.2ghz-- then just keep going up and up -- who knows what you can get.. Wont cost you anything to try :)
Click to expand...

What are your settings O_O. I can't get mine above 3.2 stable on my Rampage :(
 
EscaroN said:
I used the power calculator tool and it recommended that with my current system and a 4870 crossfire setup to simulate the 4870x2, at 100% power draw I should have a 577W PSU. I know the 4870x2 will draw less then two 4870's and I don't think I'll ever have my system at 100% but it still seems like it's cutting a little close to the theoretical limits of my current PSU.

In the review it says the PSU can handle 600W no problem but I think I might spend the extra $200 and futureproof my computer with a new PSU, wouldn't want to risk under powering an expensive video card. I can always keep a 1000W PSU for my new build next year, not like I'll have to change that.
Click to expand...

That power calculator is incorrect. A system such as yours with a 4870X2 would use around 400-450W of power at most while under load. Your current PSU can handle that quite easily, so there's absolutely no need to upgrade. Buy a PSU if you need a new one in the future, but there's no point in spending the money if your current one will do the job with room to spare.

EscaroN said:
I had considered getting two 4850's in crossfire but some people said that with my current motherboard, Asus P5W DH Deluxe, I wouldn't be getting the full benefit of crossfire in my system because my board only supports dual 8x on the PCI-E ports when it's in crossfire and not dual 16x like the newer boards, it also doesn't have PCI-E 2.0. I don't know how bad of a bandwidth issue this would cause but I'm sure that would be some. I was hoping of avoiding this problem by getting a one card solution.
Click to expand...

Dual 8X PCI-E slots are equivalent to PCI-E 2.0 4X slots, so your current motherboard would bottleneck 4850s in Crossfire quite a bit. I recommend you either stick with your 4870X2 plan, or get a new motherboard with at least dual 8X PCI-E 2.0 slots if you intend to go with a Crossfire setup. A single 16X PCI-E slot like your current board provides will be sufficient for a single 4870X2.
 
Thnx for your help zero. I'll stick with my current PSU, I can always upgrade to a new one if I see instability issues. I forgot to mention that I have an X-fi soundcard but I don't think those draw much power, I also don't think the power calculator is totally correct because in the 4870x2 previews, systems with more power hungry components then mine only drew like ~450W at the wall.

I think I'm set on the 4870x2 at this point simply because I want something that will last me at least a year. Maybe even carry over into a new build next year. Although a 2 x 4850 solution is cheaper I would be loosing some performance because of the PCI-E not to mention that Crossfire can be finicky and unreliable with some games (especially new ones) and I specifically want this GPU so I can play Fallout 3, Crysis, Farcry 2 and the new Total War games.

Thnx to everyone who posted for your help
 
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