to crossfire or not to?

M

mindaugas

Weaksauce
Joined
May 11, 2005
Messages
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My PC has finally hit the 4 year mark, actually its a mix. Some of the parts are less than that. In looking at motherboards I am torn between spending the extra money for crossfire. I have a 4850 now and i know with xfireX u can combine different cards, so I could potentially get an upgrade and combine it with the 4850, like maybe a 4870 since they are down to $200. but I'm not sure if its really worth it. will it give me gobs of uber performance and make WoW run at like 1 million fps? Could I play Crysis at 1080p smoothly with that on high settings?

Also, AMD or Intel? The Intel procs still seem to be blowing AMD out of the water according to Tom's charts. I want to go with a quad core with either and don't care about overclocking. Right now I need:

CPU
Mobo
RAM
and maybe new PSU for future Crossfire upgrade

I want to stick with ATI. I like all the nifty HD features and outputs ATI has and generally I have had better luck with them than Nvidia.

? from sticky:

1. Use: gaming, mostly WoW. I'd like to try Crysis as well but its not a must and I can't afford a $500 card.
2. Budget: Whatever it costs, but trying to stay under $500 without the video card
3. Denver
4. Parts: CPU, Mobo, RAM, maybe PSU
5. Re-using 4850, hard drives, optical drive, and Antec 300, possible PSU 500watts
6. No overclocking
7. Display: 22" 1650x1080 and 42" 1080p both for gaming
8. Buid Within next 2 weeks
9. Need CrossfireX in mobo

Thanks for any input.
 
Crysis is a horrible barometer as it's designed to torture even high-end setups.

Additionally, for full-bandwidth dual x16 CrossFireX, you'll need either an X38 or X48 motherboard, which start at around $170. The P45 motherboards are considerably cheaper, but they have dual x8 CrossFire.

Here's one possibility at under $500:

$190 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (free shipping)
$130 - Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 ATX motherboard
$40 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 kit (free shipping)
$122 - BFG Tech ES-800 800W PSU (free shipping)

And as a reference, here are the cheapest X38 and X48 motherboards from NewEgg that we would recommend.
 
Ah, thx for the info I didn't know that. Will I take a huge performance hit if I go with x8 PCIe? There is a really good sale with rebate on this PSU, is it not powerful enough?

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W

I also want to stick with Crucial Ballistix because my brother in-law works fro Micron and can get me a discount. I was just thinking something liek this. Crucial Ballistix Plus Micron is having a tough time and I'd like to support them simply for my bro in-law :)
 
is going with x16x16 worth it or will I be ok saving the $50 and going with x8x8?
 
true x16 crossfire really isn't needed. P45 is PCI express bus ver 2.0, x38 is ver. 1.0 You still getting the same bandwidth at much higher cost.
 
I'm running HD3870 OCs in Crossfire on a X38 with a Corsair 620HX just fine. Oh and my X38 uses PCI Express 2.0...
 
it seems like this mobo is my answer, it meets the budget and does PCI express 2.0 x16x16. Plus its DFI which I love.

DFI DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R Intel X38

Thanks guys, I think I'll go with that and try to swing another 4850 as well. my current rig is running x8 right now with a single 4850 so the mobo alone should improve my performance as well.
 
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