HD4870 Now and HD4870x2 later?

[psychedelos]

Title says it all, can I crossfire these two cards if I want to buy the 4870 now and buy the 4870x2 once the prices go down? I'll be using a 24" monitor in 1920x1200 resolution. I've been researching quite a bit and it seems that the 4870 can run in that resolution and still be able to play some straining games at 40-60fps. is this true?

Also, what's a good board for this set-up?

Also, is two 4870's crossfired faster than 1 4870x2? Cause if it's not, then i guess it will be worth just getting the 4870x2 now and maybe picking up another one in the future when it's actually needed.

 

[veg1992]

Merged Double..

Now the HD 4870X2 is faster than two HD 4870's in CrossfireX... good boards to consider:

Biostar I45, Asus P5Q Deluxe

 

[zmatt]

I'm not sure is Intel board support 3 way crossfire. The AMD 790 does, but that's not an option if you are going intel. If it cant you can always sell the 4870 and get some of your money back.

 

[Ste]

24' moniter == X2 now.

 

[Akubane]

24' moniter == X2 now.

+1 for sure. I'd just get the x2 now.

 

[psychedelos]

awesome, i've got one picked out and i'll probably wait to get the 2nd one once prices go down a little bit. thanks for all your help guys.

One last question though, you guys were saying in my other thread that quad SLI is crap. I'm assuming you meant the CPU with that board. I switched out the board for an I45 Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TPower I45 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

but what should I do for a very good CPU that will show the full potential of my x2 (possibly 4870x2 x2 in the future)?

 

[lukas]

i dont think there will be a need for a 2nd x2 tbh, one should max any games out.

 

[Akubane]

quad sli is just crap itself. Theres no scaling at all. pay for 2 cards and get like a 1% increase. e-peen growth is its only use :/

i don't even think there IS a cpu that wouldnt bottleneck 2 x2's. just get an intel q9550, it wont hold back an x2 and it's fast.

even then, if you don't plan on buying a 30" lcd monitor for 2650x1600 a 2nd x2 is probably just going to be a big waste of money. not to mention the extra heat it'll throw off, as well as power consumption.

but to each his own.

 

[Hussein19891]

quad sli is just crap itself. Theres no scaling at all. pay for 2 cards and get like a 1% increase. e-peen growth is its only use :/

i don't even think there IS a cpu that wouldnt bottleneck 2 x2's. just get an intel q9550, it wont hold back an x2 and it's fast.

even then, if you don't plan on buying a 30" lcd monitor for 2650x1600 a 2nd x2 is probably just going to be a big waste of money. not to mention the extra heat it'll throw off, as well as power consumption.

but to each his own.

Crossfire scales well when it comes to 2 cards (1 GPU per card) as of this moment. But X2's are a different story lol, because its not really 1 GPU per card. Since its a combination of 4 GPU's when you crossfire 4870 X2's.

 

[Akubane]

oh i know crossfire scales great. I was saying quad sli with 2 9800gx2 doesn't even scale its so bad :/

2 x x2's might scae half decen't with proper driver releases but its completely pointless. there is no need for 2 x2's. i don't even think a 30" monitor would need 2 of em.

maybe