MSI K9A2 and AMD RD790 Pictures/Details and QuadFire Rumors Emerge

[zekrahminator]

While Intel is preparing to move on to a 45nm micro-architecture, AMD is preparing true quad-core processors, and working on a quad-graphics card solution. The technology that will allow for four graphics cards to be stuck in one system will be called "QuadFire", and there are no major details out at this time, other than the name and pictures of supporting motherboards. The chipset supporting "QuadFire" is AMD's own RD790, which is pictured below in MSI's K9A2 motherboard. The RD790 is designed to work with a Phenom processor, has six SATA ports, and two E-SATA ports.

Pictures courtesy of OCWorkbench.


View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[wiak]

stupid of MSI to put SATA slots right where the highend gfx cards coolers will be, sata ports shall be at the edge of the board not in the middle, they shuld put them at the botton, and i hope tose 4 pcie slots are all x16 and not 2x16 and 2x8 or 4x8, and i hope they support pcie x1/x4 to so you can put a pcie sound card and pcie sata controller or any pcie based card in tose slots

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Wow... make better cards, don't just add more!

 

[selway89]

4x HD 2900XT and Phenom Quad core = kickass.

Should be good.

 

[KennyT772]

4x HD 2900XT and Phenom Quad core = kickass.

Should be good.

you cant run 4x 2900's you would need an 8 pci slots. Even then you would need a 1200w psu just to run them all.

 

[rodneyhchef]

4 would fit if you used water cooling, you couldn't do it on air.

 

[kwchang007]

4x2900xt plus quad core=alot of power.

 

[zekrahminator]

It would be pretty awesome to see, though... .

 

[Deleted member 24505]

personally,i think this quadfire is a waste of effort.how many people will have the money to buy 4 high end graphics cards? and imagine the psu for it.the benefits of sli/xfire are not imho high enuff anyway over 1 card,so four is just stupid.how many games will support it too? its hard enuff to get some games working properly with two cards.so welcome to the nightmare with 4.also,what is the point of putting the pci slots on it,with 4 cards in there will be none usable anyway.

 

[Wile E]

Quadfire might be good for people on a budget. You know, buy a 2600XT now, then another when you can afford it, then another, etc. You have the benefit of getting your system up and running right away, then you can slowly increase graphics power, paycheck to paycheck.

But honestly, I don't imagine it would scale all that well past 2 cards.

stupid of MSI to put SATA slots right where the highend gfx cards coolers will be, sata ports shall be at the edge of the board not in the middle, they shuld put them at the botton, and i hope tose 4 pcie slots are all x16 and not 2x16 and 2x8 or 4x8, and i hope they support pcie x1/x4 to so you can put a pcie sound card and pcie sata controller or any pcie based card in tose slots

That's where my SATA ports are, in relation to my gfx slot. Everything fits fine with my 2900XT. These shouldn't pose a problem at all.



EDIT: Just thought of another possibility- Dual Crossfire. Run 2 separate sets of crossfire. I'm sure that could come in handy. Kinda like running 2 cards, not in Crossfire, for multi display purposes, only now, you have Crossfire performance on 4 monitors.

 

[WarEagleAU]

I can see good and bad. Honestly if you put 4 HD 2900XTs or XTX or whatever in there, you deserver whatever problems that come up . Shouldnt be much of a hassle aside from the heat and power.

 

[Urbklr]

It looks to me like you could put 4 2900's in there...it would be a tight squeeze and you would have to have some badass cooling. It would be FAST

 

[ccleorina]

Wow.... Quad HD2900 dan Quad AMD... 2 HD2900 need 750W if 4 HD2900 need 1500W... wow... alot of power.... For Quad Core and Quad HD2900 need around 2000W PSU... WTF man......

 

[Wile E]

Wow.... Quad HD2900 dan Quad AMD... 2 HD2900 need 750W if 4 HD2900 need 1500W... wow... alot of power.... For Quad Core and Quad HD2900 need around 2000W PSU... WTF man......

No, you won't need a psu that big. lol. A high quality 1000w psu would probably be more than enough. They overestimate power consumption to account for cheap crappy PSUs.

 

[ccleorina]

No, you won't need a psu that big. lol. A high quality 1000w psu would probably be more than enough. They overestimate power consumption to account for cheap crappy PSUs.

I hope so... i just got my 1000W today... and run 2 HD2900XT 512Mb dan QX6850 OC 3.6 on Abit IP35 PRO just make my PSU run damm hot.... donno why...??