crossfire with this motherboard?

[diddle]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232

Could i run 4870 x2 with that motherboard?
I never really knew that there was a difference, i thought that if it had two pcix16 slots you could do sli lol.

 

[FR@NK]

That board wont work. Check out the P5K, they use the intel chipset which support crossfire.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131182

149 after rebate


EDIT: er wait are you wanting to use one 4870x2? It doesnt need a crossfire board unless you want to use 2 of them, 2 cards and 4 GPUs.

 

[farlex85]

Sli is nvidia, doesn't do ati. You could put a 4870x2 (the single card version) into that board though, as it is does not require crossfire to run, wouldn't make much sense though as there are better chipsets if your not using sli. p35/p45 and x38/x48 run cf for the current gen.

 

[diddle]

i was going to use http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102748

and with the motherboard you linked, wouldn't there be reduced performance because one of the PCIx16 slots is only x4 electrical?

EDIT:
Jeeze, I just googled the 4870x2, should i just wait for that card to come out? I don't think I'd build this still probably end of july/end of august.

 

[farlex85]

Yes you are correct, however not much loss usually. The new cards do use more bandwidth, but still not enough to max out the full lanes on the express bus. Still, I would recommend at least a p45, which will do 8x-8x, which only yields like a 3% loss or something. However, if you got the dough, go w/ a x38 or x48 for sure.

EDIT:
Jeeze, I just googled the 4870x2, should i just wait for that card to come out? I don't think I'd build this still probably end of july/end of august.

If you were planning on cf the 4870s then yeah, I'd say a 4870x2 would be a better choice. They are supposed to be cheaper than 2 4870s, and you can add another later for quad-fire (should the need arise ). If they end up being much more expensive than 2 4870s, then no, maybe the first plan would be better. They are using some kind of new bridging tech too for the x2, so it may actually perform better than 2 4870s as well, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[erocker]

You want a board with the x48 chipset.

 

[diddle]

Yes you are correct, however not much loss usually. The new cards do use more bandwidth, but still not enough to max out the full lanes on the express bus. Still, I would recommend at least a p45, which will do 8x-8x, which only yields like a 3% loss or something. However, if you got the dough, go w/ a x38 or x48 for sure.




If you were planning on cf the 4870s then yeah, I'd say a 4870x2 would be a better choice. They are supposed to be cheaper than 2 4870s, and you can add another later for quad-fire (should the need arise ). If they end up being much more expensive than 2 4870s, then no, maybe the first plan would be better. They are using some kind of new bridging tech too for the x2, so it may actually perform better than 2 4870s as well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Its looking like crossfire using the 4870 is going to end up costing more than I really want to spend.
What i'm thinking of doing now, is getting a single x16 slot and getting the 4870 (unless by the time i order the 4870x2 is out) then when that card comes out, eventually upgrade to that.
Is there any chipset that will work the best with a single x16 slot (using E8400, DDR2-800)

EDIT: Unless going with the x38\p35 chipset is a viable option. Then I could probably stick with a sli board. but the x48\p45 are just too much.
EDIT again:
Thinking of going with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038
DFI pretty reliable? and I'd be able to run 4870x2 when it came out, or any nvidia card right?
Thanks for all your help =]