All Change - now Dual 280GTX's not Dual 4870's

Quick question regarding Dual 4870's, what chipset will support them in Crossfire?

My mate is soon to be building his new rig, 3k budget with the view to not have to touch it for three years, we both do the same kinda thing, like my sig rig, had it for just over a year atm, don't intend to touch it for the next two, possible only upgrade is to change the gfx this time next year, but thats not likely.

I just wanna help guide him on to the right mobo chipset so then he can go off and read reviews.

TIA

 

have a sniff at either the P45 or X48, i think there is a review somewhere showing crossfire performance difference between the new and old chipsets. the might P35 gets left in the dust during crossfire tests, which is a big shock.

 

Any of the intel chipsets will support crossfire. I believe the best options are the X38 and X48 ones as they provide dual PCI-E 16X slots...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

 

Our P45 reviews include this. P35 is a POS for CrossFire, but X38/X48/P45 are good choices.

 

X48 supports both DDR2 and DDR3 doesn't it? Deppending on what has been implemented by the manufacturer? I'll let him know thats the kinda stuff he should be looking at.

 

yes, x48 is the best chipset for Intel based system that supports crossfire.

P45 only supports PCIe2.0 x8 x8. whereas X48 supports PCIe2.0 x16 x16, full speed means everyone's happy

 

i would suggest X48 (you could also use X38), i would recomend the P45 bc its x16 slots when using both are only runnign at x8 and x8

 

Thats great, I think that's got that one sorted, he'll be pleased about that, I think he's going to build/buy either this month or the next, if there are any other changes I may check again, and I'll probably run his spec past you guys just to check.

I've have some queries over the 4870 power requirements, are they huge? For two of them with say, 4GB DDR2 8500 and 2 hdd's, Q9550, a 1000Watt jobby should be fine? (I'm working off the fact that i have 620 Watts for my sig rig.

 

1000W would be extreme overkill.

A good 600W unit should be sufficient. If you want to do overkill get a 750W unit, 1000W is taking the P.

 

Second the 600w suggestion... They have a power draw of 160 (i believe)

 

the ati website lists power supplies that are cetified for multiple 4870s and they are all at least 900w, but that doesnt mean anything. 1000w should be fine easily. i would suggest lower like maybe 750w

 

Nope, they have a power draw of 330 each. (source)

 

that's the whole system drawing 334w.

so a Corsair Hx620w can do dual 4870 without problem.

 

What about my hx520w
you think that would be pushing it?

 

I'm thinking the HX750 will be ok then, it's half the price than the HX620, and he can afford that easily and that will be comfortable to do it.

You guys really think a 620 can run all that? are the 4870's much more efficient and low power then?!

 

620 might be enough. but if you can get more than that for a decent price then I would go for it.

 

Crap, you are right, read to fast.

And right again. a 620Watt can power it easily.

 

I'll run the full suggested spec past you later but so far this is how it's looking:

Q9550
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500
2 x 4870's
Gigabyte X48 DQ6 (can't remember the full model number)
1 x Seagate 250GB (OS)
1 x Samsung 1TB for storage (he has a 2TB NAS already for external storage)
Cosmos S
4 x 1200mm Fans

And then various other bits such as fan controllers and card readers, but they hardly draw power.

So, for that, you reckon the HX620 can power it all?

 

the fans may take a little juice to start up...

 

Oh bloody joy, he's changed his mind seeing as he has more cash than expected. He's going for Dual 280GTX's, cant blame him, works for the 3 year plan quite nicely.

Anyway, X48 still runs these in SLi right? (My understanding is that the intel chipets are flexible between SLi and Crossfire?)

Otherthing is, we were looking at the power draw for the 4870's. 333 watts under load, and he would have been going dual, so 666 watts draw....thats more than a HW620 provides?!