Crossfire 2600xt on an RDX200?

[phatboy]

looking at the perfrormance potential of 2 of these cards in crossfire. i have 2 Crossfire bridges ready and waiting.

Would 2 of these run on my current 380w Enermax PSU?? i have a single x1950gt 512mb clocked and running fine on it

and most importantly, will the mobo do it, and is the upgrade worth it, in reviews i have seen 2x2600xt's getting 8.5-9k in 3dm 06 where my 1950 is scraping 5k

any thoughts on the pro's cons etc are welcome

ta

Ben

 

[HeX]

For the price of 2 x 2600XT you could practically buy 1 x 2900Pro which would be a FAR FAR better purchace.

 

[jrodga2k5]

you wanting a boost for just now? why not just get a second GT?

Anyways I would say if you are going for a more powerful card(S) best to stay on the single card basis as it always works out fine and crossfire, sli can sometimes take some time to be implemented in games

 

[gareth170]

i have 2 2600xt which cost me around £150, but they are cheaper now. as for 3dmarks i get :

3DMark Score 9551 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score 3696 Marks

SM 3.0 Score 4650 Marks

CPU Score 2584 Marks

the big question is what does your pci-e's run at in crossfire mode? if its x16/x4 or x8/x8, u won't get the full benefits out of the cards, x16/x8 isn't to bad but x16/x16 is much better

 

[RaiderX]

i have 2 2600xt which cost me around £150, but they are cheaper now. as for 3dmarks i get :

3DMark Score 9551 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score 3696 Marks

SM 3.0 Score 4650 Marks

CPU Score 2584 Marks

the big question is what does your pci-e's run at in crossfire mode?

unless its an X38 board they run at 16x and 4x

 

[gareth170]

unless its an X38 board they run at 16x and 4x

no.. some ati north bridge chipsets run at x8/x8 or even x16/x16

my motherboard runs at x16/x16

 

[HeX]

unless its an X38 board they run at 16x and 4x

Actually its 8x 8x on that board with 2 cards.

 

[gareth170]

the AMD 480X CrossFire Chipset runs at x8/x8.

the AMD 570X CrossFire Chipset runs at x16/x8.

the AMD 580X CrossFire Chipset runs at x16/x16.

 

[phatboy]

thanks for all the replies guys, was considering a 2nd x1950GT, but that would mean a PSU upgrade and i thought maybe i could have got away with using my old one with 2 2600xt's

Think im just gonna wait until the 8800GT comes out and then start thinking about a bigger jump

 

[ergonomics]

u won't get the full benefits out of the cards, x16/x8 isn't to bad but x16/x16 is much better

kinda off topic, sorry, but 2 x8 slots will not limit those cards in any way shape or form. a GTX is only slightly limited at those x8 speeds.

x16 and x8, or even 2 x8, will be much more than enough for 2 x2600xt's

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

The 2900pro or the new 8800 are the only way to be looking rather than buying 2 lower spec cards outright.

Edit: What about getting another gb of mem? Would smoothen the framerates in the newer games.

 

[gareth170]

kinda off topic, sorry, but 2 x8 slots will not limit those cards in any way shape or form. a GTX is only slightly limited at those x8 speeds.

x16 and x8, or even 2 x8, will be much more than enough for 2 x2600xt's

well my gf old system ran at x16/x4 then i changed her motherboard to a x8 /x8 and both was slower than my x16/x16.... now shes got a dell system...

 

[phatboy]

out of curiousity, would a 380w PSU run 2 of the 2600's in crossfire? im guessing that they dont require a power feed outside of the mobo?

 

[gareth170]

out of curiousity, would a 380w PSU run 2 of the 2600's in crossfire? im guessing that they dont require a power feed outside of the mobo?

well for my system (specs in sig), at ida its about 340W and load 385W.. so u should be ok...

no it doesn't need extra power...