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Anyone tested 3870x2 crossfire with Cat 8.3 yet?
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Caporegime
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Everyones waiting till it works, as it doesn't. 
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Course it works......but who's gonna be the guinea pig?
Didn't simonmaltby allready post scores for 3dmark06 and crysis benchmarks(71 fps)?
Caporegime
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Ah yes, good point. Any idea what version of vista hes running with, x64bit or 32bit? I reckon that'll make a difference.
Ah heck, look like I'll be holding off for a bit then.
64bit ultimate.
I'll try and get a hold of him to see what the "official" 8.3 drivers do in 3dmark, as in performance boost.
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As posted a few up... i am using a pair of 3870X2 in crossfireX
the 8.3 drivers work a treat.
Having tried all kinds of configs with the ATI 3800 series and crossfire / crossfireX i conclude that it works very well. There are some things to know about, for example its no good looking to get great frame rates in Crysis using DX10. Also crossfireX drivers are ONLY for Vista.... Vista means your CPU clock will be a little more limited than in XP and some older games / benches are slower (3dmark01 for example). These points are the same if you get 2x 3850's, 2x3870's a single 3870X2 or any other combination.
With all multi GPU setups, SLI and Crossfire, some games respond well, others not so well. Each driver release improves things further.
There is no question that 2 3870X2's gives better performance. the scaling is marginal as you go from 3xGPU's to 4, but there is still an improvement.
For example (my benchmarks using same other components)...
3Dmark2006...
single 3870XT = circa 14k
2x 3870 crossfired = circa 21k
single 3870X2 = circa 20k
2x 3870X2 = circa 25k
A few other things to mention....
Heat and power... these cards do get hot, not really reported on the core but the general heat inside the case is quite extreme. Power, I am only using an 850W thermaltake PSU and it handles it fine. But my 1500W UPS fan kicks in as soon as i use graphics thus indicating just how much draw the rig is pulling
Cooling...
The stock cooler is ok, but with two cards in crossfireX i recomend water. I just put a pair ok EK blocks on and now i can run at 920 Core and 2000 Ram and they are solid as a rock.
Bios...
The issue with the 3870X2's dropping to a power save mode is an issue and i found it got worse with water blocks - I assume the card gets less hot so thinks it can reduce power more often. The bios flash to fix this is very easy and with a pair of cards is far less risky co u always have another to view from while correcting a bad flash.
All in all. i spent £260 per card incl shipping so thats £540 all in. Thats basically the same price as a pair of 8800GTX's give or take. No to me thats good value for something this new and different.
All my benchmarks beat any Nvidia card on a similar rig... so my answer is simple... Yes it works and works very well. Maybe an X2 and a 3870XT would be the best combination £/£ but if u want to see some serious performance
Regards
Simon
PS My rig is in the sig, but i run Vista 64 Ultimate with loads of work type software on it.
PPS Also managed to squeeze the Physix card in there too... so thats 4xGPU's and one Physix LOL
the 8.3 drivers work a treat.
Having tried all kinds of configs with the ATI 3800 series and crossfire / crossfireX i conclude that it works very well. There are some things to know about, for example its no good looking to get great frame rates in Crysis using DX10. Also crossfireX drivers are ONLY for Vista.... Vista means your CPU clock will be a little more limited than in XP and some older games / benches are slower (3dmark01 for example). These points are the same if you get 2x 3850's, 2x3870's a single 3870X2 or any other combination.
With all multi GPU setups, SLI and Crossfire, some games respond well, others not so well. Each driver release improves things further.
There is no question that 2 3870X2's gives better performance. the scaling is marginal as you go from 3xGPU's to 4, but there is still an improvement.
For example (my benchmarks using same other components)...
3Dmark2006...
single 3870XT = circa 14k
2x 3870 crossfired = circa 21k
single 3870X2 = circa 20k
2x 3870X2 = circa 25k
A few other things to mention....
Heat and power... these cards do get hot, not really reported on the core but the general heat inside the case is quite extreme. Power, I am only using an 850W thermaltake PSU and it handles it fine. But my 1500W UPS fan kicks in as soon as i use graphics thus indicating just how much draw the rig is pulling
Cooling...
The stock cooler is ok, but with two cards in crossfireX i recomend water. I just put a pair ok EK blocks on and now i can run at 920 Core and 2000 Ram and they are solid as a rock.
Bios...
The issue with the 3870X2's dropping to a power save mode is an issue and i found it got worse with water blocks - I assume the card gets less hot so thinks it can reduce power more often. The bios flash to fix this is very easy and with a pair of cards is far less risky co u always have another to view from while correcting a bad flash.
All in all. i spent £260 per card incl shipping so thats £540 all in. Thats basically the same price as a pair of 8800GTX's give or take. No to me thats good value for something this new and different.
All my benchmarks beat any Nvidia card on a similar rig... so my answer is simple... Yes it works and works very well. Maybe an X2 and a 3870XT would be the best combination £/£ but if u want to see some serious performance
Regards
Simon
PS My rig is in the sig, but i run Vista 64 Ultimate with loads of work type software on it.
PPS Also managed to squeeze the Physix card in there too... so thats 4xGPU's and one Physix LOL
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Thanks for that Simon, very detailed analysis there.
I had a feeling the diminishing returns would be pretty big with 3/4 GPUs in there, I'm thinking of adding a single 3870 to my X2 at some point so it's good to know I'll see a decent boost if I do so.
I had a feeling the diminishing returns would be pretty big with 3/4 GPUs in there, I'm thinking of adding a single 3870 to my X2 at some point so it's good to know I'll see a decent boost if I do so.
You were saying?Everyones waiting till it works, as it doesn't.
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I had a feeling the diminishing returns would be pretty big with 3/4 GPUs in there, I'm thinking of adding a single 3870 to my X2 at some point so it's good to know I'll see a decent boost if I do so.
I suppose its like everything else in overclocking... you reach a point in every aspect of your machine where to get that extra few percent improvement you have to spend a lot of money.
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You were saying?
I was just saying whats being reported all over the web, but glad it seems to work for Simon.
The best config would be a 3870X2 + a single 3870, as judging from whats been seen, going from 3 to 4 GPU's gives very little increase, if any, still can only get better in the months to come with every driver release, so ill be keeping my eye on the CrossfireX, and its better than Nvidia's SLi crap.
But how can you be sure its not the physix card giving you that extra 5k in 3d mark
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But how can you be sure its not the physix card giving you that extra 5k in 3d mark
Cos the Physix card has been there all the time.