5850 Crossfire question....

[Demonmirc]

I already am very pleased with a XFX Black Edition 5850 I have and am now thinking about cross firing. My mobo is a Asus P5Q Deluxe which has 2 PCI X16 lots that run at x8 when linked/crossfired. Will I only get single card performance when running at this speed ? I am running on a 24" monitor.

Thanks in advance, I know people are gonna say get a 5870 but I love this card and how it performs.

 

[Clairvoyant]

You will not be losing that much if you xfire on your board.

I have xfired my 4890s and they scale about 80% up from a single card.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18112756&highlight=4890

post 70 (i think thats it) is my results from my xfire 4890s on the same P45 board.

 

[Demonmirc]

Great, Thanks for that. 4890's are a decent card. I noticed your running a very similar setup to me, I know its off topic. I have mu Q9550@4GHz with a H50 and Corsair 1066 Ram, but my Ram runs at 941Mhz, what does yours run @ if you dont mind me asking?

 

[Clairvoyant]

1081 I should change my sig.

Did you play with all the ref settings to get 4 ghz. What vcore etc.

 

[el Kuarlos]

With a 24 inch monitor and the rest of your hardware why bother though?

An SSD would be far better for performance in games- I have been maxing all the latest releases with a stock 5850 and it hasn't yet broken a sweat...when it finally does I will just overclock some, and by that time (year later I would guess) the 5850 will be a lot cheaper, so crossfire would be an option- even then though there will be newer, better cards- maybe even fermi

 

[Demonmirc]

With a 24 inch monitor and the rest of your hardware why bother though?

An SSD would be far better for performance in games- I have been maxing all the latest releases with a stock 5850 and it hasn't yet broken a sweat...when it finally does I will just overclock some, and by that time (year later I would guess) the 5850 will be a lot cheaper, so crossfire would be an option- even then though there will be newer, better cards- maybe even fermi

Already running 2 x SSD's and they do help a lot with texture/data streaming. I am happy, I just like new toys, hehe. Yeah, think I will wait, like you I have had no issues with any games including the likes of Crysis Warhead which is smooth as silk @ 1920 x 1200. I guess I will wait for the price to drop.

 

[el Kuarlos]

Prob best fella, one thing that is starting to emerge is that there is a lot more power to be gotten out of the 5850 if you need it. Going to 5870 clocks doesn't sound like it ll be a big deal- it is the same chip after all.