cross fire power

[animeguitarist]

Hey, i am think of geting another radeon x1950pro card so i can use xfire. When i got my first one, i got a 500watt power supply. However, if i get a second will i need to get a bigger power supply?

secondly, will i also hav to get one that has 2 pci-express connectors on it (this psu only has one).

Finally, (soz for havin tonnes of questions in one post) but, do all mother boards with two pci-express slots support cross fire?

 

[Slogan]

Two PCI-E slots on the motherboard usually have differing speeds - there's the main 16x, followed by either 8x or 1x. - As I understand it (and I could be wrong) the secondary card in CrossFire/SLi runs at 8x speed, if it's supported by that PCI-E slot, obviously.

The 680i boards have two full 16x slots as well as the ASUS P5W DH, the latter is Crossfire supported although the former can "apparently" run CrossFire with some 'hacked drivers'.

I would advise not going for Crossfire, in general - as the additional card doesn't really boost things 'that much' and as those cards run pretty hot - it's another thing to warm your case up to no end.

The fact that you're having to switch about your power supply (I think 500W is around the limit of one card, although better branded lower ones should be fine with it) and a new motherboard would be enough to put me off.

Have you considered a 8800GTS at all? Depending on your resolution it would probably be worth more of your time/hard earned.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Hey, i am think of geting another radeon x1950pro card so i can use xfire. When i got my first one, i got a 500watt power supply. However, if i get a second will i need to get a bigger power supply?

secondly, will i also hav to get one that has 2 pci-express connectors on it (this psu only has one).

Finally, (soz for havin tonnes of questions in one post) but, do all mother boards with two pci-express slots support cross fire?

The 500w power supply may be good enough - if its from a name brand supplier.

For the other questions ...
You do not need a psu with 2 PCIE connectors, as long as you have enough molex connectors, as you can get a 2molex to PCIE cable so if you have 1x PCIE connector, then you need 2 spare molex connectors for the 2nd card.

Not all motherboards support Crossfire afaik, even if they have 2x PCIE slots - eg Nvidia SLI chipsets.

 

[Lanz]

Dont buy another card. It would be best just to sell your current one and get a 8800GTS, would probably work out cheaper and you'll have DX10 for the future.

 

[Jakus]

I have run 2 X1950XTX in crossfire on a Enermax 465watt psu
If Your motherboard supports it Your cards should use less power

2 GFX cards can give big real world gains and with a click of the mouse switched back to a single card when the boost is not needed

 

[animeguitarist]

Well thank you guys very much for your help; it is very much apreciated and I think that I will take your advise. I will keep my "Jeantech 500watt psu" but I will sell my x1950pro. Then, I will get an 8800GTS or a HD 2900XT. Yes, this will work out really well as I am also considering getting Vista for my PC. This will mean that I will have DX10 and a card to support it.

Thank you so much, all of you, for your help.

 

[Jakus]

Great to get appriciation for replys to questions!, Good luck to You on Your chosen path

 

[P_A_N_I_C]

I have run 2 X1950XTX in crossfire on a Enermax 465watt psu
If Your motherboard supports it Your cards should use less power

2 GFX cards can give big real world gains and with a click of the mouse switched back to a single card when the boost is not needed

same deal as you , except i have the 500w. ran without any problems. i think there is a misconception about how much power PC's need.

i saw massive benefits using crossfire while gaming, doubling my framerate in GRAW and TDU.

i sold my slave card a while ago, but i'd be more than happy to get a used 1950xtx for £60 rather than an 8000gtx for £400/£500 in the short term.

 

[Jakus]

DX10 is the only other consideration, but until Crysis turns up in maybe 6 months and we get to really see the gains and losses of DX10 hardware running DX10 games, I for one am not replacing the crossfire setup anytime soon..

 

[animeguitarist]

Thank you so much. I had forgotten about crysis. Well, seeing as how I am updating other parts of my computer, I will wait to see how my x1950pro works on a DX10 game, if it doesn't looks so good I will probably change for a DX10 card.

Once again many thanks for your replies guys . However, my PC as I believe runs (at the minute) at about 75 frames per second. Is that good or bad? Also, how might I ask do you guys check your frames per second, so far the only game that displays that, that I've got is CS: source.

 

[Jakus]

Thank you so much. I had forgotten about crysis. Well, seeing as how I am updating other parts of my computer, I will wait to see how my x1950pro works on a DX10 game, if it doesn't looks so good I will probably change for a DX10 card.

Once again many thanks for your replies guys . However, my PC as I believe runs (at the minute) at about 75 frames per second. Is that good or bad? Also, how might I ask do you guys check your frames per second, so far the only game that displays that, that I've got is CS: source.

Download Fraps it's free and it can display Your Fps real time and do lots of other things like screen shots etc, great little app

 

[ACESHIGH]

Thank you so much. I had forgotten about crysis. Well, seeing as how I am updating other parts of my computer, I will wait to see how my x1950pro works on a DX10 game, if it doesn't looks so good I will probably change for a DX10 card.

Once again many thanks for your replies guys . However, my PC as I believe runs (at the minute) at about 75 frames per second. Is that good or bad? Also, how might I ask do you guys check your frames per second, so far the only game that displays that, that I've got is CS: source.

FPS will vary with what settings /resolution you use so its hard to say what is good / bad without knowing those details.

As the above poster said FRAPS will do what you want.

 

[animeguitarist]

Cheers guys.