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Crossfire 5850

Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
33,883
Got a second XFX 5850 BE arriving tomorrow, couple of n00b questions.

Do I get a ribbon cable to connect them? I guess one should be in the box I already have?
Do I need to do anything special in the BIOS or OS? Or just plug and play?

Been a long time since I ran dual cards and they were 5800's!
 
Caporegime
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Posts
25,572
If it's new you should get a Crossfire connector in the box. As you say you may already have one with your existing card.

Put the new card in, connect the power cables, connect the Crossfire bridge and start the PC.

Drivers will be installed automatically and then you can go to the Catalyst Control Centre and enable Crossfire.

Am I right in thinking the PSU has 3 PCI-E power cables?

If so you'll need to use molex adapters for a fourth.
 
Caporegime
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Posts
25,572
From what I can see one PCI-E power connector is permanently wired to the PSU and there are 2 modular cables which connect into the red sockets on the PSU.

The 6 black sockets on the PSU are designed to attach the molex & SATA etc. power cables so I don't think you could use them with a spare PCI-E power cable. In fact from the pictures I can find one of the 6 pins on those connectors is blanked off so a PCI-E cable probbly wouldn't even fit.

You may be able to get a cable to split the fixed 8 pin (150W) cable into two 6 pin (75W) cables.
 
Caporegime
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Posts
25,572
Ah, so need to order some today then? How many do I need?

There should be a molex to PCI-E converter in the box to get you going.

You've probably already got one with your current HD 5850.

If you want an 8 pin PCI-E to 2x6 pin PCI-E converter you'll have to hunt around for one.
 
Associate
Joined
6 May 2011
Posts
1,467
Location
Milton Keynes
I got some power converters with my 5850s (not that I use them) they came with both my saphire card and the XFX one i bought 2 months later.
You should send a message to OCUK customer support they will be able to tell you if yours comes with any adapters.
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
33,883
Congrats :)

How much of a boost are you seeing?

BF3 has gone from being jerky at times to quite smooth, getting about 80 fps outside with most settings on high or ultra.

Lots of heat though lol, one of the cards is hitting 85 degrees in game, but it is part blocked by my soundcard, think I'll have to buy another that sits in the mini slot.
 
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