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Crossfire question.

JamieT

JamieT

JamieT

Associate
Joined
6 Dec 2008
Posts
187
Hello guys.
I'm about to upgrade to crossfire but i'm having trouble finding the exact same card as mine, I've currently got an ATI Radeon 4870 sapphire 512 and i can't seem to find it, so my question is would there be any problems using the same card but with 1 having 1 gig? I know theres a 512 memory difference but will is this enough to cause Xfire to be faulty or just generally not work?

Thanks.
 
So having a 1 gig ATI 4870 and a 512 ATI 4870 the 1 gig one will just narrow itself down to my 512's level ? without any issues ?
 
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Well i'm looking to use it for gaming purposes, I'm really looking at how long 2x 4870's will last, Is it worth the extra £100-£150 to Xfire for current games and anything held for the future? Or will i be better off going for something else?
 
At that res your not seeing the full benefits of multi GPU.

You'd be better off maxing out performance with a single GPU with the prospect of adding another 4890 down the line for a much better setup (along with the extra VRAM) should games need it or if you decide to upgrade the display.

i.e. 4870 512Mb CF isn't gonna cut it half as well as 4890 1GB CF down the line if games start to up the VRAM requirements much more or you go to a higher resolution and for anything your going to be doing now and for the immediate future a 4890 would own it.
 
So definately the 4890 over anything else? Been tempted to go for an Nvidia lately due to a lot of games i play just disliking ATI's really, Would i be best off getting this against say, a GTX 260 or possibly even a 275 for example?

If multi GPU isn't really the way to go, as i don't plan to change mine display unless my conks *touches wood* So i'm looking for the best card for value really, £200 being roughly limit
 
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Theres a couple of 260GTX at ~£130 atm which would be a very good buy, or put up the extra for a 275, both of them will overclock very well to bring the performance upto bleeding edge. But as you don't have an SLI motherboard your upgrade path is a bit limited.

Tho having said that - I'm not sure what the Asus P5Q SE/R runs the PCI-e slots at in crossfire mode so it might not be a huge advantage.

EDIT: Your talking about the motherboard in your sig? Asus P5Q SE/R? as the specs online appear to only have 1x PCI-e slot which would mean that crossfire is out of the question (except the 4870X2).
 
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To be honest lad the Asus P5Q SE/R Doesn't have the cappability of Xfire, I'm looking into getting a new mobo aswell really but need to keep the whole lot under a £250-£300 limit.
 
That was the very board i was looking at, Though i'm looking into overclocking aswell and heard rumours this wouldn't push as far as an Asus board, The 4890 i must admit does look like a nice card long shot but i'm guessing the Thermalright T-Rad2 VGA Cooler won't fit on this? The description doesn't include the 4890
 
Couldn't comment on the cooler compatibility, the gigabyte board should be well upto anything but the very most extreme overclocking... and personally I'd prefer the stability edge over the asus... (I'm not a huge fan of asus motherboards, tho I do like their other hardware).
 
I must be honest their boards haven't been a fan of me, i've managed to have one just conk on me and another go in for repairs, i'm only looking to get what i've got now clock wise, So for an overall performance increase, 4890 + x48 board?
 
Should be a decent increase especially as you are into overclocking where the 4890 is leagues above the 4870. The extra memory will also be a good step up as the 4870 1gb is faster than the 4870 512 purely down to the memory. 4890 crossfire should you go for it in the future is faster than a gtx295 so Rroff's x48- 4890 combo leaves you with much more headroom in your system.
 
Well that board + another 4870 would give you the biggest (short term) performance increase... although you'd have to get to atleast 1920x res - where your VRAM is gonna start to hold you back - to see the full gains.

A 4890 will destroy any game out there at the moment and the immediate future while give you a far better prospect for long term upgradeability/performance - and as TheReadDeal says - the 4890 clock speed and overclocking will give it a big push over the 4870.
 
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Well on recieving a 4890 i'd like to overclock but found my current 4870 just would have none of it literally the thing would just crash everytime i even moved it just a tad, stock it runs fine but just doesn't offer enough, so i think i'd leave the card itself at clock speed, So basically this 4890 will rule out my 4870 for competition? i know having 512 ram on my card aswell is abit of a killer.

Really as i say i'm a complete and utter gamer and this is what i'm upgrading my rig for, i hate being limited and looking for something currently that will lift my limits.

Thanks for your replies so far.
 
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