Finding it really hard to make up your mind....

[Things change I've changed]

I am,


I'm finding it really hard to decide what to do this time round, no doubt I'm not the only one, what with the various different PCI-E configurations on the market today, PCI-E 1.0/a, 1.1, 2.0, 4x 8x x16, oh and I only recently found out that PCI-E 2.0 is double the bandwidth of 1.0a/1.1 (thanks greebo), I can see how some people including myself can get a little bit confused, also now that crossfire has become an affordable incentive for the masses it definitely does mix things up a little, you may need a new motherboard, you may need a new power supply, so a cheap CF setup could end up costing you a bundle.

If your a noobie I would definitely read up on this article in regards to the different PCI-E configurations, helped me out allot,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCIe

It seems that not many people should have an issue running an ati 4850/70 on any PCI-E 1.0a/1.1 capable motherboard but you may be constraining the peak performance of the card due to the limited bandwidth of PCI-E 1.0a/1.1, 16x speed on a PCI-E 1.0a/1.1 slot is half the bandwidth of 16x speed on a PCI-E 2.0 slot, so contemplating a crossfire setup on a PCI-E 1.0a/1.1 motherboard would seem to be a bad idea, no manufactures seem to go out of their way to explain this so no doubt you well get people purchasing crossfire setups for their ageing motherboards that like mine that states it is crossfire compatible but will only run the cards @ PCI-E 1.0a 8x8x and will be largely losing out on the full potential of what these cards are capable of.

Anyway I thought I post this just in case anyone out there was a little confused and also the answers I get to the following questions may help other people also,

A few Q's if anyone would be so kind,

1) To run 2 x ati 4850/70's in crossfire do you need a link to join the cards together ?, and if so where do you get them from ?

2) It would appear that the ati 4870's require 2x6pin power connectors, now running these in CF would obviously mean that you would need 4x6pin connectors available, what PSU is recommend to do the job in terms of available connectors and minimum wattage ?

3) Do you get any 2x6pin adaptors in the box and if so how many molex connectors do they use ?

4) Am I right in thinking that the best motherboards to purchase for a CF setup are those with a x38/x48 chipset as they can run 2 x ati 4850/70's at a full PCI-E 2.0 16x speed ?

 

[Things change I've changed]

Any help on questions 2/3 ?,

what PSU's out there come with 4x6pin connectors ?,

would this ?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-030-EN&tool=3

 

[Things change I've changed]

thanks very much guys, I didn't know that the 4850 was only 1x6pin, thats pretty awesome, makes it even more of an incentive to CF those baby's, I've been looking at the bench marks and I really don't think 2x4870's is worth it over 2x4850's, plus going with the CF 4850's I wouldn't need to buy a new PSU.

 

[Things change I've changed]

Cheaper as well but you do need a suitable mobo, X38/X48

I'm gonna get an asus X38 board, it almost pays for it's self going with the 4850's instead of the 4870's and at the same time I may be able to push my ickle E6300 past the 3gig mark, my current mobo is awful at overclocking as it's a genuine Intel board so it has very limited overclocking options in the bios.