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HD 2900 XT...crossfire?

neo-omega

neo-omega

neo-omega

Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2006
Posts
675
Location
Glasgow, Scotland
Hey all, i am currently thinking of going crossfire on the above card on my rig in the signiature. Its all in a TJ07BW case and under water with a triple radiator. I have a 20" Dell E207WFP (DVI) and a 17" Iiyama TFT (d-sub). I play games and also use the 2 screens for university work.

Will i notice much difference from going to crossfire? Or should just upgrade my GFX to a HD3870 X2?
 
Id stick with getting another 2900xt as i personally dont like the 3870's, get another 2900xt and then wait a good year or so before getting another card as ati are bringing out there 4 series and they look very promising.
 
Well first, you have a P35 chipset so the 2nd PCI-E lane will run at 4x, which will bottleneck the 2nd card a bit.

Secondly, personally I think the power and cooling requirements for two 2900xts in crossfire are a bit absurd.

I would just go for the 3870x2...
 
I am at university and am sure i will hopefully be able to shift it for around £150 or so. i am having a look on the bay and have seen an xt with a waterblock for quite a bit but will ask the seller if i can get it for a bit cheaper (sub £100 is what i'm aiming for) but will need to buy another waterblock for my current 2900 as it is not crossfire compatible
 
i had 2 hd 2900xt in crossfire and watercooled ,you carnt go wrong played everything i could throw at em ,i upgraded to hd 3870x2 only because i could ,also i did have trouble selling my hd 2900xt think i got £110 each with the water blocks
 
would i see a lot of improvement going from a single HD2900XT to crossfire, or even to the HD3870X2? which option is *better*?
 
neo-omega said:
would i see a lot of improvement going from a single HD2900XT to crossfire, or even to the HD3870X2? which option is *better*?
Click to expand...

Well the better one is the hd3870x2 as long as you don't mind paying the extra money.

I personally would go for the hd3870x2 if I was in your situation .
 
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If you like the heat and noise produced by then and like the power usage then get one, but I see you are at uni? I would deffenitly not want to use 2 of those then, you in accommodation? If so you best make sure you aint playing games when anyones in they'll start complaining about the noise :(
 
willhub said:
If you like the heat and noise produced by then and like the power usage then get one, but I see you are at uni? I would deffenitly not want to use 2 of those then, you in accommodation? If so you best make sure you aint playing games when anyones in they'll start complaining about the noise :(
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lol read! :p they will be watercooled. Regardless 3870x2 is the 'better' option.
 
depending on the psu you have, a second 2900 may require a new psu so i say 3870X2 as the power requirements isnt as high
 
also, like I said before...the OP has a P35 mobo which would hamper full performance of the 2nd card
 
i do love having bills included in rent ^_^ as well as the 10mbit connection to the net. i've worked out it will only cost me about £150 or so to go from water cooled hd2900xt to water cooled HD3870X2. What iw as trying to ask with my previous question is will there be a marked performance increase (i.e. will I be able to see the difference) between the 2 cards? I haven't been able to find any reviews which compare and contrast in game performance
 
neo-omega said:
i do love having bills included in rent ^_^ as well as the 10mbit connection to the net. i've worked out it will only cost me about £150 or so to go from water cooled hd2900xt to water cooled HD3870X2. What iw as trying to ask with my previous question is will there be a marked performance increase (i.e. will I be able to see the difference) between the 2 cards? I haven't been able to find any reviews which compare and contrast in game performance
Click to expand...

It'll be practically the same. The HD3870XT is the 2900XT with lower power draw, shrunken die and better fan. The 3870 X2 is 2x 3870XT so you have a badly designed half of the 3870 X2.

The thing to think about though is that the 2900XT on it's own draws the same amount of power that 1x 3870 X2 does. It's noisier and resale value is continually falling. Also if one card failed you'd be stuck as 3870 and 2900 cards don't crossfire up.

Sell the 2900XT and get the X2 3870. You won't see any difference in performance but 50% less power draw than 2x 2900XT's, quieter fan and availability and resale value make buying another 2900 a crazy idea. I have a 2900Pro here capable of 850Mhz core, 1000Mhz memory and I'd be selling that to go to X2 if I was thinking of dual GPU's.
 
I had a 2900XT Sapphire one and it wasn't really that noisy at all and I like my PCs quite quiet.
Bet you 2*2900XTs in crossfire would be faster than a 3870x2.
due to the 512 bus.
I wish I had tried it now myself, but I got suckered into buying the 3870x2.
So had to sell my 2900XT to put towards a 3800 series card for tri xfire.
Still musn't grumble.
 
Banny said:
I had a 2900XT Sapphire one and it wasn't really that noisy at all and I like my PCs quite quiet.
Bet you 2*2900XTs in crossfire would be faster than a 3870x2.
due to the 512 bus.
I wish I had tried it now myself, but I got suckered into buying the 3870x2.
So had to sell my 2900XT to put towards a 3800 series card for tri xfire.
Still musn't grumble.
Click to expand...

Well that 512bit bus has shown no help when comparing the 3870XT to the 2900XT. Up to 2 FPS and that is still title dependant if I remember correctly.
 
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