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thinking of upgrading to x2 HD4870s

  • Thread starter Thread starter AMG
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AMG

AMG

AMG

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its tempting, but should I get one single X2 or dual X2s (cos of the X48 mobo)

I currnetly have a problem with world at war it keeps locking up my system for some reason desipite it being prime stable :O not sure if the fall down stairs helped the GPUs a bit

I currnetly have a samsung 24inch screen but the X2 is like cheap now,
I need to get 64bit os through

my currnet specs
Q9550 @3.8ghz stable
4Gb OCZ reapers 900 (1:1) 1066 5-5-5-15 its at 900 cos I have no idea of how to overclock them :P yet
2 HD4870 512Mb in xifre
X48 rampange formular
i think I have more than enough juice to power two X2s ;)
powersupply 1100watt tagan BZ
 
According to your spec you currently have 2 HD4870 512Mb in xifre so I am not sure that an X2 will be much faster umm.. It could be heat related that is locking up your computer.

If you get 2 x 4870x2's that would be a bit of a waste I think as no game needs that amount of gpu power and your sytem may still lock up :(

Have you tried your sysyem with just one card in?
 
prime stable doesn't mean 3d stable, not sure why'd you'd go from 2x4870's to a 4870x2, completely sideways move and not worth it. If you're not stable with 2x4870's the 4870x2 is likely not going to be stable.

run everything at stock and try at that first, make sure you have enough volts going through both the cpu and the memory which is almost always undervolted, in general ddr2 boards will have 1.8v as stock voltage, while the majority of ddr2 is rated at 1.9-2.1v, especially more overclocked memory tends to be around the 2-2.1v area and I'd guess the reapers are aswell.

all gpu power connectors in firmly? any crossfire settings you might have missed? Also, anything on the mobo website about support for crossfire in bios updates? Not sure how it is for xfire but certain mobo's certainly needed updated bios's to run correctly with my 4870x2.

Anyway, lots of things to consider, but stability first, or finding a faulty gpu before you go replacing them ;)

I'd check mem voltage first, then check mobo website for updates, double check every driver is up to date and directx is latest version, games patched, then i'd take one card out and try not in crossfire, if one works, try the other one, if they both work individually, chances are crossfire problem lies with the mobo/memory somewhere.
 
@drunken master, thanks for that saving me a lot of money, just temped by the offer. runining the PC at stock still has the problem only on WAW, but only that, leading me to think that is software. Now my system has kerspersky internet secuirty 2009 with comodo back up.
Comodo has the power to block things from runining so that might be the casue of this problem it might only need updating thats all. I can check the stablity of my GPUs with OCCT/futuremark.

As for xfire I only got one setting to disable/enable it gives nothing more
 
AMG said:
@drunken master, thanks for that saving me a lot of money, just temped by the offer. runining the PC at stock still has the problem only on WAW, but only that, leading me to think that is software. Now my system has kerspersky internet secuirty 2009 with comodo back up.
Comodo has the power to block things from runining so that might be the casue of this problem it might only need updating thats all. I can check the stablity of my GPUs with OCCT/futuremark.

As for xfire I only got one setting to disable/enable it gives nothing more
Click to expand...

If you could get a decent price for your 4870s that would make the upgrade really cheap then I'd say go ahead, but chances are you'd still be spending more money than it's worth upgrading to them.
 
I could use one for another computer as I have a spare PSU mobo RAM and CPU and case.
atm they are casuing a bit of alarm atm I don't suppose the trip down stairs helped a lot seemed fine after through, that to aside i think it might be software casing a problem althrough not sure at this point in time
I managed to stop the lockups and stuff it was software

as for the cards ran OCCT to see if they was stable and after about a minute 6k errors .........great now I gotta find out if it was the 9-5 casing it or hardware, going to be a long night lol
 
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AMG said:
I could use one for another computer as I have a spare PSU mobo RAM and CPU and case.
atm they are casuing a bit of alarm atm I don't suppose the trip down stairs helped a lot seemed fine after through, that to aside i think it might be software casing a problem althrough not sure at this point in time
I managed to stop the lockups and stuff it was software

as for the cards ran OCCT to see if they was stable and after about a minute 6k errors .........great now I gotta find out if it was the 9-5 casing it or hardware, going to be a long night lol
Click to expand...

OCCT places a completely unrealistic load on the GPUs though doesn't? So even if it does crash, it doesn't represent real world use.

I'm pretty sure it loads the GPU in a way that it was never intended on being used in. As in, completely loading the GPU continuously, whereas in games things are computed in cycles and not just constant loading.

Work gets shifted around the GPU in normal use, I'm pretty sure OCCT just loads all shaders up to capacity.

I think it's the same as revving your engine as high as you can in first gear and keeping it like that for a long while, you can do it but your engine isn't supposed to work like that.
 
good thing is that the computer didn't crash at all just took it in it stride so thats a very good thing

in the real world no it would never put that stress on it all the time and load up everything what the card/CPU whatever has. If its prime or whatever stable than chances are it will not let you down in real world usage, thats the master plan anyway
 
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Sorry should have got the edit button, oh well

I took my refernce card out and all the problems stoped, SO I think its a early retirment for it, my powersupply is more than big enough to cope with two and the voltages are well within spec althrough my mobo is useless a messuring voltage as its bugged on that

could I send my Ref card back as its under warrnetly with OCUK ? and sapphire, I m going to take my new one out and put my old one back and and on purpose stress it. my new card didn't do any errors after 2 minutes of OCCT short time but enough to see and I cba to install futruemark

I have found out my newest radeon is on it way out, my stock one stocks OCCT in its stride at the same settings so, should I RMA it ? the fan is nosy and the temps rockets so much for a overhuled version :(
 
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