4870 X2 Crossfire-X Motherboard shootout

[Tempered81]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=202249

 

[dug777]

ah heck me, but that's an awful layout.

What happened to a concise table?

 

[apoppin]

is that a review

a collection of screen shots

i won't bother because of this:

Unfortunately i dont have a DDR3 P45 board so its DDR2 on the DFI. Not sure yet if difference wil be (much) bigger with higher clocks on CPU but i think the cheap P45 did a nice job
Slots on the DFI are rather close, just enought space for the power connectors with dual slot cards:

apples to apples?

i will do one .. i am taking my time and formatting again - the only variable will be my Gigabyte p35 vs my ASUS P5e .. same RAM, same CPU, identical HSs
- proper charts

give me awhile

i DID finish my Cat 8.8 comparison but no one wanted to see it

 

[RussianSensation]

The days of a premium chipset (i.e. 975's extra performance over 965) outperforming a cheaper chipset by a tangible amount are long gone. From what I've read in reviews, all X38/P35/p45/X48 chipsets should perform within 3-4% of one another. Which means most mobos should be purchased based on features and price.

Apoppin will clarify or disprove this soon

 

[Tempered81]

Well aside from chipset features, the biggest difference is 16x/16x Pci-E vs. 8x/8x Pci-E, correct? I was under the impression this was to show you where the Pci-E lanes of a p45 are less efficient than an x48 with crossfire.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
Well aside from chipset features, the biggest difference is 16x/16x Pci-E vs. 8x/8x Pci-E, correct? I was under the impression this was to show you where the Pci-E lanes of a p45 are less efficient than an x48 with crossfire.

depends which chipset you have

my old P35 is PCIe 1.0 spec; some are 1.1
also 16x + 4x PCIe

p45 is generally 2.0, isn't it - with older ones 1.1
and they are 8x + 8x PCIe
*also* there are some 16x + 8x variants [which should be pretty good]
- so there is some question about running 4870x2 + 4870 [at 8x + 8x]

but x38/x48 are the full new 2.0 spec with 16x + 16x running in CF

what i can test is the 1.0 vs 2.0 PCIe spec with my 4870x2 [and also 280GTX]
also i can test the 4870x2 + 4870/512 in the 2nd 4x PCIe slot vs performance of a full 16x for the 2nd slot

Apoppin will clarify or disprove this soon

it depends on you definition of "soon"

i need to format both my HDs and do fresh install of Vista on both [so i can also compare Nvidia's 280 in the 1.0 primary slot vs 2.0]

THEN i need to do it all over again - with two fresh installs of Vista on my Asus P5e

in the meantime i need to OC my e8600 so it is not a possible bottleneck [good news there - it "idles" at the same temp as stock - with stock Vcore! - at 4.0Ghz!!] and determine it's stability on my rebuilt rig

AND .. i am benching *ten* games plus Vantage and 3DMark06

see where i am going with this?
- shortly? .. try next weekend

However, i can give you updates .. as i am doing from my experiences with benching 5 GPUs and 8 games - right now