4870x2 + i7 with x58 board = troubles??

[SLM Crew Chief]

I just read this...

At present, most of the editors at AnandTech prefer the performance of GPU solutions from AMD/ATI these days? that is, except when running Intel Core i7. The X58 chipset/Core i7 works best with an NVIDIA video card and drivers. AMD is aware of the issue and is working to provide improved drivers for the i7 platforms, but for now the choice for i7 system video card is the...

and basically freaked!

I just received all the parts necessary to build a brand new rig for a friend including an Asus x58 based board, core i7 940 and a Sapphire 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 vid card. Then I see the above but I can't find any details on what the issues actually are.

What's up? What's actually wrong? Am I totally screwed here?

 

[masteryoda34]

I'm a little confused on this issue myself, but my understanding is that ATI's drivers are just not well optimized for the i7 platform yet. I would assume that they are working on fixing it.

 

[kevman]

doesnt mean yours wont work fine.

 

[masteryoda34]

Anandtech is the only place I've heard about this issue. I'd be interested in seeing it confirmed by others.

 

[Quiksilver]

Wouldn't these 'issues' be fixed soon anyway, it's almost the end of the month; should see a either January 31st or February 1st.

 

[solofly]

I would like to know what issues too cause I got none...

 

[uclaLabrat]

Only issue I've really had is with COD:WaW. I'm not sure if it's the platform or the game. Actually, that's a lie. COD4 crashes on me a bit more than it used to as well. The drivers will take a shit on me occasionally, and crash to desktop. Also, in WaW, the sound has a nasty habit of screeching on load in, and then going out completely (it used to be everything, I couldn't even hear ventrilo, but others could hear me, now vent seems ok when the sound goes out). It will then randomly com back in during some point in the game. Upon loading the next map, it happens again. It's pretty aggravating, I'm hoping it gets fixed with Cat 9.1.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: SLM Crew Chief
I just read this...

At present, most of the editors at AnandTech prefer the performance of GPU solutions from AMD/ATI these days? that is, except when running Intel Core i7. The X58 chipset/Core i7 works best with an NVIDIA video card and drivers. AMD is aware of the issue and is working to provide improved drivers for the i7 platforms, but for now the choice for i7 system video card is the...

and basically freaked!

I just received all the parts necessary to build a brand new rig for a friend including an Asus x58 based board, core i7 940 and a Sapphire 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 vid card. Then I see the above but I can't find any details on what the issues actually are.

What's up? What's actually wrong? Am I totally screwed here?

Derek, Anand, Jarred and Gary have all spent considerable word counts lately documenting their recent problems with ATI drivers, especially Derek. You'll find them in various places, Video card reviews, Core i7 review, X58 EVGA reviews, even the comments sections of the articles.

One of the biggest problems they have is with CrossFire, particulary game support and lack of game profiles in the drivers. Basically you may not get CF support or additional performance at all without a proper profile, and unlike Nvidia, you can't create your own profile to force AFR mode.

Rumor has it though that AMD is working to allow game profiles in the future, which should help compatibility issues at launch considerably. I saw this today, not sure if this the actual game profiles or not, looks more like a Windows resource and OC'ing tweak.

AMD Game 1.0 at PCGH

If you're concerned about troubleshooting your friend's PC if there's problems, you may want to research some of the problems more. CF/SLI is always going to have more problems than single-GPU, but the lack of game profiles with ATI drivers means the end-user is more reliant on driver updates for game fixes.

If your retailer/supplier allows for 30-day returns I'd say go ahead and give the 4870X2 a shot. If they don't allow returns or charge heavy overstocking (most will waive overstocking if you replace with a similar priced item, like GTX 295), then I'd do a bit more research and decide which way to go.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Well, plug it all in and see if it works. My guess is that you'll be perfectly fine.