4870X2 just arrived

[Sylvanas]

Decided to get the MSI, it was the cheapest in my neck of the woods. I have also ordered the DangerDen 4870X2 copper waterblock so should have some temp results once I get everything up and running (I'll update this post). One thing I must say is wow this thing is huge- longest card I have ever had. Stay tuned!

 

[happy medium]

Do you game at real high resolutions?
With that cpu you'll have quite a bottleneck.
Hey good luck man.

 

[Sylvanas]

I run @ 1920x1200, at that rez CPU is of little consequence anyway- but I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo- can't wait to see what the new hardware will do on water .

 

[cmaMath13]

You going to sell off your old cpu and motherboard? If so, let me know please.

 

[MichaelD]

Congrats on the card! The thing is a BEAST both in size/weight and in the heat it puts out. I mean, it puts out A LOT of heat, even at idle. But that's the price you pay for having the most powerful single card solution available today. :beer:

I've you're going to have the GPU on the same loop/radiator as your CPU, I hope you have one big mutha radiator and fans to cool it.

The card is incredibly fast and doesn't loose too much steam when upping the AA/AF. Enjoy!

 

[pcslookout]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Congrats on the card! The thing is a BEAST both in size/weight and in the heat it puts out. I mean, it puts out A LOT of heat, even at idle. But that's the price you pay for having the most powerful single card solution available today. :beer:

I've you're going to have the GPU on the same loop/radiator as your CPU, I hope you have one big mutha radiator and fans to cool it.

The card is incredibly fast and doesn't loose too much steam when upping the AA/AF. Enjoy!

Must be a great personal heater during the winter more so than past video cards!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: pcslookout

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Congrats on the card! The thing is a BEAST both in size/weight and in the heat it puts out. I mean, it puts out A LOT of heat, even at idle. But that's the price you pay for having the most powerful single card solution available today. :beer:

I've you're going to have the GPU on the same loop/radiator as your CPU, I hope you have one big mutha radiator and fans to cool it.

The card is incredibly fast and doesn't loose too much steam when upping the AA/AF. Enjoy!

Must be a great personal heater during the winter more so than past video cards!

I'll be honest here: The performance just blows me away. It does max AA/AF in most games @ 19x12 and I get 60FPS or better. Great. But (there's always a "but") it runs blazing freaking hot, even at idle. If you don't have very good case cooling the card will get hot (as in 85C+) and heat up the rest of the case.

I briefly had the card in my P180 with the case fans on low. The card hit 92C (but never crashed) and heated the case to 40C+. I put the case fans on medium and it didn't help one bit. Fans on high helped a little with case temps but didn't do too much for the card itself.

Now I have my gaming rig in a 4U rackmount and just due to the case design, case airflow is superb. Card's fan is hard-set at 35% and never breaks 80C while gaming. Idle temps are mid 40's...can't complain.

So, this card is like a Ferrari. Awesome performance but it comes with it's own set of problems. I will not need to turn on the radiator in this room come winter. Dead serious. But every time I game I say "Oh...this is SO freaking worth it!"

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
I run @ 1920x1200, at that rez CPU is of little consequence anyway

With a 3850, that's correct. With a 4870X2, it couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

[legcramp]

Originally posted by: happy medium
Do you game at real high resolutions?
With that cpu you'll have quite a bottleneck.
Hey good luck man.

The bottleneck thing is blown way out of proportion.

There's always a bottleneck... it's either video or cpu.... is it relevant at all if the game is playable? At 800x600 or 1920x1200?

Not like he's running a single core A64.

3.3ghz is probably equivalent to a 2.9ghz Core 2 Duo?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: RIFLEMAN007

Originally posted by: happy medium
Do you game at real high resolutions?
With that cpu you'll have quite a bottleneck.
Hey good luck man.

The bottleneck thing is blown way out of proportion.

There's always a bottleneck... it's either video or cpu.... is it relevant at all if the game is playable? At 800x600 or 1920x1200?

Not like he's running a single core A64.

3.3ghz is probably equivalent to a 2.9ghz Core 2 Duo?

He might as well be ..
a 2.9Ghz e4300 IS a N-A-S-T-Y bottleneck for a X2

sure it is NP - if he plays at 16x10 with maxed details plus 8xMSAA Wide-Tent/16xAF and doesn't *care" about what he is missing with a faster CPU

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: RIFLEMAN007

Originally posted by: happy medium
Do you game at real high resolutions?
With that cpu you'll have quite a bottleneck.
Hey good luck man.

The bottleneck thing is blown way out of proportion.

There's always a bottleneck... it's either video or cpu.... is it relevant at all if the game is playable? At 800x600 or 1920x1200?

Not like he's running a single core A64.

3.3ghz is probably equivalent to a 2.9ghz Core 2 Duo?

He might as well be ..
a 2.9Ghz e4300 IS a N-A-S-T-Y bottleneck for a X2

sure it is NP - if he plays at 16x10 with maxed details plus 8xMSAA Wide-Tent/16xAF and doesn't *care" about what he is missing with a faster CPU

Single core? Exaggerating much.

CPU limit sure but mostly 10~20fps difference from over 100fps in majority of the games.

 

[apoppin]

Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

 

[legcramp]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: RIFLEMAN007

Originally posted by: happy medium
Do you game at real high resolutions?
With that cpu you'll have quite a bottleneck.
Hey good luck man.

The bottleneck thing is blown way out of proportion.

There's always a bottleneck... it's either video or cpu.... is it relevant at all if the game is playable? At 800x600 or 1920x1200?

Not like he's running a single core A64.

3.3ghz is probably equivalent to a 2.9ghz Core 2 Duo?

He might as well be ..
a 2.9Ghz e4300 IS a N-A-S-T-Y bottleneck for a X2

sure it is NP - if he plays at 16x10 with maxed details plus 8xMSAA Wide-Tent/16xAF and doesn't *care" about what he is missing with a faster CPU

Well then he probably won't enjoy Far Cry 2 even with the 4870X2 on a single core haha.

Wow FC2 > Single cores.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com...ticle_id=663817&page=2

 

[apoppin]

That test is *nonsense*

Therefore a Core 2 Quad Q6600 with 2.4 GHz is as fast as a Core 2 Duo E8400 with 3 GHz

Who cares about ALL these SLOW-ASS CPUs
- paired with a 4870x2?


that is such a ridiculous mismatch

My e8600 is at 4.0 Ghz and i am hoping for much higher
- and i need to get back to work

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

You might as well give up your license.

5% to 20% performance increase from a decent mobo and cpu. Net cost $300-400. gains 10-20%. Great.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
I run @ 1920x1200, at that rez CPU is of little consequence anyway- but I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo- can't wait to see what the new hardware will do on water .

I do feel the need to point this out to you CPU-bottleneck people.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

You might as well give up your license.

5% to 20% performance increase from a decent mobo and cpu. Net cost $300-400. gains 10-20%. Great.

i'd agree with you if you considered he just dropped $550 on a GPU
- a *waste* in 1/2 of a PC with a slow CPU - heck, a GTX280 would give about the same performance as the X2 mismatched with his old CPU.

now he is going to waste even more money; unless that sucker hits 4Ghz

I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
I run @ 1920x1200, at that rez CPU is of little consequence anyway- but I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo- can't wait to see what the new hardware will do on water .

I do feel the need to point this out to you CPU-bottleneck people.

well... my laptop has Intel GMA 950 graphics with PCI express technology x16?

Ohhh.. the GMA is so fast!

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

You might as well give up your license.

5% to 20% performance increase from a decent mobo and cpu. Net cost $300-400. gains 10-20%. Great.

i'd agree with you if you considered he just dropped $550 on a GPU
- a *waste* in 1/2 of a PC with a slow CPU - heck, a GTX280 would give about the same performance as the X2 mismatched with his old CPU.

now he is going to waste even more money; unless that sucker hits 4Ghz

I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo

He probably dropped $340 from ebay deal to double his performance. not so much with a cpu mobo upgrade.

If he was running something like a 2 ghz AMD dual core I would agree with you but he running 3.3ghz. A e8400 @ 3.6-4.0ghz isn't going to much nor a quad core considering majority of games doesn't even take advantage. Gains are incremental at best for good amount of money. I guess if you have money to blow it's all good though.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

You might as well give up your license.

5% to 20% performance increase from a decent mobo and cpu. Net cost $300-400. gains 10-20%. Great.

i'd agree with you if you considered he just dropped $550 on a GPU
- a *waste* in 1/2 of a PC with a slow CPU - heck, a GTX280 would give about the same performance as the X2 mismatched with his old CPU.

now he is going to waste even more money; unless that sucker hits 4Ghz

I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo

He dropped $550 to double his performance. not so much with a cpu mobo upgrade.

well then we agree don't we?

he didn't get so much from the CPU/Mofo upgrade unless it OCs - which is not so good for "doubling performance"

i'd love the OP to stick it in now .. bench it .. then stick in the new CPU and do it again .. as far as it will OC
- then think about how much better it would perform if the CPU was fast enough to keep up with the X2

heck, my OWN 4.0Ghz e8600 is too slow for my X2, nevermind X3 .. i am [fortunately] limited by 19x12 resolution .. and i plan to OC my CPU .. much farther

 

[AzN]

You keep passing out the roses to everyone. Take it easy.

 

[apoppin]

as long as there are Four Roses left .. it is OK

Ask Rollo

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Too many emotes in this thread....its making me feel a little fruity.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Azn

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well it would depend on how fast that single core was
- i call it 'journalistic license' - to make a *point* .. you may see it as exaggerating



at any rate, most of us would not willingly throw away even 5% performance - when spending $550 for a GPU. CPUs are cheap enough not to be stuck with a [really] slow one [for X2]

but then some people like mix and mismatch

You might as well give up your license.

5% to 20% performance increase from a decent mobo and cpu. Net cost $300-400. gains 10-20%. Great.

i'd agree with you if you considered he just dropped $550 on a GPU
- a *waste* in 1/2 of a PC with a slow CPU - heck, a GTX280 would give about the same performance as the X2 mismatched with his old CPU.

now he is going to waste even more money; unless that sucker hits 4Ghz

I did also buy a 9950 Black Edition and am awaiting a SB750 mobo

Firstly, I am not using my current 5000+ in the new rig, it'll be the 9950 BE. Secondly, CPU bottleneck is not going to be an issue have a look at these results with a Phenom at 3ghz, also keep in mind here are the stock results. Also, I am going to be running this all on water so I am expecting around 3.2ghz with 2.4NB- which is more than doable according to many of the posts on XS- also keep in mind this CPU is quite alot cheaper than the Intel Quad variants. Also when Deneb arrive I'll probably pop that in (rumours are it is going to be around 10-20% faster clock for clock in some scenarios).

i'd love the OP to stick it in now .. bench it .. then stick in the new CPU and do it again .. as far as it will OC
- then think about how much better it would perform if the CPU was fast enough to keep up with the X2

I would like to do that but it means draining the loop twice and I a) Can't be bothered b) don't have much of the additive/distilled water left over.

Congrats on the card! The thing is a BEAST both in size/weight and in the heat it puts out. I mean, it puts out A LOT of heat, even at idle. But that's the price you pay for having the most powerful single card solution available today.

I've you're going to have the GPU on the same loop/radiator as your CPU, I hope you have one big mutha radiator and fans to cool it.

The card is incredibly fast and doesn't loose too much steam when upping the AA/AF. Enjoy!

Thanks. Both the CPU and the X2 will be running on separate loops, one on the Thermochill another on the Swiftech.