AMD HD3870 X2 Suggestions?

Lavace

Junior Member
Nov 10, 2006
4
0
0
After managing to scrounge around, I was practically given the following:
E6300 / Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro (This can OC to at least 2.5GHz)
2GB Kingston DDR2 PC-5300 RAM.
Huge Gaming Case, with 3x 120mm HIPER Fans and one HUGE 240mm exhaust fan on the side
Optical Drives, Microsoft HABU and Keyboard
250GB Samsung SATAII HDD
Silverstone 500W Continuous powersupply (With 38A on the rails)

I'm intending to get the 3870 X2 graphics card come January, seeing as it'll be rougly under £200 when its released, and be give the performance of a two 3870's in Xfire, without the hassle of buying two seperate cards, and the huge extra power draw etc.

I just need some motherboard suggestions, I intend for some hefty overclocking, seeing as the E6300 will bottleneck the X2 severly in my opinion, for cames such as WIC or Crysis etc.
Also intending for a QuadCore upgrade a year down the line, with a PSU upgrade.

Any idea's welcome!
Thanks,
Lav.
 

Martimus

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2007
4,490
157
106
I'm not sure I would run a 200W video card on a 500W powersupply, but you don't seem to have many drives, so it may be ok. I have had too many issues with power to mess around with it anymore, so I usually err on the side of caution now. If you do have issues, it may be because of the power supply.
 

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,298
23
81
Most any of the Gigabyte, Asus, or Abit P35-chipset motherboards will suit your needs well. These boards tend to handle 400+ fsb without problems so you should be able to get your e6300 into the 2.8GHz+ range without trouble.

Powersupply caution seconded, once you throw a power-hungry video card into an overclocked system you are asking for trouble if you don't have adequate amps available.
 

felang

Senior member
Feb 17, 2007
594
1
81
In my opinion the Gigabyte P35 DSR3 is a really good buy, it Overclocks very well. If you don't plan on ever using raid, then the ABIT P35 E that goes for less than $100 would be just fine