Can someone explain the AMD crossfire certification lingo?

[blackrain]

AMD has several columns (PCIE 2x3, PCIe 2x4, number of cards) on their website but it isn't clear to me what these mean or why some columns are empty (or why the number of cards is lited as "1" for some PSUs)

http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_components.aspx?p=3

Can someone help make sense of this information.

And if you have a PSU recommendation for 2 4850s (~$50-$60), feel free to throw that in.

 

[Lonyo]

PCIe 2x3 means a 6-pin PCIe power connector.
PCIe 2x4 means an 8-pin PCIe power connector.
Or at least that's what seems to make most sense.

As for number of cards, no idea.

 

[Rhoxed]

any decent 650W+ will handle 2 4850 without a problem.

 

[Meghan54]

Take the 4870 X2 card section.

Three columns of numbers.

First is labeled "PCI-e 2x3"......simply means the number in that column is the number of 6-pin PCI-e connectors the power supply has.

Second column is "PCI-e 2x4".....meaning the same, but the number of 8-pin PCI-e connectors the ps has.

Simple so far, right?

Third column is "Number of cards" which is the number of video cards that particular power supply can support....within the Crossfire certification. Doesn't mean you cannot run more, just that the ps was cert'd. to run that number of cards.

 

[VirtualLarry]

That chart is messed up. Under 4850, and then Antec EarthWatts 650, they list it as only having a single PCI-E 2x3 connector, and supporting only one card. In truth, it has a 6-pin and a 6+2-pin connector, and will happily (I think, haven't tested it yet but I have the parts) run two 4850s in crossfire. (Have an EA650 running FOUR 9600GSOs, with a pair of PCI-E power splitters.)