Crossfire or not to crossfire

[Owls]

I currently have a Q6600 OC'd to 3.4GHz and an 8800 Ultra on a P35 board (P5K Deluxe) . I usually run MSFS X and a couple of FPS games. My question is, would 2x 3870s offer better performance than my current Ultra? In addition to that, does the P35 board support quad crossfire with 2x 3870 X2s?

I've done some searching on the forums and google but nothing to offer concrete answers.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Yes you would see a performance gain but not by enough compared to how much you're spending imo. Drivers for 3870X2s running CF suck a lot right now.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Owls
I currently have a Q6600 OC'd to 3.4GHz and an 8800 Ultra on a P35 board (P5K Deluxe) . I usually run MSFS X and a couple of FPS games. My question is, would 2x 3870s offer better performance than my current Ultra? In addition to that, does the P35 board support quad crossfire with 2x 3870 X2s?

I've done some searching on the forums and google but nothing to offer concrete answers.

With a P35 board, I'd go with a 3870X2 because the second PCIe slot is only 4x. It will cost you a bit more than dual 3870's, but it'll leave the option open to go CrossfireX with a second 3870X2. If you do decide to go CrossfireX, I would suggest upgrading to an X38 motherboard, since well... because the second PCIe slot is only 4x.

btw... I'm not just spouting off here, my 3870X2 is on the UPS truck now en route to my house. I have a P35 board myself, and out of all the options I looked at for a dual gpu setup, the single 3870X2 offered the best bang for the buck. Of course, the bang for the buck is gone with the purchase of a second X2 and an X38 mobo....

 

[krnmastersgt]

Doesn't the P5K Deluxe turn the x16 and x4 into x8 x8 when it runs CF?

 

[angry hampster]

What resolution are you gaming with?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Doesn't the P5K Deluxe turn the x16 and x4 into x8 x8 when it runs CF?

No, you're thinking of the Asus Blitz Extreme and Blitz Formula. Those boards actually include a seperate chip that handles the 8x/8x configuration because that is not natively supported by P35.

 

[Owls]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
What resolution are you gaming with?

1920x1200

 

[xWilDx]

I'd go for another Ultra in sli mode if your MoBo is fit for it

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: xWilDx
I'd go for another Ultra in sli mode if your MoBo is fit for it

It's a P35 motherboard => no SLI. Crossfire is possible with 16x/4x PCIe lanes.

 

[Sylvanas]

Look at Anand's X2 review and Crossfire X scaling. You will see quite a sizable performance improvement in most games however 2x 3870X2 will probably be bottlenecked by the 4x slot on your board, single GPU card operation at 4x is usually limited to around 15-20% of its maximum performance......you could overclock the PCI-E bus to makeup for some of the lost bandwidth however I would be considering either a single X2 or a new mobo and dual X2's if you must.