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HD4870 crossfire question

Could you be more specific. for example on a 16x + 16x system i will get 80% performance improvement in a specific game, but with my setup what kind of increase or decrease in perf i will get
 
Originally posted by: Skurge
Could you be more specific. for example on a 16x + 16x system i will get 80% performance improvement in a specific game, but with my setup what kind of increase or decrease in perf i will get
Click to expand...

You'll have to search around for that info. There have been websites that have tested that (I think www.alienbabeltech.com did some testing on that).
 
Okay, i took a look, but they don't have anything specific to my setup. But i guess what i really want to know is even with the penalty of that x4 2.0, which they say is equal to a x8 1.1 slot, will the performance increase be enough to make the purchase of a second 4870 worth wile?
 
Originally posted by: Skurge
Okay, i took a look, but they don't have anything specific to my setup. But i guess what i really want to know is even with the penalty of that x4 2.0, which they say is equal to a x8 1.1 slot, will the performance increase be enough to make the purchase of a second 4870 worth wile?
Click to expand...

Yes, the performance difference will be substantial, even with a 4x 2.0 slot. Now whether it is worthwhile, that is up to you. I'd expect to see a 10% or less performance penalty as compared to dual 16x PCIe slots.
 
I'd say about 30%. It also gets worse when you add aa/af and in certain games especially Call of Duty 4. I read this in a Tom's hardware article where they were comparing pci-e x4 ,x16,x8 with a 3850 and 9800gx2.
Mabe i can find it.

Edit: Seems bad if you use aa/af or very high quality settings. If you use 1650x1050 and no aa/af it dosent look like you lose much (10%).
When you use 1900x1200 and add filtering your fps seems to drop like a rock. I say save your money for a 5850 on a single pci-e x16 in a month.

http://www.tomshardware.com/re...press-2.0,1915-10.html
 
Okay, thanks guys. I think ill steer clear of crossfire (i have 1920x1080 LCD) do you guys know how much the 5850 will cost?
 
Seriously? Than i am going to definitely get one. Too bad I'm likely to pay >$350 in this country.
 
Originally posted by: happy medium
I'd say about 30%. It also gets worse when you add aa/af and in certain games especially Call of Duty 4. I read this in a Tom's hardware article where they were comparing pci-e x4 ,x16,x8 with a 3850 and 9800gx2.
Mabe i can find it.

Edit: Seems bad if you use aa/af or very high quality settings. If you use 1650x1050 and no aa/af it dosent look like you lose much (10%).
When you use 1900x1200 and add filtering your fps seems to drop like a rock. I say save your money for a 5850 on a single pci-e x16 in a month.

http://www.tomshardware.com/re...press-2.0,1915-10.html
Click to expand...

Dude, I have a 4870 512mb crossfire system and COD4 does fine 1920x1200 with AA on. There are some games I have to drop my AA because of the memory issue, but I could care less, anisotropic filtering is what makes the difference to me.

That toms article is for a card 9800gx2 is generally irrelevant, that card was forgotten by nvidia and they are talking about a different bus issue anyways.

As others have stated and the link I posted showed, on avg you loos about 10% performance, from a 16x 16x or 8x x8 to a 16x 4x. There is really a bigger difference on average between a p45 and a p35 than a p45 8x 8x and a p45 16x 4x. All in all except Crysis, you're talking single digit frame averages, more often than not just a few.

 
The article you linked is for 4850's not 4870's. Theres a big difference. A 4x pci-e slot will hold back a 4870 card more than a 4850. The acticle you linked uses weak games that even 1 4870 could run besides Crysis. And guess what game does the worst yea Crysis. You don't buy a 4870 crossfire system to play weak games with no filtering. I used the 9800gx2 article because a 9800gx2 is as powerful as a 4870 and the article shows if you stress the video cards you lose performance. Do you run a 16x and 4x configuration? NO. So whats the difference if your system can run COD4? The guy has a 4870 card allready, he should just wait a month and see how AMD's new cards perform. Why would you suggest to him to buy another 4870 with a performance pentaly? So you are suggesting for him to go crossfire lose 15/20% performance and use a x4 slot and lose 10% more? He should just wait and get all of what he pays for with a 5850/5870.
 
Originally posted by: happy medium
The article you linked is for 4850's not 4870's. Theres a big difference. A 4x pci-e slot will hold back a 4870 card more than a 4850. The acticle you linked uses weak games that even 1 4870 could run besides Crysis. And guess what game does the worst yea Crysis. You don't buy a 4870 crossfire system to play weak games with no filtering. I used the 9800gx2 article because a 9800gx2 is as powerful as a 4870 and the article shows if you stress the video cards you lose performance. Do you run a 16x and 4x configuration? NO. So whats the difference if your system can run COD4? The guy has a 4870 card allready, he should just wait a month and see how AMD's new cards perform. Why would you suggest to him to buy another 4870 with a performance pentaly? So you are suggesting for him to go crossfire lose 15/20% performance and use a x4 slot and lose 10% more? He should just wait and get all of what he pays for with a 5850/5870.
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Let me count the irony.

I link to an article of a similar generation card directly showing the various crossfire chipsets and their performance characterization, while you link to a previous generation article showing completely irrelevant data. The 4850 actually gets the most boost out of a crossfire setup so it has the most to lose.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517&p=7

I did not discount the penalty one would pay in a 16x 4x system when I said you can play cod4 at 1920x1200, but I do disagree at those resolutions a crossfire setup will tank. (see above link) (edit: you didn't directly say it was the memory issue My bad)

Lastly, I made no recommendations, I just pointed out a few problems with your post.

Discounting the power and heat issues, adding a 4870 would be the most bang for his buck. I have no idea where you're getting these 15/20% +10% bolded above, but if his rig would perform near 15% of the way my crossfire setup performs, for near $100-$130 bucks, it would be a good investment.

Do you really think a 5850/5870 is going to crush a dual 4870 system even with the pci-e 4x penalty? I don't.
 
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