Help. HD4850 vs HD4850x2

[XedDT]

Hi all; thanks in advance.

I'm specing a new system and I've got a question. I see that you can buy 2 cards for crossfire (ex: buy 2 HD4850 cards) or you can buy cards that have 2 built in (ex: HD4850x2).

Someone please enlighten me as to why a person would either buy one option or the other? Does the HD4850x2 option only exist because there are folks with mobos that don't have a second slot?

Since I'm building a new system and therefore buying a new mobo I can choose whether to buy one with 2 slots for 2 card crossfire or a mobo with one slot for crossfirex2.

Which would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TemjinGold]

The 4850X2 would also allow you to QuadFire two of them.

 

[Tempered81]

id take the 4850x2. they are two 1gb cards on one board. they work in single slot mobos, It is an extremely fast card. About the speed of a gtx285, and only slower than a gtx295 and 4870x2.

 

[octopus41092]

Take the HD4850X2. For some people the reason to get 2 HD4850s instead would be due to what they can afford or what they need at the time. They might get one then throw in another one later when they feel it necessary. HD4850X2 when it scales is a very good card and even when ti doesn't it's still like having one HD4850 which isn't bad at all.

 

[VooDooAddict]

There are only two reasons I know of to get two 4850s instead of a single 4850x2:

1) The 4850x2 won't fit your case. At 11.5" it's a long card.
2) Price. Sometimes there are rebate deals on 4850 cards, such that you can get two of them for less then a 4850x2.

Important to note there are two different versions of the 4850x2 ... 1GB (512MB per GPU) or 2GB (1GB per GPU)
2GB is preferred as long as there isn't a huge price difference.

 

[MrK6]

Originally posted by: XedDT
Hi all; thanks in advance.

I'm specing a new system and I've got a question. I see that you can buy 2 cards for crossfire (ex: buy 2 HD4850 cards) or you can buy cards that have 2 built in (ex: HD4850x2).

Someone please enlighten me as to why a person would either buy one option or the other? Does the HD4850x2 option only exist because there are folks with mobos that don't have a second slot?

Since I'm building a new system and therefore buying a new mobo I can choose whether to buy one with 2 slots for 2 card crossfire or a mobo with one slot for crossfirex2.

Which would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance.

There's pros and cons to each set-up. With two separate GPUs, they'll probably overclock further and run quieter. However, they'll take up more space and use more power. 2 GPU-single card designs sacrifice a small bit of performance (usually <1%) for the convenience of only using one slot. They're also generally more power efficient, but they usually don't overclock as well.

In the specific case of the 4850's vs. 4850X2 that you're considering, I'd say go for the 4850X2. First, if you catch a decent deal it's ~$40 cheaper than two 1GB 4850 (~$150 a piece, note that I only consider the 1GB as you really want 1GB of RAM for a Crossfire solution). It'll also only take up two slots. From what I've read, the downside will be the noise. However I've seen simple solutions of replacing the stock fans with quiet 80mm case fans. Also to consider is the fact that this isn't actually an ATI card, but rather one designed and produced solely by Sapphire, so future driver support is something to consider as well. Overall, it seems to be a great bang-for-you-buck deal and is very popular. I considered it for awhile before the GTX 295 came out.