Is a single pci-ex 16 better than 2 pci-ex 8?

[ESQ]

I just boaught a Gigabyte mother board Gigabyte (GA-MA790XTA-UD4) with a pci-ex 16 and pci-ex 8 slot. The book said that if you use both slots the speed will be 8, not 16. Would I be better off using a single video card at 16 than two with cross-fire at 8?

If so, what is a good card for gaming--I'm building this for my 15-year old son. It has an AMD Phenon x4 965

 

[Voo]

The x8 slots will harm the performance a bit, but it would still be faster than a single card, but you really don't need crossfire for any modern game.


Depending on your budget and the resolution your son plays I'd say either a 5850 or a 4870(4890)/gtx260(275) - though they get rather hard to find already and prices have gone up last time I checked..

 

[Skott]

If you are using 1900x1200 res or higher then dual card setups can be worth it, if you can afford it, but if you are using 1680x1050 or less a single card set up is a better more cost effective way to go. That's my opinion though.

 

[ESQ]

My son will be probably be using a lcd screen (1920 x 1080).

Thanks for the help.

 

[happy medium]

My son will be probably be using a lcd screen (1920 x 1080).

Thanks for the help.

In this case at 1900x1080 get him a 5850 now and another one next Christmas. Next year the 5850 will be about 200$ or less and will double his performance.

It will work just fine in that motherboard, even at 8.0x.

 

[mmnno]

Techpowerup did a ridiculously thorough review on PCI-e scaling with a 5870. Conclusion: no detectable difference.