4890 crossfire or 4870x2

[tomm09]

I am looking at those 2 cards, either 4890CF or 4870x2. I know in general 4890CF should perform better than 4870x2, but my MB has 2 PIC-E2.0 slots, if running CF will be running x8. So I am not sure if 4890CF at x8 x8, is still going to beat 4870x2 in x16 in this case.

anyone has any imput?

 

[smithereen]

Oh yes it will. Only monster cards like the GTX295 or HD4870X2 can bottleneck PCI 2.0 8X. The two 4890s will be fine. What are you planning to run, at what res? (just asking)

 

[tomm09]

the highest i can get with playable fps. 4870x2 is about $40 cheaper than the cheapest 2 x 4890 cards i can find, so i am not sure which I should go for. I am afraid that CF will cause me some unpredictable problems as I have never done it.

 

[jennyh]

4870 X2 is crossfire, just on one board. However if you're concerned about it then you'd be better off going with the 4870 X2. It's still an incredible card and the prices recently are even more amazing.

 

[L1qu1d]

i would recommend 2 4890s over a 4870 X2, just like I would recommend 2 4870s over a 4870 X2.

For some reason Ati's X2s don't perform quit as well as their dual Card counter parts.

Another reason why I would recommend the 4890s is because theyr are beast Ocers

 

[Jaysin]

Go with the two card solution if you can afford and have decent cooling. L1quid is right, unless you have an aversion to dual cards get two 4890s. Personally I like sticking to single super fast cards as I would just assume sell an older card and upgrade to something higher end.

As well as the 4890 overclocks you can't go wrong.

 

[tomm09]

What kind of cooling do I need? I didn't order any special cooling parts.

 

[smithereen]

A case with good airflow.

 

[Jaysin]

A case with good airflow.

This ^

Sorry I should have been more specific. Yes, a roomy case, good airflow, nothing exotic or anything. I wouldn't necessarily cram two cards in a crappy case with horrible cable management and little airflow.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

i would recommend 2 4890s over a 4870 X2, just like I would recommend 2 4870s over a 4870 X2.

For some reason Ati's X2s don't perform quit as well as their dual Card counter parts.

Another reason why I would recommend the 4890s is because theyr are beast Ocers

This is a little misleading, ALL X2 cards (7950 GX2, 3870 X2, 9800 GX2, 4870 X2, 4850 X2, GTX 295) perform under the equivalent dual GPU match such as 2 8800 GTS 512mb vs 9800 GX2 or 2 4850s vs 4850 X2, not just ATI ones. As a matter of fact ATI dual GPU cards tend to be a bit close than nVidia if you look at the 4870 X2 vs GTX 295.

 

[tomm09]

So this means 4870 crossfire will beat 4870x2 always?

 

[L1qu1d]

@ blood_raven

The 9800 GX2 is an underclocked 8800 GTS, while the 4870 X2, is clocked the same. Thats the difference.

 

[jennyh]

Pretty much but the differences are very slim, talking about 2-3 fps at scores well over 100fps anyway.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

@ blood_raven

The 9800 GX2 is an underclocked 8800 GTS, while the 4870 X2, is clocked the same. Thats the difference.

Not totally true either, the 9800 GX2 runs @ 600mhz core and 1000mhz memory and the 8800 GTS 512 runs @ 650mhz core and 970mhz memory, so they both are a bit higher in different areas. Dual 4870 1GBs are almost identical to a 4870 X2, so no there is not difference between ATI and nVidia's X2 card's performance versus their parent setups.

 

[L1qu1d]

The moral of the story is, 9800 GX2 is not the same clock as its "counter" part, but the 4870 X2 is.

I don't get why there is such a big subject, I'm not the only 1 that saw the pattern, yes the difference isn't that great, but I'd rather have 2 physical cards than 1 dual GPU.

LIke I said before, 2 4890s is your best chocie, it can't be compared to the 4870 X2. Much better bang for the buck.

 

[tomm09]

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1472/intel_p45_vs_x48_crossfire_performance/index10.html

review says 4850 crossfire bottleneck on x8 x8, if it is true, then 4890 sure will bottleneck on x8 x8 too. Then it might not be worth it to go with 4890 CF.

 

[blackfeet]

So how big of a difference is 4890 crossfire x8 vs x16?

Is it big enough to warrant buying this

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363&Tpk=M4A79T%20Deluxe

over this

ASUS M4A78T-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366

Btw over here the boards are a little bit more expensive. They end up about $80 USD apart.

So yea, is x16 worth $80 USD more than x8 when using 4890 in Crossfire?

 

[tomm09]

Well if the http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1472/intel_p45_vs_x48_crossfire_performance/index10.html review is trustworthy, then x16x16 CF has big advantage over x8x8 CF on 4850, so the advantage will be more visiable for 4890 one can only assume.
Unless someone can prove otherwise.

 

[blackfeet]

Yes but how much more visible is what I'm hoping someone will clarify. If it's merely 5-10 FPS when you are getting 70+ in most games then $80 dollars isn't worth it imo. But then if its more like 20-30 or more, which I doubt but can't be certain, then the $80 starts becoming a little more worth it.

 

[tomm09]

NO one really knows the answer, there isn't any benchmark avaliable other than that tweaktown one.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

The moral of the story is, 9800 GX2 is not the same clock as its "counter" part, but the 4870 X2 is.

I don't get why there is such a big subject, I'm not the only 1 that saw the pattern, yes the difference isn't that great, but I'd rather have 2 physical cards than 1 dual GPU.

LIke I said before, 2 4890s is your best chocie, it can't be compared to the 4870 X2. Much better bang for the buck.

I am only stating that ALL dual GPU cards are slower than the 2 card setup version by about the same amount, not just ATI GPUS, not even more so than nVidia.

 

[smithereen]

The HD4870X2 is about as fast, because it doesn't have to cross the PCI-E bus to communicate between cores.

 

[L1qu1d]

raven stop trying to make this what it isn't, The 4870 X2 is advertised as 4870 x's 2. OK,

The 9800 GX2 wasn't advertised as a 9800 GTX, or a 8800 GTS. Its just a 9800 chip X's 2. Just like the 295 GTX isn't really a card, its just 2 chips put together.

I'm not saying ATI is the only 1, I'm saying that ATI is advertised as 2 4870s. I'm not trying to bring down either company.

why is every1 on the offense so much.

See the difference, 295 GTX ...there is no 295 GTX single GPU card...so you can't say well I bought a 295 GTX expecting 280 GTX x's speeds, because it wasn't advertised.
While with the 4870 X2, as I've seen from benchmarks, sometimes the difference is nill, sometimes its alot (take alot with a grain of salt). So really I don't get what there is to argue.

I'm talking about the situation as a business point, not as a card point.

Nothing against the card, its a great card for the value. I'm just saying the 4890 ATM, is better. It can be found for 250$ after 50$ MIR if your lucky, and its a stronger card when in Crossfire...alot better, considering its OC potential.

 

[Christopher11]

Consider the power idnezes dude.
Nothing can bottleneck them unless its not afraid of its power

4890 = 4+8+9+0 ) x 2 = 42

4870 = 4+8+7+0) x 2 = 38

42>38

go for it.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

For some reason Ati's X2s don't perform quit as well as their dual Card counter parts.

Reread it. I was just correcting that statement so that people who know little about computer hardware, likely a majority of the people who read these forums, don't start think there is anything wrong with ATI's X2 that is not wrong with nVidia cards.

Also, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3372&p=1

As you can see the 4870 X2 actually performs slightly better than 2 4870s in CF, however the 1GB version of the 4870 performs a bit better, but the 4870 X2 more like a 4870 512mb than the 1GB version.

Either way I very much agree that 2 4890s in crossfire would be much better and are at a great price.