Newbie CF and chipset questions....

[creepster]

I'm looking to build a new gaming rig soon and I had a few questions about graphics cards and mobo chipsets:

1. How much better is the 4870 compared to two 4850's in CF? Last time I checked, the 4870 was almost double the price of a 4850 (~$160 for the 4850 compared to $300 for the 4870). Is the price difference worth it?

2. I'm planning on gaming on a 22" monitor and I heard that CF isn't really worth for a monitor of this size. With that in mind, if I did choose to go CF, is it worth it to get a more expensive x38/x48 mobo rather than a good p45 one? Does PCIe 2.0 x16 bandwidth really matter on a 22"?

If it matters, for this computer, I don't plan on updating the GPU for at least 2-3 yrs.

Thanks.

 

[spathotan]

Two 4850's beat a single 4870 hands down. 22" is a ahh....eh...."starter ground" for Crossfire. I had two 4850's but sold them for a single 4870 and I use a 22" @ 1680 x 1050, the FPS were the same the only difference is benchmarks.

Just get the 4870. Unless you plan on getting a larger monitor then two 4850's will be worth it, also they COULD offer more logitivity which is what you are looking for, but that theory hardly ever comes true.

 

[lasttarget]

Ive tried two 4850 but i would rather have one 4870. Pretty much same performance

 

[V3NOM]

depends on resolution.

 

[blerb]

depends on resolution.

yep

 

[creepster]

Ideally I would like to play at 1680x1050 resolution. At this resolution, does having a x38/x48 mobo matter? If I chose to go CF, would using a p45 have a big effect?

 

[eklipz330]

it shouldn't no, but in the future, if you decide to upgrade, it may

 

[spathotan]

I used a P45 for the two 4850's and my 3dmark vantage scores were only like 300 points lower than on a X48 board.