Questions about 4890 xfire

[mat7861]

Im looking to buy a second 4890 and run them in crossfire and am wanting to know if my psu is strong enough and if my cpu will bottleneck it. here is my setup:

Core 2 Quad q6600 OC to 3.2ghz
Gigabyte x48 ds-5
4gb Patriot Viper ddr 2 ram
HD Radeon 4890
Corsair 650 psu.

 

[saint19]

Is enough. Or use this http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/Power

 

[jay2tall]

Should be good. I believe this are pretty solid.

My warning on crossfiring those cards. Watch the temps on the top card. I had issues with (2) 4870's. The top card kept overheating and I eventually gave up and sold them for a 5870. You do have the extra 1 slot between the 2 cards so you might fair better than I did. I only had a single slot between the two and the heat just sat under the top card.

 

[saint19]

^Why you don't add a fan?

 

[jay2tall]

^
I've been down that road before, and it can be a pain in the butt. It also sucks alot of juice and I plug into a 750 UPS and the load light would blink during gaming. So rather than deal with all of that I sold them both, took a hit and got what I really wanted, the 5870.

 

[mat7861]

thanks for responding to my post about the psu! but what about the cpu? will my Q6600 overclocked to 3.2ghz bottleneck 2 4890s in crossfire? and if so will i still see a difference between 1 4890 and 2? thanks in advance for replies.

 

[jay2tall]

Your CPU is fine. Bottlenecking is so OVERUSED in this forum. Your PC is full of bottlenecks, you just try to solve any areas that are extremely bottlenecked. Sure an i7 will give you better frames with that setup, but not TERRIBLY more. The same setup on a dual core pentium like an e2160 will have lower FPS.

 

[cappster]

I concur with Jay2tall on the heat issue while running cards in crossfire. The top card averages 5-6 degrees C hotter than the bottom one. I installed a 120mm fan directly over the back of the card to help with the cooling. I also mounted two 120mm in front of both cards on my hard drive rack to improve airflow over the cards. Yes, my case is loud.

 

[jay2tall]

Yes, my case is loud.

Exactly why I didn't go down the patch of making my (2) 4870's work. A single 5870 is SOOO quiet.

 

[mat7861]

ok thanks for the info!