Crossfire?

[JDowdall]

Im back with another problem with crossfire again i bought this mobo http://www.asrock.com/product/ConRoeXFire-eSATA2.htm it worked fine for what I wanted which was a x1600 xt which i was going to crossfire when i buy another one this christmas until i saw an x1900gt for only about 40 quid more so im stuck with a bit of a dilemma do i get another x1600 xt or do I get a single x1900 gt.

Thanks in advance

[Taxation]

thats what is gonna happen to everything that you get.
If i were you, i would keep saving, and but the best card for your money and forget about crossfire for the moment, maybe get yourself a 1900XT then save more and crossfire that.
but by then, there will be a better card for less money :?

More cards means more heat and more noise, and 1 1900gt could be better than 2 1600's

that doesnt really answer your question now does it. :roll:
Go crossfire and make yourself look pimp'd out :wink:

[JDowdall]

i could just buy a 1900 and then i stick it in the pci x16 slot and shudnt crossfire make it a 1600 so i have 2 or i cud have just the 1900 running by disabling crossfire wud that work?

[Taxation]

errr, no :?:

you need 2 identical cores for crossfire to work

[JDowdall]

Are you sure i thought that SLI needed identical cards and crossfire downgrades the one card so they can run in crossfire mode I thought that was one of the advantages

[Taxation]

Unless they bought out some new technology in the last week, then no
identical cores are needed

[JDowdall]

lol ok i just thought that as i must have read it some where and the fact that the x1900 gt doesnt need the dongle

[Taxation]

i think the 1900gt does need a dongle (tehe)
but a single 1900gt will still perform very well

[JDowdall]

for a 120 quid i dont think i could go wrong :roll: of and the gt doesnt need a dongle http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/howitworks.html i'd be left with the 1600xt then but i can always sell that to one of my friends hehe

[JDowdall]

Update: i've decided to go with the extra 1600 as i dont want to be left with a card i wont be using and the extra money for the mobo will have gone to waste but now i've got a problem as i cant find somewhere that sells the x1600 xt bravo so now i might have to go with something like the sapphire ultimate and oc it a tiny bit to bring it up to the bravo 1600 clock speeds also whats the difference between the basic sappphire 1600 xt and the xt ultimate? thanks in advance (apart from the cool looking cooler :P )

[Taxation]

prob just the cool looking cooler and the extra mhz clock speeds

[deathhaggis]

To be honest if you're waiting until xmas you might want to just wait and see what happens with all of the DX10 parts and the next-gen chips from nvidia and ATI rather than going for a minor upgrade which probably wont get you much extra performance.
But then any kind of SLI setup always has a higher bling factor like Taxation says 8) .....

[teknokid]

yh. on my 1st sys i got SLI just to look cool!

[JDowdall]

was also looking for an aftermaket cooler for the one i've got at the moment could someone suggest one, also can you get one that doesnt cover up another pci-e port?

[teknokid]

water cooled. thats what im looking at but i cant find a 7950gx2 with the attachments.

[JDowdall]

i dont want to watercool as im not going to be getting such high temps and i dont really need it also does anybody know it any of the aftermarket coolers dont take up another pci slot

[Taxation]

teknokid, the 7950gx2 waterblocks are very expensive, but swiftech do 7950gx2 dividers which widens the space betweens the cards making it easier to find waterblocks that will fit.

and no. i dont know of any aftermarket coolers that will do what you want, but if there is enough air flowing through your case then temps shouldnt be a problem

[JDowdall]

ok thanks for that just wondering though whats the price for a reasonable water cooling on my system?

[Taxation]

depends on what you want to cool cpu,gpu(s),chipset, how many rads you can fit in your case etc

[teknokid]

evga were meant to release a water cooled 7950gx2. which has 2 pipe input/outputs.

[Taxation]

http://www.dangerdenstore.com/files/images/blocks/7950/7950_side_246w.jpg

costs a bundle though.
but maybe we should be getting back onto subject here

[teknokid]

doesnt matter now. the 8800gts will cost the same as a 7950gx2 and they're stopping the gx2!

[Taxation]

links plz

[teknokid]

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showth ... t=17644192 (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17644192)

[Taxation]

tbh, if you buy a 7950gx2, it will still be a good card, DX10 is a load of horse at the moment.
tbh, i wouldnt mind getting my hands on this
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/382/4/
bit tricky to watercool though

[teknokid]

where can you get it and how quick is it?

[Taxation]

dunno
and read the review of it.
it is about as quick as 2 7900gtx's in SLI. but you cant do SLI on this board, but u need a SLI board for it to work
lol

[teknokid]

may aswell just get 2 7900gtx's then?..

[Taxation]

yh, dont know why they didnt put a SLI bridge on it :?
would of been a really good idea

[teknokid]

yh. if they did that they could charge a lot more for it becaue it would be the fastest card money could buy!

[Taxation]

its about the same as a 7950 i would imagine

[JDowdall]

I am the king of changing my mind woo! i've now changed my mind (again) i was getting an x1600xt then i was lookin at the 1650 xt thats coming soon but now i've changed my mind again as i have just discovered that my mobo (http://www.asrock.com/support/VGA/show.asp?Model=ConRoeXFire-eSATA2) suppports dual 7600 gt's :twisted: thanks for everyone telling me not to get the the second x1600 as they are really quite rubbish with the four pipelines

thanks :P

[Taxation]

wait and get a 8800gtx, then wait some more for the 8600gt to come out ,or wait some more until the 8600gs comes out :?

[teknokid]

just get a 8800gtx NOW!

[Nox]

im sure there will be price drops across the range when the 8800 is released.

Nox

[teknokid]

the 7900gtx should become very affordable!