4870 in cf or 4870x2? - Page 2 - Overclock.net

JCasper · 12-22-08

I say go with the X2, easy call. Same price and the X2 is better. You can also go CF with another X2 later when the price drops and a game actually demands it.

ZealotKi11er · 12-22-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar

Not yet its not. The initial tests (which I did) indicated that a pair of 512 mb 4870's in crossfire performed identically to a 4870x2 at res below 1920x1200. Above that, the X2 pulls away. A pair of 1 GB 4870's performs identically to an X2.

Again, as I mentioned above, if Sideport is enable the X2 should theoretically be 10-15% faster.

Yes. Sideport will make it faster but not really worth his money i would say.

Cryptedvick · 12-22-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar

Not yet its not. The initial tests (which I did) indicated that a pair of 512 mb 4870's in crossfire performed identically to a 4870x2 at res below 1920x1200. Above that, the X2 pulls away. A pair of 1 GB 4870's performs identically to an X2.

Again, as I mentioned above, if Sideport is enable the X2 should theoretically be 10-15% faster.

then considering that the X2 has that sideport ... its safe to say that the are faster ... at least in theory .. and when they enable that sideport you will facepalm for not going X2 and going 2x 4870

JCasper · 12-22-08

IMO, going 2x 4870 leaves you with a much more difficult upgrade in the future. 4870 X2 and leave yourself room to easily upgrade. Easy, no?

DEC_42 · 12-22-08

On Newegg, you can get a really cool-looking 4870 1GB version for about $240 - 2 of of those are cheaper than 1 4870X2.

On the other hand, you won't be able to upgrade later wihout taking a card out, and you'll need to spend more on a board with multiple PCI-E x16/8 buses (busses?) and a Crossfire supporting chipset (If you plan on staying Intel, that is. If you decide to go AMD, finding a Crossfire board at a good price isn't too hard).

**Robilar** · 12-22-08

You do know that you can crossfire a 4870 and a 4870X2 as well?

And yes when ATI gets off its butt and enables sideport through its drivers (the 8.12's were rumoured to be able to do that), the X2 will be a better option.

I expect they will save the enabling for competing against the Nvidia GTX295

45nm · 12-22-08

Quote:

i decided to go red for my next project, and i've picked the 4870. i was planning on running them on xfire until i heard that one 4870x2 is more powerful than 2 4870s. well, is that true?

i personally don't think so because i think that they'd be equal cause a 4870x2 is basically 2 4870s.

well, i'll leave that up to u guys...and can u reccomend me a good brand for the winner?

The 4870 X2 is basically 2 4870 1GB running in Crossfire on the card. I'm waiting for sideport to be enabled to allow the maximum potential of the 4870 X2's.

**Robilar** · 12-22-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEC_42

On Newegg, you can get a really cool-looking 4870 1GB version for about $240 - 2 of of those are cheaper than 1 4870X2.

On the other hand, you won't be able to upgrade later wihout taking a card out, and you'll need to spend more on a board with multiple PCI-E x16/8 buses (busses?) and a Crossfire supporting chipset (If you plan on staying Intel, that is. If you decide to go AMD, finding a Crossfire board at a good price isn't too hard).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103066

and here is the diamond 4870X2 for $440

so no they are not cheaper.

xobile133769 · 12-22-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEC_42

On Newegg, you can get a really cool-looking 4870 1GB version for about $240 - 2 of of those are cheaper than 1 4870X2.

On the other hand, you won't be able to upgrade later wihout taking a card out, and you'll need to spend more on a board with multiple PCI-E x16/8 buses (busses?) and a Crossfire supporting chipset (If you plan on staying Intel, that is. If you decide to go AMD, finding a Crossfire board at a good price isn't too hard).

i really don't care about looks, i'm going with watercooling

.
and besides, the x58 supports crossfire.
i might as well go with the 4870x2, but i dunno, 2 4870s would look kinda cool in a window and all

.

EDIT: those are american prices, i'm canadian. thanks anyways robilar!

Deathsnapper · 12-22-08

The performance is very similar between the two from what I've seen. Apparently the x2 is supposed to run faster because of a couple things, one of which being a feature which they call a "sideport". http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/HD_4870_X2/

Though for some reason or another this "sideport" is disabled in 4870x2 cards. Like it's there, integrated into the chips, but disabled by the drivers. Whether it would really add any extra performance or not is somewhat unknown, or at least it was last I heard about it.

And apparently it will be enabled in a future driver, but again, it's completely unknown whether or not it will actually increase performance, and even if it does by how much? So basically, what I'm saying is it's not really a reason to buy the 4870x2 rather than two 4870s, there's just not enough known about it. I just thought it would be worth bringing up.

From what I've read they perform nearly the same as each other, the 4870x2 and crossfire 4870s.There are a few reviews up that compare the two, such as these:
~ http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...rd-review.html
~ http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...ew-crossfire/1
~ http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/S...4870_X2/1.html
~ http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-...On-Top/?page=1
There are probably more too. I haven't really looked much into which of these reviews are the most realistic, but I guess you can look at the ones on the sites you trust most.

Seems like either way you'll be fine. Both are great options

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4870 in cf or 4870x2?

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