Dadi_oh

I must be getting bored Although my current machines really do everything I need I am always in the hunt for new technical challenges without breaking the bank.

I currently have 4 rigs (Q6600, Q6600, E8400, E8200) that are all NVidia (GTX260, 8800GT's) but I found a deal locally for a Sapphire 4870 512MB for $100CDN. I replaced the Palit 8800GT 1GB from my video server machine with the 4870 and have been playing around with it a bit. If I set the fan to 100% (and plug my ears) I seem to get a stable 830 core / 1100 memory overclock (based on looping firefly forest in 3dMark06). I ordered a Twin Turbo heatsink from DirectCanada (NCIX subsidiary) for $28CDN and that should give me similar OC with a lot less noise. I also plan to use RivaTuner to adjust the Vcore and see what I can get with some extra volts.

Now I am thinking of waiting until prices on the 4870 continue to plunge and maybe get another 512MB for $100 or so.

Now the thing is, I don't even game on this video server so it seems senseless to drop Xfire 4870's there. Rather, what I was thinking is to put two 4870's in my main gaming rig (P5Q-Pro mobo) which has my GTX260 and then move the GTX260 to my video server. That way it can sit and fold 24/7 (waaay better folder than the 4870's).

The other complication is that my main rig is watercooled so I would have to take the D-tek Fuzion2 block off the GTX260 and put back the stock cooler (or use the twin turbo). Then move the block onto one of the 4870's. Then get another block for the second 4870 and replumb everything... Seems like a lot of work but then again this is fun work I suppose.

So is there a question in all of that? Just general advice or thoughts I suppose. Maybe along the lines of:

1) How will Xfired 4870's compare to my overclocked GTX260 (783 core 1566 shaders, 2500 memory). I don't play too many graphically challenged games (COD4, Crysis, Far Cry 2... I like shooting things

2) How well will the Dtek Fuzion2 work with the 4870. I'll have to check the box and see if the ATI HW was included. I assume so.

3) How would a twin turbo on the GTX260 compare to the stock cooler? I would probably keep the D-tek unisink on the card for cooling the memory and VRM's (assuming it will work with the twin turbo of course... maybe not).

4) Any general advice on Xfiring and overclocking the 4870's on the P5Q-Pro board.

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meticadpa

CF 4870s are much better than a GTX 260

The Dtex FuZion 2 is a CPU block

A twin turbo would be decent on a GTX 260

The P5Q is a great board.

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Dadi_oh

Oops. My bad on terminology... It is a DTek Fuzion GFX 2 block. This one...

http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=222

Thinking about it... the stock cooler on the GTX260 was pretty decent and quiet so I'll have to see. Maybe not worth putting the twin turbo on it.

I do like the P5Q-Pro board. Overclocked my Q6600 to 450X8 very easily. I can hit 3.9GHz but with insane 1.6V and not terribly stable. Can bench but crashes Prime95.

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bluepiglet

a single 4870 gives similar performance of a gtx260. 4870 cf will kill a gtx285 dont even mention a single 260

twin turbo is great but i dont think it would fit on a gtx260. you probabaly need a hr-03gtx for the job. or mount a musashi on it angled. but the former is much better.

p5q-pro is good. but ep45-ud3p is better.

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linskingdom

4870 cf is better. If you prefer asus board, may take a look at P5Q-e, which has better cooling component. Otherwise, take a look at Gigabyte EP45-UD3P.

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Dadi_oh

They are pretty close. The 2 machines in question both have P45 chipset mobos in them and I similarly clocked both of their Q6600's to 400X8, and memory to 800MHz just to get a close comparison in benches. I'm not at home so I don't have the numbers in front of me but my recollection was that the max OC'ed 4870 (830 core, 1000 mem) compared to the max OC GTX260 (783/1566/2500) was within a 1000 points on 3dMark06 and within a few fps on the Crysis benches. Always lower... but close. I think I ran the benches at 1680X1050 and 1900X1200.

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Dadi_oh

Well I already have the P5Q-Pro and the Northbridge is watercooled and all the power section is heatsinked with good ventilation so better cooling isn't a problem for me.

Been a while since I had a Gigabyte board. They seem to claim that they use higher quality components if their marketing is to be believed.

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Open1Your1Eyes0

HD4870 crossfire is better than an HD4870X2 which is already better than a GTX285.

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bluepiglet

in any resolution greater than 1680x1050, 4870 with only 512mb will suffer pretty badly.....

so if thats the resolution you will be gaming. go for the 1gb version.

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Dadi_oh

It's a 22" Samsung @ 1680X1050 so I hope 512MB is OK. I already have a 512MB 4870 so if I crossfire there is no advantage getting another card with 1GB since it would just use the lowest card's settings AFAIK. And I should be able to get a used 4870 512MB cheaper. Prices are falling fast... maybe in anticipation of 50xx series but I thought that was not until late in the year... unless ATI wants to surprise us

And I am hoping that most games scale well in Xfire? I thought that was one of the downsides to the 4850X2 was shortage of Xfire profiles that would take full advantage in all the games. Sort of hit and miss but with things improving?

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