ATi CrossFire

Dark_Templer_102

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Well this is just some research or what not for future plans..

I currently have an X1800XT, and its running pretty well considering its put into some crappy HP computer...anyways I was looking to make a new computer set up in the future.

The X1800XT requires the external crossfire, but i'm wondering if I can still run dual screen with the external crossfire..(I know they can now with the internal crossfire connection)

Also, i'm wondering if it is worth getting dual x16 PCI 2.0 slots (aka northbridge X48) instead of the older P45 northbridge. I know it could help the newer video cards but I have no idea with the older X1800XT..

Random question then. Is it worth getting DDR3 RAM at the moment? It seems not and its expensive as hell...
 
I don't think you can run dual monitors with crossfire set up, Also you would need to track down a x1800 master card/ crossfire card in order to run crossfire but shouldn't be too hard to find on ebay. I think the P45 is the newer of the chipsets :p and I think should be either is fine with a crossfire set up but some P35 boards do not support crossfire, not sure about P45. DDR3 not worth the money at the moment.
 
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You can with the new ATI cards, but then it's still buggy (see latest guru3d review). So for the moment with both ati and nvidia dual monitors with crossfire/ sli = bad idea.

But for a bit of cash you can get a single 4850, which will spank your x1800xt. And that will run dual monitors fine.
 
When you say "dual monitors" what exactly do you mean? Normal desktop applications or spanning a full screen 3d game across both monitors?

I run dual monitors just fine with my Crossfire setup, but since I'm in Vista I can't span fullscreen 3d apps because they haven't thrown the capabilities in their Vista drivers.
 
Dual video cards is highly overrated IMO. Better to just upgrade to a better single card as that way you don't have to deal with driver issues, ATi or nVidia.

Then again if you current card is good, but just needing a little help, a 2nd card may be a good idea in that case.

I personally though will never do it (probably). I'll just keep my current video card until it's reeeally eating shit and then upgrade a couple generations or replace my whole PC.
 
I mean normal applications, two fully independent monitors..

But since it seems its better to just get one uber card i'll keep that in mind.

So, P45 or X48?
 
X48 if you want to Crossfire down the track. The P45 if you run a good single card, you would be wasting money if you were to get the X48 with only a single card set up.
 
Ugggg so many choices...I just hope my school keeps my job during the school year so I can make so money to get everything i want/need.

Also, i've been useing corsair's PSW calculator and it seems my PSW is fine (i have the 620 watt corsair PSW) for some quad core setup with 10 hard drives or something (haha i was just messing around to see...) but you think it would be enough to run with the power hungry HD4870 with i dunno....4 gigs of ram, 5 hard drives, and dual core?..and maybe a water cooler system.
 
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