Another bottlenecking thread...

[space1]

Ok so I have a few bottlenecking questions.

1. I am going to crossfire a 5750 with a 5770 and am getting a new board.
Most boards in my price range have 2 x16 slots but one is X16 and the other is X4.

How much of a difference will this make performance wise because these aren't the most powerful cards and I am positive they can't use all the bandwidth of X16 but would a 5750/5770 saturate a PCI-E at X4 when in crossfire?

Boards I am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157364

2. I was thinking about undervolting or even underclocking my CPU to save on power consumption. I have a Phenom ii x4 @ 3.0ghz and these can handle about a 7870 right?
So maybe underclocking it to around 2.7ghz wouldn't make of a difference in 1080P gaming correct as that is more GPU dependent?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Swordkd]

I'd buy an Asus board myself. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131872 However, out of those 2, I'd pick the AsRock. Now, why would you run a crossfire set-up, then worry about the power draw from your Cpu? If anything, you want to overclock that processor. Do you have the 945? I had the 940, and I had it overclocked to 3.5ghz without breaking a sweat, and the 945 is a newer iteration of that same Cpu. And as far as underclocking affecting performance, it depends on the game. Take WoW for example, you won't see much of an improvement in using a crossfire setup over a single Gpu, but you'd def. notice if you underclock your processor. Some games are more Cpu driven than others, so it does depend.

 

[swifty_morgan]

how much does a single better card cost in relation to a new board and new card?

no a 5750 and a 5770 don't equal a 7870.

 

[space1]

I'd buy an Asus board myself. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131872 However, out of those 2, I'd pick the AsRock. Now, why would you run a crossfire set-up, then worry about the power draw from your Cpu? If anything, you want to overclock that processor. Do you have the 945? I had the 940, and I had it overclocked to 3.5ghz without breaking a sweat, and the 945 is a newer iteration of that same Cpu. And as far as underclocking affecting performance, it depends on the game. Take WoW for example, you won't see much of an improvement in using a crossfire setup over a single Gpu, but you'd def. notice if you underclock your processor. Some games are more Cpu driven than others, so it does depend.

That board is too much money. lol
So the X4 of the one PCI-E won't make much of a difference on those 2 boards right?
And I am underclocking to save myself from buying a new PSU.
I have Antec VP 450 PSU
My CPU is a phenom ii x2 B55 unlocked to a Athlon X4 555
Using the 940 as a "guide" in the extreme PSU caculator I brought it down from 341 watts to about 315 with an underclock to 2.7ghz @1.1v
This is only 10 watts more than what the calculator puts my PC at with only a 5750.
Even though that isn't very accurate it still give me a good idea.
As you can see this was quite the budget build.

how much does a single better card cost in relation to a new board and new card?

no a 5750 and a 5770 don't equal a 7870.

I said 5750 with 5770 equaled a 5850 not a 7870.

 

[swifty_morgan]

no they don't.......... stop looking at benchmark fps numbers.