- Aug 25, 2015
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Would an Intel Core i7-870 bottleneck 2x Radeon HD7850s
- Thread starter GeforceMasterRace
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PreXMystic
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- Oct 10, 2015
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You definitely won't get all the performance you can out of games with this processor. It does sport 16 PCIe lanes so your cards will run in 8x mode.
Unseen Crime
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- Jul 20, 2013
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I'd have to disagree with PreXMystic. The difference between pcie 2.0 and 3.0 is virtually nonexistent at 1080p resolution. While you won't get "all" the performance,what does it matter when its a minute difference? Here's an article that should clarify it:http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/23.html
The i7-870/p55 CPU/chipset combo has more than enough power for a xfire/SLI setup. The difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8 is typically 1-3% depending on the game and resolution. It's just shy of irrelevant.
The i7-870/p55 CPU/chipset combo has more than enough power for a xfire/SLI setup. The difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8 is typically 1-3% depending on the game and resolution. It's just shy of irrelevant.
PreXMystic
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- Oct 10, 2015
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Maybe I should be clearer on my answer. What I'm trying to say is that while you will get almost all of the performance out of those cards, in cpu intensive games such as Battlefield, you won't get all of it. I have actually tested this myself with an i5 750 versus a variety of newer processors. What I'm saying is it may not be worth investing all that money in to graphics if your cpu is lacking behind in certain areas (not bottle necking).
Sd4Insanity
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- Nov 8, 2015
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I entered a rough approximation of your specifications, an I7-870 at stock voltage, on PCI-e 2.0 x8/x8, with certain...ahem accommodations (SSD, rather than HDD, with a 15Mb/s internet connection), and the site thebottlenecker.com indicates the pairing of the I7-870 and crossfire HD 7850 should have NO bottleneck. Now, if the conversation changes to whether or not the aforementioned setup would produce X level of graphics at Y framerate at Z resolution for a given title, then that's a different story, but based on the info you provided, and that site's online calculator, that setup shouldn't produce any kind of bottleneck. . You could even attain better performance by using a motherboard that can accomodate PCI-e 3.0 ( I ran a separate calculation given PCI-e 3.0 and it gave the same results, NO bottleneck). Of course, I don't have a similar CPU to test it with, like an I5-750 (which is substantially weaker, has a much lower OC potential, and lacks hyper-threading found in the I7-870), but this site has never steered me wrong. Best of luck to you, and as a final note, a better single GPU may be a wiser option. Not many titles support crossfire, and tis the season for pretty good deals! If crossfire 7850 requires a new PSU/pricey 2nd card, then consider a better single card to replace it. Good luck y'all!
Sd4Insanity
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- Nov 8, 2015
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I know this is a tad late, but speaking of irrelevant, the point you made isn't relevant to the question. As I said, if the conversation shifts to AAA titles, graphics, framerates, etc.. then you've got a good point, but that wasn't what the OP asked. Didn't see a single mention of his CPU ever being a problem. Probably time to close this thread, lol.
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