hi. I just bought a new video card and i am waiting for it to arrive. Meanwhile, I was wondering what the 3dmark06 score would be like in Win XP SP2.  
My setup: amd x2 6400be, asus m2a-vm MB, crucial ballistix ddr2 800 2gb, corsair 550w psu.
 
Thanks.  

I would guesstimate at 12.5k.
My rig in my sig, gets 10.5k.

12.5k will do for me. im curretnly getting under 5k with an older ati card.
The other question I had was should I change to a crossfire MB in the future, can this 3870x2 be compatible with future ati hd cards? ie. 4850 or 4860?  
 

Yeah, you should be able to CF this card with future ATi cards.
It'd probably go nicely with a 4870X2!  
If you do change to a CF motherboard, the 790FX boards look very nice!

sweet. thanks for the info.

If your Corsair's the Corsair CMPSU-550VX (550W) certified by ATI for the 3870x2, then it's okay. Those 2x3 and 2x4 connectors stand in for 6 and 8 pin PCIe. You'll definitely need the 8 pin power to overclock. I could not use the two 6 pins on my Antec Neo 550 because my 3870x2's an MSI factory overclocked @ 850/1300. So, I got an Antec 650 with a 6 pin and a 6+2 that also works as an 8. The overclocking part of the CCC is all greyed out for me. Which 3870x2 did you get?

Anyways, I'm CPU limited with a CRT monitor (saving up for a 24" ) @ 1024 x768, but I can still get around 50-60 fps in The Witcher, 40-60 fps in Oblivion and 20-39 fps in LOTR online, with all features maxed on each game except no AA in Oblivion and very sharp detail instead of 8x AF in LOTR. The games run fantastic, and I could not tell the difference between 8x AF and very sharp detail in LOTR online; so they look great to me.

Nordic Hardware reports the 4850, 4870 and 4870x2 are due in June, with the 4870 50% faster than the 3870, which is the range of the 3870x2. The 4850 will be clocked close to the 3870x2, and should work in a CrossfireX configuration.

http://www.nordichardware.com/inde [...] re&id=7356

When the drivers are mature and I go quad core, then I'll get a Crossfire motherboard. Right now, the monitor's more important, and I can't wait to see the 3870x2 beyond CPU limited resolutions. Let us know how your's benches.

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7414.html
 

some extreme overclocking

Yes, but that style of overclocking's a sport. I can't see these guys using liquid nitrogen to play Crysis everyday of the week. Those results aren't up yet as the best. Team Italy still has their's at 30958 with "only" two 2900XT in Crossfire.

Note the scaling, you don't get much more between two 2900xt's in Crossfire and two dual GPU 3870x2's. Eventually, the teams will have to journey to the farthest reaches of the solar system, and run their overclocked systems outside a dome on Eris. Maybe -405C will make a difference and bring out the best in the 3870x2?

It will be interesting to see the 9800gx2 results with liquid nitrogen. I predict the dual PCB design just won't work on Eris, so buy ATI if you plan to run Crysis that far from home!

I ran 3DMark06 again just now and here's the original and the second:

Original:

That was taken the day I installed the card, before I tweaked settings in CCC

Today's:

The only setting change involved disabling Catalyst A.I and setting the performance bar to the maximum. Not a huge difference, 83 points, but it's there. CPU limits are probably why I'm not getting more with a factory over clocked card.

Here are the individual test results:

Is it worth it to buy the actual program and get all the features? Does anyone pay attention to the full set outside of graphic card manufacturers?

yep its the corsair VX550w which has an 8pin and a 6pin. i researched it. iw ill definately post my benchmarks when it arrives. hopefully today. sounds good to know that i can CF with 4870 in the future.