Two 4870's in crossfire or 4870X2

[BaBa BoeY]

Besides the price, would you say the performance increase is about the same?

 

[L1qu1d]

They generally exchange blows, but the 4870s in Crossfire seem to edge out the 4870 X2 (in general). But I would save space, and grab 1 4870 X2, I mean your going dual GPU anyways, why take up the space....unless you want to grab 1 4870 1 gig and save some cash for later

 

[BaBa BoeY]

The reason I ask this, I heard that the X2 really just utilizes 1g since it's dual gpu. That's why I was thinking the memory would be better used if I bought two 4870's..

 

[L1qu1d]

well both are seen as 2 gigs, but none actually have 2 gigs. They both only use 1 gig

 

[BaBa BoeY]

Memory
Memory Clock 3.6GHz ( 900MHz DDR5 )
Memory Size 2GB
Memory Interface 512-bit
Memory Type GDDR5


confused

 

[BaBa BoeY]

So the x2 only uses 1 gig? Even though it says 2?

 

[Dekasav]

They "have" 2Gb, but since each GPU has to have the same copy, they only have 1Gb of memory for practical/performance purposes. The same is true of 2+ cards in crossfire, too, though. The VRAM is copied for each GPU/card, so you have as much memory as is on the lowest card (as far as performance is considered).

 

[spathotan]

Basically each GPU has 1GB of memory, its not 2GB shared. They are doing their own thing with their own memory.

 

[L1qu1d]

yes, its 2 gigs on the card. but its 1 gig per pcb, the card companies just advertise it as 2 gigs because technically there is 2 gigs on the board, just not both used together....its like dual core CPUs, generally they are used as an individual core, not as a core added with the previous one (2.0 ghz dual core doesn't = 4.0 ghz, its equals 2.0 ghz and 2.0 ghz.)

Just like the 9800 GX2 says 1 gig, but its actually 512

 

[BaBa BoeY]

oh ok thanks for the clarification guys

 

[enewmen]

Usually when I'm faced with this, I wait.
Such as get the 1 gig 4870 if that's good enough, then wait a year for a much better card - better than a 4870 X2. This will stretch your dollar.
If you need the X2 power now, then just get a X2 rather than two (1 gig 4870s). I think the X2 uses less power and only 1 PCIe slot.
So, basically the X2 or two 4870s are expensive.

 

[mattyboyywonder]

Id say just pick up a 4870 1gb now which will surely satisfy most if not all needs then in a few months pick up another at a lower price and dominate for the foreseeable future.

 

[Onus]

Get one 4870. If you really need two, get a second one, not a 4870X2. That way, if you run into compatibility or driver issues, you have the option of [temporarily] taking one of them out.

 

[Techman_15]

I am looking at the same thing. I already have a 4870 1 mg. With my 30in. monitor (2550x1600) I need a bit more. I'm debating between buying a 2nd 4870 or going with a Nvidia 295.

Also - with a 650 watt power supply, I'm not sure it could handle 2 4870s.

 

[mattyboyywonder]

haha thats so funny you bring that up... i have been researching and created topics dedicated to finding out if my 650 watt psu can hold up to cf 4870's and in my case it can... check a bunch of my threads for tons of that info.