Quad Crossfire with 4 single GPU Cards

[krjcook]

I plan buying a few HD 4850's that only take up a 1 expansion slot each and set them up in crossfire. I know that Crossfire Can support up to 4 GPU's and I also know that you won't get big performance gains but i want to do it anyway. But does that only include two 4000 X2 series cards (4 GPU's) or can you also configure it with 4 individual cards?

 

[daedalus685]

You should be able to do it with 4, assuming you can find a motherbaord with 4 pcie x16(8) slots...

 

[krjcook]

You should be able to do it with 4, assuming you can find a motherbaord with 4 pcie x16(8) slots...

there easy to find, Just gonna get one with the 790FX chipset. Majority of them come with 4 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots

 

[daedalus685]

there easy to find, Just gonna get one with the 790FX chipset. Majority of them come with 4 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots

Remember that those will all function in x8, not x16.. not that it really matters for a 4850..

 

[belial2k]

A few things to consider. 1) the motherboards that support that will cost almost as much as an x58 motherboard, so you could just get two 4850x2 cards and run them on an i7 which would give you much better graphics performance.
2) you are adding a ton of heat to your case. you will need to make sure it is well ventilated and has extra fans for the video cards since they will not be able to vent out the back like a dual slot card would. This will also affect your ability to OC the cards.
3)as others have pointed out, you are choking your bus lanes, which will in theory hurt your performance somewhat.
4)simple law of computers...accomplish the task with the fewest amount of components to achieve the performance desired. Adding more adds headaches due to the extra troubleshooting if something goes wrong, not to mention greater demands from the PSU.

 

[Helloworld_98]

unless you're breadboarding it isn't worth it, and dual 4890's will perform better.

 

[daedalus685]

A few things to consider. 1) the motherboards that support that will cost almost as much as an x58 motherboard, so you could just get two 4850x2 cards and run them on an i7 which would give you much better graphics performance.
2) you are adding a ton of heat to your case. you will need to make sure it is well ventilated and has extra fans for the video cards since they will not be able to vent out the back like a dual slot card would. This will also affect your ability to OC the cards.
3)as others have pointed out, you are choking your bus lanes, which will in theory hurt your performance somewhat.
4)simple law of computers...accomplish the task with the fewest amount of components to achieve the performance desired. Adding more adds headaches due to the extra troubleshooting if something goes wrong, not to mention greater demands from the PSU.

1) Not even close to as much as an x58 MB (all are well under 200USD).

2) It will get toasty, the OP will ahve to accomodate that.

3) It will not choke the bus lanes, the slots will all work at x8, which will make no difference to a 4850. If one were to get a cheep MB that in quad link ran some at x4 there would be an issue, but not in this case.

4) The op stated he is aware of the issues but wants to mess around with it anyway, more power to him. I think he realises there are better ideas in terms of price/performance/reliability. I have never seen Occam's razor refered to as a law of computers , though in most practical cases it is a good idea. However, when playing around it really isnt something that most worry about.

 

[belial2k]

There are several x58 boards in the $170 - $200 price range, which is what he is going to spend on an fx board that has what he needs. One of the advantages of x58 is that it scales much better with crossfire and sli.
I see nowhere where the OP stated he is aware of the issues, since his question centered on if it was even possible to run 4 cards on a single board. I have to assume because of this he is NOT aware of the issues he will face trying to do it.
LOL...okay, maybe you know what Occam's razor is, but I thought I would apply it to the specific question at hand. If I would have mentioned Occam's razor without applying it to the question I would have got the ???? from most people.

 

[daedalus685]

There are several x58 boards in the $170 - $200 price range, which is what he is going to spend on an fx board that has what he needs. One of the advantages of x58 is that it scales much better with crossfire and sli.
I see nowhere where the OP stated he is aware of the issues, since his question centered on if it was even possible to run 4 cards on a single board. I have to assume because of this he is NOT aware of the issues he will face trying to do it.
LOL...okay, maybe you know what Occam's razor is, but I thought I would apply it to the specific question at hand. If I would have mentioned Occam's razor without applying it to the question I would have got the ???? from most people.

I'm not sure what thread I thought I was reading but you are correct, he did not state he knew this had poor scaling.. my bad.

As for the rest.. assuming he does not know this is a waste of money and is not doing it jsut to have stuff to play with.. well.. It is a waste of money compared to a dual gpu solution.