4890 and 4850 crossfire

Will the 4850 bring the speed down of the 4890 and make it like 2 4870's instead?

It won't be SLI that is the nVidia counterpart to ATI's Crossfire. Crossfire is notably more lenient with different brands/ram/clock. However, I think that crossfire brings the higher card down to the level of the lower card (correct me if I'm wrong), which would make it like 2 4850s.

It will perform as if it were roughly 2 4850's.

However, unlike SLI, crossfire will not downclock the faster card, they will work asynchronously. That doesnt mean much to the average person, effectively the faster card wil just wait around for the slower to finish its job, but it does mean that in a game (such as a windowed dx9 game) that does not support crossfire you will get the performance of a single 4890 (assuming it is your primary card) instead of a 4850+4850. It also alows crossfire to be much more forgiving as far as what can be mixed together,

However, since the 4850 is so much slower than a 4890 your performance will only be marginally better with a 4850+4890 (same performance as a 4850+4850) as compared to a single 4890.

@daedalus: Is the asynchronous clock better or worse than the synchronous slower clock?

I'm only answering logics but there should be no difference between the two cards working at the same speed or one faster and then waiting.

Maybe I'm not right but it wouldn't make sence would it?

maybe...but what if crossfire is smart enough to be like okay you are slower so ill give you 40% and give the faster 60% ...

and a lot of things in electronics don't make sence...like the imaginary portion of impedance...it's mind boggling  

I have never seen any review or data that was able to show any difference between two synchronous slower cards or an asynchronous faster card with a slower partner.

For all practical purposes a faster card crossfired with a slower cards works exactly the same as two of the slower cards, but with the advantages over synchronous methods I mentioned above.

So i miles well just use 2 4850's then if its not going to be better performance or graphics right?

That would be the most cost effective thing to do.

The only reason you would want to mix crossfire is if you got a card on the super cheep, or you play a lot of games that only use the primary card so want it to be faster.

i got 2 4850's now and didn't hardly pay anything for them thats why i asked if a 4890 would crosfire nicely with one of them and get better performance caue i have enough to spend on one more better card now.

Yeah don't bother getting a 4890, then. Your setup would hardly benefit from it.

do you think my graphics are gonna kick ass with the 2 4850's?????

They should be fine.

Hey daedalus685 how is that fatal1ty titanium pro sound card i see you have in your configuration, i also have one for my new build does it sound good ?

I enjoy the sound quite a bit. I have always enjoyed Creative products, it didn't disappoint me.. looks cool too  .

I more or less get a sound card for the extra features though.. not so much the "sound quality."