HD 5970 + Q9550 CPU, bottleneck?

[destabilizator]

Hello,
It seems I'll upgrade from my dual HD4870X2 to 1 HD 5970 (Sapphire, 4GB version, non-TOXIC) or even crossfire HD 5970. My rig has CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ stock speed and my question is, would it be sufficient enough not to bottleneck single or crossfire solution of HD 5970 cards?
Also I had very bad experience with cooling dual HD4870X2 (no watercooling, yet), but I guess those new monsters will heat as much?
And lastly, my PSU is Fortron Everest 1010W, but I guess it should be sufficient for either single or crossfire HD 5970, right?

Thanks for answers!
~Destabilizator+

 

[Maziar]

Hello
If you play at a resolution like 1080p or higher,then no it will be fine.

 

[destabilizator]

Oh, I forgot to mention I'm powering 30" screen, 2560x1900 :]

 

[Raidur]

With a higher resolution the CPU matters even less. However, you should look into some kind of OCing, to test it yourself. I'm thinking you may see significant gain up to 3.2 or so (which the Q9550 does easily with no voltage increases).

 

[destabilizator]

Thanks for replies guys, so I don't have to worry And I should definitely to try to OC it.

 

[Maziar]

No you'll be fine on that res, have fun gaming

 

[iRaiden]

Definitely overclock your processor to at least 3.2.

You shouldn't see any bottlenecking whatsoever at that resolution.

 

[destabilizator]

Now another "problem" has arisen, I'm not going to start new thread for it, so I'll use this
As I mentioned earlier, I have Fortron Everest 1010W PSU, which has 2x 8 pin and 2x 6 pin power connectors, but for dual HD5970 I found out 4x 8 pin are needed. I have reductions 8 pin -> 6 pin which came with Accelero Xtreme coolers for my old HD4870X2, question is, if I'd connected them, would I make the GPUs starving for power?

 

[Emperus]

I honestly don't see the reason behind your desired upgrade.. The HD 4870X2 is powerful enough for any game(s) available currently..

 

[destabilizator]

I honestly don't see the reason behind your desired upgrade.. The HD 4870X2 is powerful enough for any game(s) available currently..

I'll try to put some light on it, although it may be longer story.
Some time ago, I started getting artifacts in 3D applications, wondered wtf and tried switching the graphic cards in crossfire. Artifacts were gone and performance didn't seem to drop, so I was happy. Then I went for vacation and when I came back, PC just won't turn on, I was seeking what's the problem, tried to shortcut the PSU, it worked, but MB remained dead. As I had all in last 2 weeks of warranty, I decided to send whole PC, saying that MB is burnt out and secondary graphic card is malfunctional.
It turned out that PSU is causing the troubles, half-fried circuits, yet lights up when you shortcut it and the graphic card was accepted and will be exchanged for HD5970.
Thing is the exchange takes ages in my country (month or so) but I need my rig operational, as I'm not just enthusiast gamer, but I'm also running plasma modelling apps and processing the generated videos. So I decided to buy one HD5970 myself and have the rig shipped back to me the moment they replace the PSU, selling the HD4870X2 as I wouldn't be able to crossfire it with HD5970.

tl;dr:
I'm getting HD5970 in exchange for broken HD4870X2, but I can't afford to wait month for it (and 1x HD4870X2 it not enough for my purposes and I have buyer for it already), therefore I'm buying one HD5970 myself and gonna pair it with the one which comes later.

 

[Emperus]

You could've posted at the time when all that mishap started to happen.. Anyways, your plans seem to well laid out so no comments on that.. I am not sure how much potent would a quad crossfire setup be but since you are getting the HD 5970 in exchange, it works out as a good deal.. Personnely though, i'd have preferred a two way GTX 480 SLI..

 

[destabilizator]

You could've posted at the time when all that mishap started to happen.. Anyways, your plans seem to well laid out so no comments on that.. I am not sure how much potent would a quad crossfire setup be but since you are getting the HD 5970 in exchange, it works out as a good deal.. Personnely though, i'd have preferred a two way GTX 480 SLI..

Thanks for your input! I have very bad experience with nVidia cards (I've fried like 3 of them), so I'm sticking with Ati forever I guess
Any toughts on the issue above with PSU and 8/6 pin connectors?

 

[notty22]

Thanks for your input! I have very bad experience with nVidia cards (I've fried like 3 of them), so I'm sticking with Ati forever I guess
Any toughts on the issue above with PSU and 8/6 pin connectors?

IMO, your extensions will work fine. Your PSU puts out 4x20amps on the 12+ rails.
Just make sure that each card gets a 'true' 8 pin and 1 6-8 pin connector.
Just in case those extension don't allow full current, its going to be at least 300 watts a card. Which should be fine. They put dual 8 pin, in part for extreme overclockers, aesthetics.

 

[destabilizator]

IMO, your extensions will work fine. Your PSU puts out 4x20amps on the 12+ rails.
Just make sure that each card gets a 'true' 8 pin and 1 6-8 pin connector.
Just in case those extension don't allow full current, its going to be at least 300 watts a card. Which should be fine. They put dual 8 pin, in part for extreme overclockers, aesthetics.

That HD5970 I'm getting is actually OCed by Sapphire to 850/1200 and they explicitely state:

1200 Watt Power Supply is recommended for CrossFireX™ System.
2 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required.
4 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required for CrossFireX™ system.
in system spec, that's why I'm asking.

 

[notty22]

That HD5970 I'm getting is actually OCed by Sapphire to 850/1200 and they explicitely state:

1200 Watt Power Supply is recommended for CrossFireX™ System.
2 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required.
4 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required for CrossFireX™ system.
in system spec, that's why I'm asking.

I understand why your asking.
And if you want to explicitly follow their recommendations, buy a new PSU.
But like I said, I don't think you have to.

You have 4 - 12V+ rails that are rated for 240 watts a piece. (looked up your psu)
According to that sticker you have 20amps available for two pci-e connector on rail 2+4
I'm going to hazard a guess that is one 6 and one 8 pin off each rail.
20A X 12 = 240 watts available
You then get 75 watts at the motherboard.
From reviews I've read, each card , does not need 300 watts of power, from real world tests.
As long as you balanced out the two cards by using a true 8 pin on each card, I think it will work.
Sorry if this confuses you more.

edit: snipped my conclusion.

 

[destabilizator]

Okay, thank you very much! Guess my probs are solved for now, wish the rig was already there