CrossFireX (4xGPU's) in XP Pro x64

[arthurleung]

Before i continue, i just wanna say a very, very big thank you to everyone for their help thus far. - as researching this new build is getting more and more complicated by the day.

Anyway, now to the bad news, in researching whether every single piece of hardware / application i would be using on the new system, if they will work, i found out that XP x64 is not compatible with the anti-virus/firewall i want to use However it is compatible with 64bit vista. The good news tho is that the things i did not like about vista, i have since spent a good hour researching, and found out that those annoying features of vista can apparently be disabled. So i guess it's going to be 64bit vista after all. I'll certainly get better "future proofing" as it were, with vista than i would with xp x64 i guess.

But now there's a new problem, my current usb adsl modem is apparently "vista compatible" (that's what sagem say on their site, see link: http://www.sagem.com/support/site/mo...00/840&pays=uk) but i have no idea if it includes a 64bit driver, knowing sod's-law, it probably doesn't. So i need to get a new adsl modem, a simple task i thought, but im having trouble finding a usb adsl modem that has vista 64bit driver support any suggestions would be very welcome.

Also thank you shaithis & Robscure, if you hadn't mentioned about the power of crossfireX only becoming most evident @ 1900x rez and above, i would had never thought to check my monitors max rez specs. My monitor has a max rez of 1600x1200 @ 75Hz, so you guys are very right, it would be pointless getting crossfireX and using it on a montior with such a low max rez, so that means it's going to be just the single 4870x2 after all aswell. Im not going to get a 4850, which yes, would probably be more apt for my monitor, because i don't know if im going to get a newer monitor later on, but if i do, then i'll be glad of the 4870x2.

Robscure, It appears that we are in the same boat as my scenario is almost identical to yours, i've been out of the world of computers for a while, but now it's time for a new system, so i, like you, am having to do the usual multitude of hours on google, reviews sites, compatibility lists, to make sure everything will work. But i can tell you one thing, i am very glad that i have. There have been several insistence's over the past weeks where i came close to ordering the new system, only to come across an informing article, or find some important bit of info on google or on forums that meant i had to change something about the new spec.

My potential new system is almost the same as the one your going for Robscure, only with a antec 900 case, 12Gb of ram, probably a 1000w (ish) psu, a 4870 x2, a cooler master cpu cooler and the cpu & mobo are the same as yours.

Who knew that just buying a new system could be so complicated.

Just to let you know that ALL 32bit games will NOT use more than 2GB of ram on its own, so there is no need to get 12GB of RAM, considering the price of memory is going to drop significantly in the future, when games finally move to 64bit.

Even 3GB will cut it, 4GB in dual channel would be fine IMO, 6GB is I think is the most gamers will go for, 12GB do you really have any use for it?

If you're only going for ONE 4870x2, a 620W PSU or around that will be suffice

[Robscure]

I hope you get whatever makes you happy. I have certainly been through dozens of different specs by now, and just when I thought I was finished, I changed it again lol.

[badass]

Just to let you know that ALL 32bit games will NOT use more than 2GB of ram on its own

The 32 bit supreme commander can if you're handy with the command line. You can give it up to the full 4 GB by setting the large address aware flag on the executable. I'm sure there are a few others as well.

[Robscure]

The 32 bit supreme commander can if you're handy with the command line. You can give it up to the full 4 GB by setting the large address aware flag on the executable. I'm sure there are a few others as well.

Console cmds ftw...

Nice quote btw

[Smudger]

Does it have to be a USB modem? An ethernet one is far safer...

[Dave_07]

Just to let you know that ALL 32bit games will NOT use more than 2GB of ram on its own, so there is no need to get 12GB of RAM, considering the price of memory is going to drop significantly in the future, when games finally move to 64bit.

Even 3GB will cut it, 4GB in dual channel would be fine IMO, 6GB is I think is the most gamers will go for, 12GB do you really have any use for it?

Cheers arthurleung,
If 6GB is enough for vista x64 and the latest games, then thats good, just getting the 6GB will save me nearly £200 over the 12GB,
tho will 6GB be enough for 64bit games ?
- on a side note, i was interested how much i had saved or increased with these changes, and you guys, so far, have actually saved me nearly £800 lol thats the cost of a good laptop

If you're only going for ONE 4870x2, a 620W PSU or around that will be suffice

Yeah probably will be going with just a single 4870x2. CrossfireX would be awesome, and i would go for it, and just get a new monitor in a few months, so i could make use of it, but i don't know if my case would keep them cool enough, at high load i mean.
Out of interest, what is the average operating temp for a 4870x2 @ high load ?
Also what kinda of performance/longevity can i expect with the single 4870 x2 under Direct-X 10 ?
As i was watching various hi rez videos and some screen shots of dx10 being compared to dx9, and the difference is very evident, dx10 is almost real world quality, which i imagine must put alot of strain on the gpu.

Edit: The ANTEC Twelve Hundred is available, so im going to be getting that instead of the 900, would that be enough for dual 4870x2's ?
Here it is in all it's glory: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=12726&page=2

I hope you get whatever makes you happy. I have certainly been through dozens of different spec's by now, and just when I thought I was finished, I changed it again lol.

Thanks Robscure and i know exactly what you mean. Every time i think i've got it all sorted, i end up finding out something new, which has an effect on the spec. LOL im getting to the point now where im actually afraid to order the system lol, if that makes any sense, just encase i find out something else after i order it, and i end up kicking my self cause i could have saved some dosh, or cause i should have chosen different components etc. Kinda paranoid to the point now where atm im currently cross-referencing every piece of hardware with every other piece of hardware in the spec, just to make sure they will all be compatible with each other. Just thank god for places like hexus, makes things so much easier.

Does it have to be a USB modem? An ethernet one is far safer...

Not particularly, what ever work's will do. The only requirement is that it is not a wireless router/modem. It needs to have a wired connection to the system, so their is a physical line all the way from the phone socket, to the modem/router and to the system itself. Also that it be vista 64bit compatible, and that it is available to buy in the uk.

Thanks, Dave.

[moogle]

tho will 6GB be enough for 64bit games ?
- on a side note, i was interested how much i had saved or increased with these changes, and you guys, so far, have actually saved me nearly £800 lol thats the cost of a good laptop

Yes, 6GB is more than enough and so is 4GB especially for games. That £800 saved can be used to keep your PC "future proof" a while longer

[jackvdbuk]

have a read of past "need help with buying a pc"

4gb is more than enough for me, i game loads and it rarely goes over 2.5gb

[Robscure]

have a read of past "need help with buying a pc"

4gb is more than enough for me, i game loads and it rarely goes over 2.5gb

If you don't plan on using watercooling then you probably won't use all of the space that the Antec 1200 provides... the 900 is just as good as far as air-cooling is concerned, it's just that the 1200 is larger...

You may find a large case to be inconvenient, so consider the space that you have for it...

Also beware of getting too-big of a psu... it's not necessary...

And a 4870 will run your games at max settings on a 22"... going higher than that and you would need 4870x2 to run at max... It's all up to personal preference, in the end. Because I've researched so much and have so many conflicting views... you really just have to "bite the bullet", or else you'll never buy anything lol.

Good luck

[Dave_07]

I'm really going to have to stop this googleing lol, as i just found out yet something else, which basically means that (as far as i understand it, and i don't fully understand it yet) on a vista machine, if you have more than one hard drive, it can cause a boot up issue, both at the installation of vista, and possibly there after... sigh... but that's just ludicrous, so im sure there's a solution to it, other than just only having one hard drive on a vista system and doing a boot repair with the vista dvd every time it happens. I just haven't found it yet.

[Robscure]

I'm really going to have to stop this googleing lol, as i just found out yet something else, which basically means that (as far as i understand it, and i don't fully understand it yet) on a vista machine, if you have more than one hard drive, it can cause a boot up issue, both at the installation of vista, and possibly there after... sigh... but that's just ludicrous, so im sure there's a solution to it, other than just only having one hard drive on a vista system and doing a boot repair with the vista dvd every time it happens. I just haven't found it yet.

No idea, I don't know much about it myself... I'm still trying to figure out which of the three versions of Vista to get...

Vista (full) for £140... Vista (upgrade) for £120... or Vista (upgrade) for £49.... Surely there's a catch to the £49 one! And it's not OEM.... and none of them say whether they're 32 or 64 bit...

So you're not alone when it comes to issues, Dave!

[Dave_07]

No idea, I don't know much about it myself... I'm still trying to figure out which of the three versions of Vista to get...

Vista (full) for £140... Vista (upgrade) for £120... or Vista (upgrade) for £49.... Surely there's a catch to the £49 one! And it's not OEM.... and none of them say whether they're 32 or 64 bit...

So you're not alone when it comes to issues, Dave!

Don't know if this helps at all, but after reading some articles and troubleshooting guides and various forum posts on other forums, the one underlying theme i picked up was that the upgrade package is usually by far the cheapest, but also usually has the most issues, as far as people reporting problems, that is.
Dunno if that helps.

[Robscure]

Don't know if this helps at all, but after reading some articles and troubleshooting guides and various forum posts on other forums, the one underlying theme i picked up was that the upgrade package is usually by far the cheapest, but also usually has the most issues, as far as people reporting problems, that is.
Dunno if that helps.

Yeah, maybe people have issues because they can't figure out how to install it properly...

Thanks