Graphic cards 1X16 vs 2X8

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Mon, 07/09/2012 - 18:28
OXintheBOX
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hello, this is OXintheBOX and just to say i love what you do, i have learned a great deal from you in the feild of computers and want to say thank you. my first question is i am using a ATI 6870 graphics card, my motherbord has 1x16 or 2x8 i want to know if i would be better off using the one card i have or maybe going with 2 6870's in CF or just get one of the new 7000 or 8000 cards. keep in mind i dont have a big budgit and i am still using a Q9650 core 2 quad. my 2nd question is, i would upgrade the whole rig but there are so meny intel sockets out now i cant make heads or tales out of them. I have always went with the newest type of parts out there witch would be intel 2011, but i see most people using the z77 chipset of borads, how dose one decide what socket to use and whats best for straght gaming?

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Mon, 07/09/2012 - 18:51
#1
spawnkiller
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I really think a single card is the best but it really depends on your budget... if you have a 6870 i don't think you'll see a great improvement to a 7870 that is 250$ here... so i'd suggest to add another 6870... but if you have the cash 7950 (325$ at my local retailler) or on NVIDIA side a 580 (7950 equivalent) or a 670 but it's 400-450$... (a single 670 override 2 560 or 2 6870 easily...)

PS: do you drive multiple monitors cause if you have only one go with 2 6870 you'll see no difference at all... ( i can pick up one for 140$ here so i think it's the cheapest way to have performance...)

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Tue, 07/10/2012 - 13:22
#2
3dGameMan
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Rodney Reynolds,
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Tue, 07/10/2012 - 16:36
#3
eire1274
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Remember that Rodney's video is also from 4 years ago, and with PCI-e V2 and now V3, the bus bandwidth has changed much as well. An x8 slot in V2 matches a PCI-e V1 x16 slot, and an x8 in V3 murders it, assuming the daughter card also supports V3.

Per version:

V1=2.5GT/s x x? (x1, x2, x4, x8, x16) (1.0a, 1.1)
V2=5.0GT/s x x? (2.0, 2.1)
V3=8.0GT/s x x? (3.0)
V4=16.0GT/s x x? (upcoming, 2014/2015 rollout)

Nick McDermott

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