Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi mates,

I wish to play Trimonitor and for a loooong time I´m searching for an appropiate new configuration.
My current rig is: Intel Q9550 E0 2,83GHz @ 3.4 (1.040v) ASUS P5Q Deluxe ATI4870 Toxic 1GB 4GB DDR2800 Xilence 600W PSU

The mobo doesn´t support x16/x16 but x16/x8 -> I reject Xfire because of the possible performance decrease. I´m thinking of GTX590 or 6990 as possible candidates.
I had to learn two weeks ago how to overclock the CPU because I don´t want to invest in a new CPU+mobo nowadays (PCIE3.0 is just arround the corner), so by pushing my Q9550 maybe it could work...
I intend to buy also a Corsair H80 to reach the 4GHz to breed the future GPU.

Do you think that everything I´ve got in my mind is ok??
Would you wait till the new Radeon7XXX or Nvidia GPUs arrival??
Should I be focused on purchasing a GTX580 and wait till the new graphic cards will arrive, so prices will go down??

For 3 times I had ready all the "buy online" process... and just in the last minute I went back...

I could buy three Benq G2222HDL to complete my desk (currently I play 1650x1050 20"), but I don´t know if I should go much better for three Benq 2420HD... the main issue on beeing focused on those monitors is the thin bezel surrounding the screen.

Uff

Is anyone in a similar situation? :tired: Any advice will be so appreciated!! :D

:cheers
Xau xau!

The mobo doesn´t support x16/x16 but x16/x8 -> I reject Xfire because of the possible performance decrease. I´m thinking of GTX590 or 6990 as possible candidates.

I believe the difference between x16x8 and x16x16 isn't particularly noticable - HardOCP did a test last year - admittedly with last-gen cards - and said:

You can find slight framerate differences between x16/x16 and x16/x8 SLI and CrossFireX video card configurations if you go looking for them while pushing games to super high end resolutions and quality settings, but nothing that negatively impacts a real world gaming experience.

I would imagine that the slightly slower clock on a 6990 compared to 2 6970's would be a bigger difference than running the 6970s in x16 and x8 PCI-E slots?

Thanks for the reply evilmatt!

Well, I was wrong. Asus P5Q Deluxe allows x8 /x8 in xfire mode. :doh
Nowadays, my rig is not "up to date" and I was goint to try replacing just the GPU, cooler and PSU parts... if it doesn´t work well (I mean, more than 40fps) I will have to think about purchasing a new one.
I was going for a dual gpu just to make profit of the x16 speed (cpu is limitant on itself, and I don´t want to increase that effect with x8/x8)

Is there any reachable speed for the Q9550 to avoid GTX590 or HD6990 bottleneck??
Am I dreaming?
:)

May be I should learn how to OC the cpu first, and next year go for the multimonitor solution in a new machine... poor pocket!! :hide


Cheers!
:D

The CPU will be fine. The higher up the resolutions you go, the less the CPU plays a role. And the Q9550 is a monster, if I had one I would of not just bought my Sandy Bridge setup.

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

CPU surley plays a role! especially with Crossfire. But a Q9550 is a realy good CPU, even if it is old! you're now on 3.4ghz with 1.04V and standard CPU cooler thats nice, but H80 isnt that powerfull. Normal Big size Air Cooler are better Tests here... See for yourself. If you like it buy it, but there are other options. i Think you should be able to go to 4ghz :) cause Q9550 allows up to 1.3625V ... well wouldn't force 4ghz or 4.2ghz with 1.36V but if 3.7 or 3.6 runs with 1.25V should be enough.


About GPU..... HD6990 or 2x6970... first said. you don't realy have a performance loss if you use a 6970 in a 8x PCI-E Slot! Tests here (sorry in german ;) ) 16x16x is a HD6990 witch clockspeed of a 6970.
So 2x 6970 would be More Powerfull, 1. They're running faster than a single 6990, and 2nd you can OC them more. mine works at 930 instead of 880.


Important side Note! 3 Displays wont run on a Single GTX580 (nor on a gtx590 ?) without Matrox thing. but they would on a hd6990 or 6970.

btw, if your low on cash, buy two OLD version! (check twice beforhand!) HD6950, do a shadder mod (or bios flash) and OC them to 880mhz.


greets Haldi

_________________
We gonna send it to outa space!

Uaho, thanks a lot guys!!

I had a great moment while discovering that my CPU was E0 model... so I decided to learn how to "boost" it
J)
I´m gonna read the air cooler reviews and I will go for one. In some benches I saw the H80 doing a good job but the Noctua NHD14 was so close...
As far as I know, just the GTX590 can handle 3 monitors. For the rest of the 5XXGTX family, SLI is required.
I have been an ATI fan, I had a X1600, X1950PRO, my current 4870Toxic... and I hated the bad performance against physx games. (I love NFS "Shit"!! :bigsmile: )

Tomorrow morning the decision is going to be sent to the pc-shop...so I´ll keep you updated!

NewPSU
Cooler
GPU
FirstMonitor

Cheers
:cheers

If your board fits it, (and you have room in your case) you could do a lot worse than a Thermalright HR02 Macho heatsink. They are VERY good.

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

Well... this seems to be a "neverending story"... I´ve seen Fujur flying close to me, and the oracle almost hit me with the light beam...
WHEN AM I GOING TO BE DECIDED???
:tired: :tired:

Today my "dealer" is almost out of stock!!! There are no PSU Hx1050 and I don´t know if a TX850V2 (70A) is enough for 6970cfx + possible H80 cooler.
The difference in price here is 80 euros more or less..
I´ll check the room for the Macho cooler, it seems to work great! (30 euros less than NoctuaD14, and 50 euros less than H80 liquid cooler)
(more cash to be re-invested in GPU or monitor)

Also, to be finally confused, I´ve read that crossfire doesn´t scale or work as good as they promised...
What is going to be the difference in between one 6970 or cfx 2 of them?

I have no room to instal the 6990 in the case.

I´ve got lots of doubts and you already have the rigs I expect to have "tomorrow"..