Legion Hardware offers advice for building the best Crossfire rig

Choosing the right graphics card / chipset combo to give you the most bang for the buck is always tricky business, and even moreso when you're looking to get the most out of some brand new hardware like AMD's Radeon HD 4000 series cards. Thankfully, the folks at Legion Hardware have now stepped in to help out a bit, although, as is often the case, it's not entirely a clear cut choice. If it's a bargain you're looking for though (relatively speaking), it seems like pairing an ASUS P45 motherboard with a couple of Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards (for a total of about $550) will give you enough performance to impress all but the most demanding gamer. If you want to push those benchmarks as far as possible, however, you'll have to go up to an ASUS X48 board, although even the folks at Legion Hardware question whether the mere 5% performance gain is worth the extra cost. If you want to make your own decision though, you can hit up the link below and dig through the numbers yourself.

[Via PC Perspective]

[Anton @ Jul 16th 2008 2:21PM]

How is four video cards equal to only 5% performance gain?

[z0phi3l @ Jul 16th 2008 2:25PM]

Could it be that Crossfire isn't as good as SLI?

Most likely I'd assume the heat in the middle two would slow them down just a bit, but what do I know about SLI/Crossfire

[Eric @ Jul 16th 2008 2:40PM]

They are talking about going from a 2 card setup on a P45 motherboard to an X48 motherboard
the P45 only supports one 16x or two 8x where as the X48 supports two 16x lanes.
The performance gain is less because PCIE 2.0 is double the bandwidth of the old PCIE

[Hybridandy @ Jul 16th 2008 2:36PM]

My guess would be that it's only 5% because whatever benchmark they're using (I haven't read the article) is now being limited by the CPU or some other system and not the graphics capabilities.

[Steve @ Jul 16th 2008 3:09PM]

As you scale from 2->3->4 cards the performance gain decreases. And the performance gain from going from 4 4850s to 4 4870s would be about 5%.

Also, Crossfire scales better than SLI

[Wolfticket @ Jul 16th 2008 3:40PM]

Without reading the article, I would assume the 5% performance difference refers to the chipsets (ie. P45

[rektide @ Jul 16th 2008 3:41PM]

a) the article is about the gain going from 1x to 2x video cards
b) the 5% gain is for differences amongst motherboard chipsets; it is separate from the gain from the sli itself.

try reading the article before you comment on whatever picture engadget opts to put to an article.

[Wolfticket @ Jul 16th 2008 3:41PM]

"greater-than-sign-that-ends-comment"X48), not the crossfire setups.

[z0phi3l @ Jul 16th 2008 2:22PM]

Those 2 middle card have got to get real hot vary fast

[Homeboy @ Jul 16th 2008 2:51PM]

Use the excess heat for barbecue by putting lamb chops behind either of the two cards in the middle.

[Eh @ Jul 16th 2008 4:18PM]

that was my first thought, how exactly is the 2nd card supposed to survive?

[Starnerf @ Jul 16th 2008 4:53PM]

They made a toaster.

[Isaac @ Jul 16th 2008 2:23PM]

550?
cheapest 4850 in the market cost $160 after rebate
$640 (4 * 160) + MB cost > $550.......

[z0phi3l @ Jul 16th 2008 2:25PM]

it says a COUPLE of the video cards, meaning 2 not four

[Isaac @ Jul 16th 2008 2:30PM]

anyway, just want to point out that the article underestimate or illustrating (coz. pic) $550 is the total cost in this case

[tom @ Jul 16th 2008 2:35PM]

I thought "a couple" means three or more?

How about P/S, Ram and CPU?

Can i recommend a Pentium Dual-Core processor? 1gig of ram? 350w p/s? =P

[Pochi @ Jul 16th 2008 2:36PM]

"I thought "a couple" means three or more?"

Yes. When I see an elderly "couple" walking down the street, I often wonder how good their threesomes must be.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 16th 2008 2:48PM]

A couple is two.
A few is more than two.
Several is a few couples.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Jul 16th 2008 4:38PM]

Tom, you didn't no a coupe meant two? BTW, you know a Pentium Dual Core(not the same as a Pentium D) is a Conroe based CPU right? It's actually a pretty good performing CPU and it's easy to get 100% overclocks on the E2160. That's DOUBLE the speed.

[xcrunk @ Jul 16th 2008 2:25PM]

folks, don't get me wrong...this is a mad setup, but really, isn't this a wee bit crazy??

The only people who build this kind of rig are gamers, and it seems to me that we in a console cycle at this time.

Perhaps when the consoles start looking dated in a few years, sure...but now just doesn't seem the time to build. Just my opinion....

(hiding under desk)

[Hamidxa @ Jul 16th 2008 5:24PM]

The consoles already look dated.

Compare any cross platform game between a console and a gaming PC, and the console version automatically looks lackluster and dated by comparison.

[neofolklore @ Jul 17th 2008 8:30AM]

last gen example of a thing called optimization:

Far Cry on PC running a geforce 6200

versus Far Cry on xbox1 running a geforce 3.5

the xbox1 version looked better.


this generation: PCs are able to have higher resolution textures and can fetch data faster, but optimization is still the key.

[IT-Accountant @ Jul 16th 2008 2:26PM]

fail!

[Engadam @ Jul 16th 2008 2:35PM]

The 5% performance is between the chipsets not the 4 video cards. In fact the picture is misleading because most of the article is about 2 cards in crossfire. As for SLI vs Crossfire it really is game dependant, CoD4 runs at more than double the framerate in crossfire.

[Water @ Jul 16th 2008 2:35PM]

The picture shows 4 cards, but if you actually READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE they are testing 2 CARDS in Crossfire.

[neofolklore @ Jul 17th 2008 8:32AM]

kind of like how many people ACTUALLY read the Obama article in the New Yorker instead of flaming the picture on the cover

[Pochi @ Jul 16th 2008 2:35PM]

5% for the expense required? Only the biggest strugglers need apply for that build.

[Richie @ Jul 16th 2008 2:43PM]

Can we start IP banning? I know it isn't super effective, but it's a step in the right direction.

As for the article, I am in the process of building an amazing budget crossfire rig. Rightnow I have a q6600, and two 4850s, I just need a good mobo, and decent ram :D.

[Richie @ Jul 16th 2008 2:44PM]

Can we start IP banning? I know it isn't super effective, but it's a step in the right direction.

As for the article, I am in the process of building an amazing budget crossfire rig. Rightnow I have a q6600, and two 4850s, I just need a good mobo, and decent ram :D.

[Joe @ Jul 16th 2008 2:45PM]

Well tbh I would say it's pointless anyway. 1 top of the line card these days will run everything (depending on the exact card) without issue except for you know what. I would say that makes spending such large sums of money on multiple cards is therefore, a total waste, but not only of money also of time trying to set it up. The only thing I've ever heard about Cross-fire is problems, it's a dodgy system that needs some work before buying into it. Outside point, with growing tensions between Intel and Nvidia it is likely that ATI could end up leading the way as Intel make it more and more difficult for Nvidia, such as the recent example of fight over Intel's new coming Nehalem. More support for ATI on the way, questionable.

[Kurian @ Jul 16th 2008 2:56PM]

Tell me... What advice would you offer on the erm.. present..erm SITUATION!

[retro77 @ Jul 16th 2008 3:11PM]

Glad to see some ATI love out there. It's been lacking in the last few years.

AMD+ATI=FTW IMO.

[intel fanboys: feel free to low rank]

[David Phillipps @ Jul 16th 2008 3:31PM]

I would like to get a motherboard that can handle up to 4 cards and only put one in it. Then as my system gets dated I can just keep adding cards and memory to it. It could last 10 years or so.

[Gman @ Jul 16th 2008 3:32PM]

Hmm, yes... I've been looking for a way to heat my basement in the winter...

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 16th 2008 3:37PM]

Am I the only one that sees the ridiculousness. So are we gonna need 8 gpu's to play crisis 4?

[Brian @ Jul 16th 2008 4:18PM]

ATI crossfire sucks!! eVGA GeForce GTX 280 1GB all the way!

[Garybaldy @ Jul 16th 2008 4:31PM]

Sure you use your 1GB card that eats up a third of your available ram

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/may/31/guardianweeklytechnologysection.it

[Ken @ Jul 16th 2008 4:43PM]

Are you not paying attention? 2 4850's smoke the GTX 280 for over $100 less. Where you fanboi's get your motivation is beyond me.

[Engadam @ Jul 16th 2008 6:11PM]

How many times did the author mention 32 bit system? Use a 64 bit system and you don't have that limitation. Any applications that can use more ram than 4GB will come out with 64 bit applications, even Crysis does and its old now.

[AlphaTeam @ Jul 16th 2008 6:54PM]

@Garybaldy: The article does specify that it affects 32-bit OS, so a 64-bit OS is not affected.

[jason @ Jul 16th 2008 7:46PM]

that article was pointless.


get a PC w/ 4gb of ram w/ 64bit OS. case solved.

why not recommend that instead of spreading FUD? To someone w/o tech experience they might get the wrong idea and simply stop at 3gb and not know about 64bit options.

[neofolklore @ Jul 17th 2008 8:33AM]

it doesn't matter which GPU you represent in this article, you'll still get low ranked.

[joe blow @ Jul 16th 2008 5:10PM]

My MB supports crossfire, but I still ended up going with a single nVidia card. Jeez, I play Crysis on high and zip through PS on my 22" monitor. What more do you need?