4870 X2 Preview!

soloman02 · Post by **soloman02** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:54 pm

AnandTech has a 4870 X2 preview. This card is looking pretty good, especially for users like me with only one pci express slot. The load power was lower than two 4870's in crossfire (but not by much). Noise was no worse than a GTX 280 at load, but that was anecdotal. Temps were slightly better/same than the 4870, again anecdotal.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354&p=1

Hopefully AMD is working overtime to optimize their driver support for multigpu so that more games see a good increase in performance when adding a second gpu.
I'm sure taking off the stock cooler and replacing the stock paste with Arctic Silver 5 will improve temperatures by a large margin as well.

It's good to see AMD back in the game. Someone needs to keep Nvidia honest.

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:52 pm

The 8800GTX has a TDP of about 135W, meaning the rest of the system (video card excluded) has a power consumption of 121W.

The total power consumption of the 4870X2 is 407 - 121 = a whopping 286W.
That's an awful lot of heat coming from a single part, putting it's heat inside your case...
Replacing the stock paste is a good idea but it won't change the amount of heat this thing puts out. People who overclock their CPU will notice a big difference.

soloman02 · Post by **soloman02** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:17 pm

spookmineer wrote: That's an awful lot of heat coming from a single part, putting it's heat inside your case...

Um, the X2 exhausts the heat it generates out the back of the case, unless those pictures are fakes...

So you might even see a slight drop in case temps as it is blowing that hot air out of the case.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:42 pm

And best part of the HD 4870 x 2 compeared 3870 x 2 is that 4870 x 2 had not the 3870 x2's infamous microstutter at present when it was tested.

Kaleid · Post by **Kaleid** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:13 am

This card has no business in being in a silent computer, it would ruin it all.

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:06 pm

soloman02 wrote:Um, the X2 exhausts the heat it generates out the back of the case, unless those pictures are fakes...

So you might even see a slight drop in case temps as it is blowing that hot air out of the case.

The 8800/9800 has the same holes and also fails to remove the warm air out of the case (the backpressure never is enough, and the lid isn't exactly air-tight).
The only way to remove the heat from a video card out of a case is by using a watercooling solution where the radiator is placed outside the case.

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:33 pm

spookmineer wrote:The only way to remove the heat from a video card out of a case is by using a watercooling solution where the radiator is placed outside the case.

A duct or something would do the job, or simply the stock cooler and sufficient air pressure in the case. No way near as efficient as with water cooling though.