IIRC GDDR3 consumer more power than GDDR5, which means that 512MB of GDDR5 memory would consume less power than 512MB of GDDR3. Therefore it would be safe to assume that 1GB of GDDR3 also consumes more power than 512MB of GDDR5. All this however is contingent on the fact that GDDR3 consumes more pow...

I hope not since I have an 8800GT. Now I am afraid to shutdown my computer before bed to save money on electricity. If this is true it looks as though I may be better off leaving my computer on all the time.

But you have two Ninja mini's on a 4870X2 for a total of 1.16 Kilograms(1160g). The card with stock heatsink weigh's in at about 2Kg. However, the stock heatsink has a metal bracket along the edges to prevent the PCB from bending under that enormous weight. The two ninja mini's would have no such br...

Two CPU heatsinks could probably be mounted to it fairly easily. It would be fun to see one with a couple of Ninja Minis mounted. Smile

Yea, but they'd weigh so much you would have to lay your case on its side or do a massive modded bracket rig.

Seeing how I have a copy of Ubuntu 8.04, I might try it out. I especially like the remote admin feature cause once I have it set up, I want to keep it out of the way.

I'm building a file server from some old components I have lying around. The specs: AMD Athlon X2 4200+ Asrock 939Dual-VSTA 512MB DDR 400 Leadtek 7900GT (3d is screwed up, but 2d is fine) 3 80 GB IDE drives in RAID 5. 3ware 7506-8 PCI 2.2 IDE RAID Controller RAID 0/1/5/10 JBOD TT 420Watt PSU (Cleane...

Either the pre-applied stuff of AS5. AS5 will give you lower temps once it sets, but probably not a lot lower (maybe 1-4C lower). Either one is leaps and bounds better than the crappy white goo.

I knew it was wise to go with the GMA X3100 instead of the 8400GS (that and I won't be tempted to play games on my notebook in class). Now we know for sure Intel has better QA than Nvidia.

Also the 4870 does put out more heat so the VF900 may not keep up with it.

VF900 will definitely work.
Sapphire has a 4850 with the VF900 available.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102760

What is the wattage of the PSU? It sounds like the PSU may not have enough power. You said that when you added the two other HDDs you started experiencing slowdowns. It would be helpful if you can tell us everything in your PC, including fans. Also what is the wattage on the PSU. If you remove a HDD...

If I recall correctly, there were no aftermarket coolers made for the 3870X2. There may have been one or two water coolers made. So unless you want to invest in water cooling, the stock cooler is what you have to live with. If you put some Arctic silver 5 on the stock X2 cooler, you may be able to h...

For noise it depends where you used to be. My computer used to be running at 45+ decibels (which is freaking loud mind you, think vacuum cleaner). Now my loudest fan is 24dBa. I am quite sure I could live with 30-35dBa especially since I had the horrible stock cooler on my 8800GT for 6 months. I cou...

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.

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 ...

I know members here...me included (id like to think)...have a sensible view on psu requirements..."1000w+ psu" is a swear word :mrgreen: . But i would have suggested a higher watt psu...maybe a 600-800w. In most cases psu's are most efficient at 50% load. I just think 500w is cutting to close to th...

The E2200 is a 65nm part with a TDP of 65W. Thanks for clearing up the efficiency part, I couldn't remember which way it went.

I saw some power requirements for 4870's in X-fire and it didn't look pretty. Granted it was total system power with a quad core, and wasn't DC power but AC... it was still high at about 450 Watts AC. I believe that is less in DC watts, but not by a whole lot. I only have a 500 W PSU which is 80% ef...

I know it is unreleased, but I assume the power requirements will be very similar to two 4870's in crossfire. the only other potential problem is if the PCI express slot I have (version 1.1 I think) will restrict the performance of the X2.

I have a related question. Would my 500 Watt Seasonic PSU w/ 34 amps on the 12 rail (combined, I did the math) be enough for the 4870 X2? If not, how is the quality on those Video card 5.25 inch drive bay PSU's? Also, my board (P35 chipset) is not PCI express 2.0, would that limit the 4870X2's perfo...

For the Motherboard, I recommend Gigabyte. I have the p35 and it works great. For about $110 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345 However, for $149 you have the option of getting a second 4870 down the road and crossfiring them. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?I...

Good point widow.

Quitch had better be using a 64bit O/S otherwise he is wasting money.

Yes. However, it may not be noticeable. On my 8800GT's stock cooler, I could only hear the cooler after I raised the rpm to 50% from the default 30%. Even then, the noise was not bad. Yes I could tell it was my 8800GT, but it even at 50% it was not significantly louder than the rest of my fairly qui...

Nvidia is really hurting their partners with this price war with ATI. These cuts only hurt their partners more. Over the past several days we have spent some time with several Nvidia’s partners in the Silicon Valley and in Taiwan, which made it obvious that there are tensions between GPU manufactu...

My old setup but still very similar to my current one: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v386/soloman02/computerpics001.jpg I have since added card board to better direct the air. I also only use the bottom fan to suck in cold air to blow on the GPU. The top fan blows on my Thermalright si-128. http...

For my next build / major upgrade I am planning on getting this case by coolermaster:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119137

It has spots for 7 120mm fans.

As am I. I wasn't looking forward to getting a new card so soon, especially since I want to save up more before classes resume at UNH.

I reinstalled the v2 and now everything is fine. I had to add four metal washers between the screws and the rubber washers (the rubber washer touches the PCB). Apparently even though the v2 is listed on thermalrights site as being compatible, it is not with out added hardware. There were small gaps ...

I let the card sit in the PCI ex slot all day while I was at work. Now The card works fine with no artifacts at stock settings while playing crysis. Temps are normal for my setup with the stock cooler (about 60C load w/AC unit running). I want to use the try the v2 again only with two screws diagona...

Too bad everything is still too expensive right now. The 8800GTS 512 is handily beaten by the 4850 and 4870 yet it still costs over 200. the GT is barely under 200. Hopefully the prices recede by the 4th cause that's when I'll have money to buy a new card.