My HD 4870 x2 experience

[Heinz68]

Last week I did buy the Gigabyte HD 4870 x2 card getting ready for the Intel i7 upgrade.
Since I'm still waiting for some parts I decided to install the x2 card on current setup to see if there is any improvement compared to the HD 4870 I used before.

First impression; the x2 card feels much more heavy than the HD4870 and it looks long but I didn't have any problem fitting it in my Antec P160w mid tower case with about inch to spare. The card is actually not any longer than the 8800 GTX which I still have. Better start putting some off the cards on eBAY, looks like I got too much attached to the 8800 GTX card. :)

I only saved few benches with the HD 4870 so here is the comparison.

First the 3Dmark6.
With the X2 card I got 10460 mark, with the single GPU 4870 my highest score was 10055. Small improvement but way behind the the 14000 mark of the common system average.
I do know in both cases my mark is hold back by my present system and the i7 should take care of it.
The 3DMark6 is very much depended on the strength of the CPU just have a look on the current fastest recorded mark of 33945 where the 5788 MHz OC QX9770 was used. Well the 4870x2 in CrossfireX also helped some.

Here the picture of my HD 4870 x2, 3Dmark6 test.
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/8870/3dmark6athlonhd4870x2uw6.th.jpg (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dmark6athlonhd4870x2uw6.jpg)
and here (http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1705946&postcount=12) is my the HD 4870, 3Dmark6 posted test.

Here couple games benchmark comparisons.

I Crysis I didn't get any improvement at all. The old Athlon x2 4200+ must be a big bottleneck, at least I hope so.

Crysis HD 4870 x2, Average FPS: 26.80
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9107/crysis4870x2pic2xi7.th.jpg (http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crysis4870x2pic2xi7.jpg)

Crysis HD 4870, Average FPS: 26.45
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6866/crysi4870pic1kv9.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crysi4870pic1kv9.jpg)

In The Witcher I did see nice improvement. I only have the saved Fraps pictures. The average speed didn't improve as much as the pictures shows but the game plays much better and the Witcher moves faster

The Witcher HD 4870 x2
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/290/witcher4870x2ie7.th.jpg (http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=witcher4870x2ie7.jpg)

The Witcher HD 4870
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/7172/witcher4870jr0.th.jpg (http://img394.imageshack.us/my.php?image=witcher4870jr0.jpg)

Thats all. I will post many more benchmarks after my complete upgrade.

[KasuCode]

In my experience you need around 4ghz to get what 2 4870x2s have to offer. Id say at least 3.6ghz for a single 4870x2

[noko]

I too got too attached to my 8800GTX! Taking it of my computer and sticking in a 260 I just felt like I was abandoning the poor thing, weird. Maybe time to build another computer and stick the 8800GTX in it :D.

[DRen72]

In 3DMark06 I score 20920 with a single 4870X2. So, with a top end i7 you should expect at least that much.

[DHP]

So, with a top end i7 you should expect at least that much.http://i34.tinypic.com/33eosj4.jpg

;)

[ATi]

Nice! so how many core's does the i7 have?:headexplode:

[DHP]

4 cores, with hyperthreading -> 8 threads.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7/specifications.htm

[Heinz68]

DRen72 and DHP thanks for the 3DMark06 score posts. They are big scores compared to my present system scores and I hope to achive at least the same with the i7 upgrade.

I have everything ready except for the Corsair DDR3 PC3-12800 Dominator 3 x 2GB kit which should be here in few days.

[Heinz68]

Here are few benches with my new i7 965 setup.

First 3Dmark6 test
24989 3Dmarks WOW compared to my old Athlon setup at 10460 3Dmarks.
I had the i7 965 OC at 4100 MHz but the test shows only 3792 MHz, I guess futumark reads the QPI Link statistic.
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7029/3dmark64100mhzxk5.th.jpg (http://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dmark64100mhzxk5.jpg)

Here 3DMark Vantage P15661, nothing to compare with since on the old system I only had Windows XP installed. Anyway for now this is mainly NVIDIA cards test due to the PhysX.
I only run it since the software was included for free with ASUS Rampage II Extreme motherboard.
http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/6406/3dvantage4000mhzmw8.th.jpg (http://img367.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dvantage4000mhzmw8.jpg)

Crysis benchmark, I use the same 1920x1080 4x all high DX9 setting in order to compare to my old setup.

i7 965 Extreme =Play Time: 37.76s, Average FPS: 52.97 Min FPS: 38.22, Max FPS: 61.98
Athlon x2 4200+ Play Time: 74.77s, Average FPS: 26.75 Min FPS: 12.76, Max FPS: 36.75

WOW, double the speed. I sure needed the system upgrade badly.
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/7873/high4x4000mhziy8.th.jpg (http://img362.imageshack.us/my.php?image=high4x4000mhziy8.jpg)

The old bench pictures are at the start of this thread.

Soon will follow with some more Crysis benches, mainly DX10 Very High and also few other games benches.

[K007]

nice improvements

[LordJuanlo]

Impressive, the i7 really makes that card shine. Congratulations!

[CAUTION]

Nice 3Dmark06 score Heinz68, congrads.

[hell_of_doom227]

That's weak score for 3DMark Vantage. I guess PhysX makes difference.

[Ninja Prime]

That's weak score for 3DMark Vantage. I guess PhysX is cheating and makes no difference in games.

You guess right! ;)

[JasonPC]

Haha too true, but physx is something nice to have. Maybe one day we'll see support for an ATI card + nvidia for physx. I'm actually pretty impressed with the X2 in Crysis. Never thought crossfire would do that well in Crysis.