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Will a 780i Mobo work with an HD4870?

Forum Motherboard & Memory : General Motherboard - Will a 780i Mobo work with an HD4870?

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Desertfoxx41   10-25-2008 at 03:31:58 AM

Noob question I know, just wondering. Im thinking about getting the 780i so I can Triple Sli down the road, so if the HD wont work, which GPU for $250 and under would be best??? Thanks!

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thogrom   10-25-2008 at 03:51:17 AM
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uh 4870 would work flawlessly in a nvidia chipset... gpu chipset manufacturer doesn't matter compared to the chipset of the motherboard unless you plan on doing mult-gpu solutions

 

Don't go tri-sli... performance scaling is horrible...

 

Get a nice p45 board (asus p5q pro or deluxe comes to mind) and then get your 4870

 

then when you need to upgrade... instead of getting another card... get a better card... which will net you the same performance at a better price

 

^ for that exact reason... multi-gpu solutions are completely pointless for the less than 2560 by 1600 resolution club

 

for 1920 by 1200 get a top of the line card... or second top of the line card (4870 / gtx 260 or higher)

 

for 1680 by 1050 a mid - almost top end card is great ( 4850 - 4870 level)

 

for 1280 by 1024 / 1440 by 900 ... a simple mid-end card will do as it will see minimal performance loss compared to a top of the line setup at such a low resoltuion (4850)


Message edited by thogrom on 10-25-2008 at 03:51:38 AM
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roadrunner197069   10-25-2008 at 04:13:40 AM
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ATI cards dont SLI. ATI runs crossfire and only.

For 780i you need Nvidia cards.

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allhands   10-25-2008 at 04:14:41 AM
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When you are looking for a compatible GPU for a motherboard you want to look at interface instead of vendor or GPU type. In other words if your mobo supports PCI express x16 then you can use a GPU with that slot. If your mobo supports AGP then you will need that kind of card. However when it comes to SLI the 4870 will not be able run in that mode since SLI is a Nvidia technology and will only work with that type of chip. To run ATI card in tandem you will need a chipset that supports crossfire. Either Intel or AMD chipset will support that. I must agree thogrom though triple cards do not scale well so it's not really worth running 3 cards. Running 2 cards will scale much better but if you want to run 2 4870s then you will do better with a 4870x2. Since that is 2 4870s on one PCB.

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Desertfoxx41   10-25-2008 at 02:08:50 PM
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Alright, thanks for all the info! Right now, Im in the process of building a PC, and just wanted to throw in a nice, low end card, until I can install a better one, just as the GTx260/280. Im gonna go with the 2 PNY 8800GTs, as the benchmarks for it are outstanding and on Newegg.com its only $114.99! When the prices in the 280 drop, Ill pick one up, but for now, the 8800 GT, is still a great card.

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thogrom   10-25-2008 at 02:30:37 PM
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don't get the 8800 GT

its time has ended

you can pick up a 4850 which dwarfs the 8800 GT for about 150 now...

you can also pick up the 8800 gt if you really still want it for under a 100 bucks... also if you really want to go tri-sli... then you'll have to get the 9800 gt as its the only GT that supports tri-sli

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doomsdaydave11   10-25-2008 at 06:08:36 PM
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1. Don't go Tri-SLI, like thogrom said, Tri-SLI pretty much sucks.
2. Yes, any ATI card will work fine in the 780i chipset, though you will not be able to crossfire/SLI it.
3. Personally, I would pick up a 9800GTX (or for your resolution, a GTX260 would probably be better... and now they're way cheap anyway), and a little while down the road, SLI them. Plain SLI is finally beginning to scale well, Tri-SLI has still got a long way to go. GTX260's are actually a really good deal, and are a strong competitor with the HD4870, can't lose there.

Yes an HD 4850 performs about 30% better then the 9800GT, but the 8800GT is about $105 Shipped AR, and the HD4850 is almost $150 shipped AR.... a 50% difference is not a small amount. Besides, its a bad idea to get an ATI card on a 780i board anyway, it limits your upgrade options.

The GTX260 performs about the same (sometimes worse, sometimes better) and is cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130370 $215 AR shipped, vs the HD4870's $230 AR shipped.

------------------------------ E8400 3.6Ghz | 4GB DDR2-800 | HD4870 | 780GB HDD Space | VX550W | WinXP | Win7-64 | Ubuntu Studio 8.10

 

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