Q9450 Intel Quad
Asus Rampage Formula x48
4gb ram 2x2gb

hd4870 - 1 starting out 2 in about 3-6 months in CF

2 HDs 7200rpm Satas
5 case fans 120mm
1 dvd+/-RW

Will a PC P&C 750 silencer run this or should I go with a silverstone 850w.
The extream calc said I would use close to 675w. I think I would need the extra power just in case, but the cost differnce is abou 75USD.

Still really haven't figured out if 2x 4850 or 1x 4870 and upgrade to CF later, but either way I want to have the power to push it.


Any suggestions? What brand is the best 48xx cards? I know they are all a little different, but haven't really had much luck with sappire cards in the past and wanted to try something else.

Weird, that is my exact same setup. Dont tell me you are using OCZ Reapers too.


What resolution are you using? 1680X1050 or below do not justify Crossfire at this point. Hopefully when scaling is improved in future drivers. I am shooting for a single 4870 and a second should that scenario play out.

Check ATIs website for Crossfire supported PSUs. Many are 600W, but to be safe a 750 should more than be enough.

Yeah, you could do that, But you could always look into the PC P&C turbo-cool 860 watter, that thing is most definetly a beast in its own category. More expensive, no doubt, but you get what you pay for, much more stronger of a PSU, albeit quite unnecessary. I think it also has that golden PC P&C 7 year-ish warranty.

I bet anything you could get away w/ using the 750 watt PC P&C no problem, but if you "feel" better w/ more wattage then go for that silverstone you mentioned which I am pretty sure uses the Enhance OEM internals or the other PC P&C model i was talking about.

BTW, all of the ati AIB partners all use the same exact reference design so far, so go with visiontek, simply b/c they offer a limited lifetime warranty which is more than other ati AIB, but I would still weigh in other goodies other manufacturers might throw in to sweeten the deal.

Thanks man. Now the wife is saying maybe it is a little too much so I might have to down grade to a p45 or something. UGH so pissed.

Hey Anubis,

Problem is that women always think they can buy stuff and you cant. Your earning money right? Your working for it right? Whats the point of working everyday of your life just so that you can have someone else tell you yes and no for every financial decision. When you got married, Did the words "I
Do" actually mean... I promise to stop doing the stuff that I love, no more computer stuff, o more gaming. My Ex-Wife is now Ex because she tried to get me to stop gaming and doing computer upgrades. She is now my Ex because she wouldn't accpet me for me, and she knew all about my hobbies prior to getting married

I am almost certain (barring any financial hardship)that if you sit down with her and budget it out, there could be a way for you to save the money to get what you want. Less nights out on the town, a few less rented movies, start packing your lunch instead of going out. Something has got to work.

You could bargain , and make an agreement that this would be your Christmas+Birthday+Anniversary gift all wrapped into one. You'll be spending the same amount of money in the long run, just now instead over the next year. Just don't complain when you have nothing under the tree.

I just made an agreement with my wife so I could step up to a new SLI configuration once the prices come down a tad. Once they do, I am thinking of doing one of several combinations, either GTX280 SLi or GTX260 Tri-SLi, or 9800GTX+ Tri-SLi.

I already have the 790i Ultra board with 4 Gb of DDR3 and (2) 8800GT's in SLi. The system performs amazing at max settings for every game but Crysis. Thats why I am continuing on an SLi format, I already have 500.00 invested in the motherboard and memory, not to mention I don't like ATI driver issues currently and crossfire just doesn't scale that well yet according to most benchmarks.

So anyways, just remember this- Love is accepting a person for who they are, and loving them for all they love. You love working with and building computers and gaming, your wife probably has sveral things that she loves to do, and you have accepted that, she needs to accept you to. Your passion and hobby may cost more in one instance, but hers throughout an entire year will surely blow yours out of the water in cost.

PC Power and Cooling has a crossfire certified model of the 750w watt silencer, I'd go for that. It's top quality (I've got the SLI model).

How screwed up would I be if I went with a p45? I know that I could still do xfire, but @ the x8 link vs the full x16 on the pci-e.

Would there be a ton of difference with 2x 4870 running @ x8 vs the x16? Or should I just go with single 4870 on the p45 chipset?

-AoC, Supream Commander, and a lot of video editing (Making DvDs from camcorder and vhs, etc.)

Dont go with the P45 stick with the X48 The ASUS P5E Deluxe is 229 at Newegg. It is the same as the Rampage Formuls without the LCD poster and the CLR CMOS, Power and Reset button.

1Haplo

Actually there's wouldn't be a noticiable difference in the long run, the only way you'd maybe see a difference is if you had 2 4870X2 and even then the most you'll probly see is only a 95% performance rate compared to 100% (while you'll get 98% most of the time)
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 15-11.html








Flight simulator is the only one that'll make a big diff: (it's not worth it for just FS)

Ok Thanks for the find. This is probably what I will use. Bring back the question

With the below build, will a 850w PS from silverstone or 750 PC P&C silencer do the trick for xfire 4870's? I am starting out with 1 and add one come birthday time most likely.

Monitor right now is 21in CRT and moving to 24in LCD in the next month.


ASUS P5E Deluxe LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX

Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s



Now which would be better?
SILVERSTONE OP850 850W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V Power Supply -189.99USD
OR
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - 119.99USD with MIR