Hello all,

I'm saving to invest in two 4870x2 cards for CF and would like to know which mid range motherboard, cpu and memory would be best suited/compatible for the card, without compromising too much of the cards full performance? Should I also just get a high end Mobo instead and invest later on a CPU and memory upgrade? Is a 850w PSU sufficent for both cards and other peripherals?

Right now I have

2900xt
e6600 running at 3 Ghz
Abit IP35 Pro
4Gbs of DDR2 PC5300 memory
Silverstone 560w

well, grab an x38 board of some kind as x48s are really a waste, ehh, go ddr2 because ddr3 is too expensive for its gain, grab a new dual core intel 45nm cpu, it doesn't really mater which one because you can overclock them like crazy, get a good cooler, one suggested by the article recently done (try the noctua, its really easy to install, quiet and suits your needs, i have an e6850 at 4ghz on one with nice temps so i think the 45nm should do it fine) you'll need a good psu, but nothing over zealous as they are pretty much a waste, pc p&c 750w one should do (very nice psus) ehh... that pretty much covers it, hwoever, make sure you get a good psu rather than an over rated one.

Each HD4870x2 card uses 250w at load. 2 of them would be 500w just for the 2 cards not counting your CPU, overclocking, HD, RAM, burner, fans or anything else. That would put you at about 700w+ system usage at load and that's being conservative. Well over 90% of a 750w rated capacity.
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums [...] c=7&t=9354
http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
the PSU calculator doesn't have the HD4870x2 listed yet.