[RogueSeven]

ive read that it is possible to crossfire a 4850 with a 4870. is this true? what are the pros and cons compared to CF'ing with another 4850...wouldnt the 4870, being faster, mess this up....

i was thinking about doing a mild upgrade to a nvidia 260 core 216 and then i came across a bunch of poeple noticing similar performance with a 4850 x2 and 2 CF'd 4850s (described as better then a 280)...i dug a little deaper and found out that you could pair a 4870 with it but i cant find anything about pros or cons...would be just be a better card to crossfire with or would there be issues somewhere?

[zedman3d]

You can but theres no point. The 4870 will be throttled to 4850 speeds.

You'll save your self a lot of headaches if you just grab another 4850.

[RogueSeven]

okay cool. thanks. that's what i thought would happen

would you recommend i just get another sapphire 4850? or is there a way better one out now...i think sapphire has the best cooling when i bought mine.

also, a corsair 650 watt psu should be sufficient, correct?

[zedman3d]

Yeah the PSU is fine, and yeah Sapphire still make one of the best ones. The MSI ones now without the normal reference cooler are better but its once again better to get two of the same cards as much as possible.

So yeah, another Sapphire.
I assume you mean this one: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

[RogueSeven]

i have the 1 GB version. im thinking ill get the 1 GB again since ill be getting a 64 Bit OS soon

[thirdshiftdj]

Visiontek warranty wise but I would most likely get this
Double lifetime backed by an excellent company
Newegg.com - XFX HD-485X-YDFC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

[RogueSeven]

indeed xfx is a great company. im not sure on their cooling though...

one more thing. i just checked my case to make sure everything will fit and such. from what i can see the top card's fan will pretty much be right on the bottom card. would this screw up the cooling?

if so does anyone know of a good 4850 with not as big a cooler (vertically speaking)...

[thirdshiftdj]

I don't think you have much of a choice due to your mobo's spacing of the pci-e slots. Those cards run relatively cool anyways

[zedman3d]

Newegg.com - DIAMOND 4850PE3512V Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Thats got a single slot cooler. Not reference either, looks to be a big slim fan.