I know the board has specs of 16x/16x/1x or 16x/8x/8x on three pci-express 2.0 slots.
I have the sapphire vapor-x 5870 1GB card, and plan to get a second for Crossfire but there would literally be zero space between the two cards if I used slots 1 and 2 at 16x/16x.
I cannot put the cards in adjacent slots because of the type of fan on the sapphire vapor-x card (it does not suck in air from the side and just push it out the back, the fan is in the middle and blows air in both directions.) If two of my cards were in slots 1 and 2, the top card would surely melt within a matter of minutes.
Here is a picture of the card to explain what I mean:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102872
If I put the second video card in slot 3, will I be able to run them cards at 16x and 8x? What sort of performance hit can I expect from this configuration, or rather, how much better would performance be (in theory) if I could put them in 16x/16x?
Is the performance gain enough to where I should ebay my current card, and just buy two 5870's that use the standard type of cooling (pull in air from one side and exhaust it out the back of the case) so that they can be installed into adjacent slots?
Does anyone currently have a slot 1/3 crossfire/SLI setup that could weigh in?
Picture of the board in question:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614
Thank you very much for any replies, this forum has always been such a great help to me.
I have the sapphire vapor-x 5870 1GB card, and plan to get a second for Crossfire but there would literally be zero space between the two cards if I used slots 1 and 2 at 16x/16x.
I cannot put the cards in adjacent slots because of the type of fan on the sapphire vapor-x card (it does not suck in air from the side and just push it out the back, the fan is in the middle and blows air in both directions.) If two of my cards were in slots 1 and 2, the top card would surely melt within a matter of minutes.
Here is a picture of the card to explain what I mean:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102872
If I put the second video card in slot 3, will I be able to run them cards at 16x and 8x? What sort of performance hit can I expect from this configuration, or rather, how much better would performance be (in theory) if I could put them in 16x/16x?
Is the performance gain enough to where I should ebay my current card, and just buy two 5870's that use the standard type of cooling (pull in air from one side and exhaust it out the back of the case) so that they can be installed into adjacent slots?
Does anyone currently have a slot 1/3 crossfire/SLI setup that could weigh in?
Picture of the board in question:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614
Thank you very much for any replies, this forum has always been such a great help to me.
See my thoughts in your other
