Tchesco

hey guys. I decided to swap my 9800 gx2 in for 2 ati radeon 3870s in CF. for a couple reasons.

- the gx2 overheated like crazy
- made my powersupply overheat like crazy
- due to overheating, my system crashes sometimes when playing games.

I was thinking about getting another 9600 gt and then sli, but my motherboard only supports crossfire.

can anyone tell me the requirements for the 3870, and crossfire requirements? such as the PSU wattage required, etc?



ALSO
if i still want to keep my gx2, and installed liquid cooling (which i might do) would i be able to reach the gpu with liquid cooling (since its completely encased in plastic)? If i did install it, would it prevent it from overheating, and crashing my computer?

emosun

What psu do you have in the system.

Its probably overheating because it not getting enough power. Thats a common problem. And the psu is overheating because it can't supply enough power. I wouldn't get two 3870's they won't be anywhere near as good as that 9800 gx2 , nowhere near. Spend the money on a powersupply. If I remember correctly you had the 600 watt purepower?

Tchesco

yea i have the purepower. I would like to find someting that's about 1000 watts.

emosun

Yea , stick with the gx2 and get a 700 watt or higher quality powersupply with 26amps or more on the 12v rail. Quality brands include thermaltakes toughpower series , corsair , silverstone , or collermaster.

Aus_Karlos

Emosun the 9800GX2 requires a PSU that has a minimum of 42A on a 12V line. Either single rail or combined. With an output level of 800W-850W minimal.
Sorry past experience.

emosun

Hmm , I thought since it was all on one card .... eh whatever. That sounds good , 800w or higher and 42 amps then. Same brands.