Will a watercooled FX-60 bottleneck a quad-crossfire 3870 set?

[R-T-B]

Hey guys, a friend of mine recently parted out his computer and I got two Diamond Multimedia HD3870x2 on the cheap. Problem is, the rest of my system really isn't up to speed compared to this beast, and I am running into a major bottleneck where I can't get more than 11,000 3D marks. I'm running at stock speeds on my FX-60 as my system already runs WAY too hot with these graphics cards, but I plan on getting a watercooling kit from swiftech with the following specs:

1 CPU COOLING : APOGEE™ GTX CU Limited Edition CPU water-block
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3 Fan: 120x25mm RDM1225S
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1 Radiator - MCR320 Quiet Power Series TRIPLE 120mm Heat
Exchanger - Gloss Black
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1 MCRES-Micro Hi-Flo Reservoir
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1 MCP655-B™ 12 Volts Industrial Pump without speed controller
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1 MCB-120™ "Radbox" Revision 2 kit - Black

I assume this is a good kit that will get me good overclocks. Keep in mind right now the only thing in my loop is the FX-60 on a GTX waterblock. So I have two questions: One, is swiftech stuff any good and 2.) Will this get me an overclock good enough to fully utilize my 4 GPUs?

Also, any advice on Coolant? I was thinking about this stuff. Is it any good?

http://www.petrastechshop.com/peg11coadb4o.html

Thanks for the advice, new to water cooling but figure this fairly CPU modular kit will pay off in the end, even if I do have to buy a new CPU to use these cards (hope I don't).

Again, thanks in advance.

[btarunr]

An FX-60 is as good as using an X2 5000+ Black Edition (AM2), just that the FX-60 uses DDR1. DDR2 didn't bring significant improvements to the K8.

[R-T-B]

Yes, but I am experiencing some severe bottlenecking at the moment. I assume I will be able to overcome them? What sort of overclock should I expect to have to attain to do so?

That's my main question.

[{JNT}Raptor]

AMD doesn't make a CPU that will unleash those cards......Only Intel at this time would give those cards a decent run.......so the answer to your question Is no....you would have to do 3.6 or above to fully Utilize 1 of the X2's let alone 2 of them.

Not flame bait....just the truth.

Hope It helps. :)

[SpookyWillow]

my x2 3800 @ 2.7ghz was a bottleneck for my x1950 pro let alone a 3870x2.

C2D is the way to go these days :(

[DrPepper]

I would go C2D my Athlon 6000 @ 3.2ghz is a bottleneck even for my 8800GT and I'm stuck at 11000 3dmarks on 06

[tkpenalty]

My advice, X38/48 + Any mid-high end C2D overclocked at more than 3.4Ghz. AMD Doesn't have a CPU that is capable of handling four HD3870s. You'd need like a E8500 at 4Ghz, but I still think a bottleneck would occur even at those speeds.

[btarunr]

I would go C2D my Athlon 6000 @ 3.2ghz is a bottleneck even for my 8800GT and I'm stuck at 11000 3dmarks on 06

No, you're doing good, the only reason you're 'stuck' is probably because of the CPU Tests' score. Using a C2D would only improve the CPU tests and with it increase the overall 3DMark score but the increments aren't indicative of better graphics, isn't really a measurement of the GPU, hence a 8800 GT wouldn't bottleneck by a X2 6000+.



R-T-B,

The Phenom X4 9850 BE packs a serious punch, won't bottleneck your GPU's.

[DrPepper]

No, you're doing good, the only reason you're 'stuck' is probably because of the CPU Tests' score. Using a C2D would only improve the CPU tests and with it increase the overall 3DMark score but the increments aren't indicative of better graphics, isn't really a measurement of the GPU, hence a 8800 GT wouldn't bottleneck by a X2 6000+.



R-T-B,

The Phenom X4 9850 BE packs a serious punch, won't bottleneck your GPU's.

That's what I meant underneath all that :p

[btarunr]

That's what I meant underneath all that :p

That doesn't really make it a bottleneck for your 8800 GT.

[DrPepper]

That doesn't really make it a bottleneck for your 8800 GT.

I don't know what that term means these days :laugh:

[btarunr]

I don't know what that term means these days :laugh:

In your case you meant it's affecting your 3DMark '06 scores, in reality all it's affecting is the CPU score of 3DMark, which isn't a measure of the GPU's performance though it affects the overall score, I wouldn't call that a bottleneck, 6000+ and 8800 GT? ah ah. ;)

[CHAOS_KILLA]

the X2 6000+ isnt a bottleneck one bit, its still a good old cpu, its just not the best thats all, im luving it, and im keepin it for a while, thought i might say that, laters dudes

[Mussels]

i had an FX-62 on my previous mini rig, and it matched a Q6600 in benchmarks with an 8800GT.

In games the intel was faster. The key there, was that the FX62 wouldnt OC more than 200MHz, while the intel OC'd another 1200MHz (same cooler on both, actually)

That got me large boosts in games and benchmarks, on a SINGLE card. I am quite sure that Quadfire is going to need the most beefy CPU you can throw at it, and at the moment that would be one of intels 45nm lineup.

[intel igent]

if you're gonna get the apogee GTX MAKE SHURE to order the copper top as well, also spend $5 more and get the variable speed 655 (the non-variable ones are locked anywhere from setting 2 to 4)

pentosin with distilled is great

[R-T-B]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think fate is telling me to go intel. As while installing my watercooling kit, I bent and broke off one of the FX-60s pins. :(

It sucks, but it was probably really time to go intel or socket AM2 anyhow. Just need to find the money.

[DrPepper]

In your case you meant it's affecting your 3DMark '06 scores, in reality all it's affecting is the CPU score of 3DMark, which isn't a measure of the GPU's performance though it affects the overall score, I wouldn't call that a bottleneck, 6000+ and 8800 GT? ah ah. ;)

:laugh:

[yogurt_21]

lol at this thread,

question: will an overclcoked fx-60 bottleneck quadfire? answer: absolutely
question: will an overclocked e8500 bottleneck quadfire? answer: absolutely
question: will an overclocked q9770 bottelneck quadfire? answer: absolutely
question: will an intel skulltrail rig with dual q9770's on ln2 clocked to 6GHZ bottleneck quadfire? Answer: absolutely

all cpu's currently out and about to be released, even when overclocked to the max will bottleneck quadfire. if you want to eliminate bottlenecks, take out an x2 lol. but truly you're best bet is to get a decent cpu overclock it to 4GHZ+ on decent cooling and just live with that fact that quadfire is built for the future and isn't much use right now (as quadfire right now shows limited if any gains over trifire). by the time your cards aren't bottlenecked by your cpu, they'll be extremely out of date lol.

[Monkeywoman]

the bottleneck will be your front side bus. if u were to get a p45 mobob and a q9450, set it to 500fsb(2000Mhz) and 4000Mhz core ( multi of 8) and you will have VERY LITTLE bottleneck compaired to what u have now.

the 2 3870x2s will have a lot of bandwidth, its not that the cpu cant calculate it all, its just that the fsb isnt fast enough to feed all that information to the cpu. id say stick with one x2 and build a rig whith what i stated above. your rig will fly, just dont forget to also overclock the pci bridge to 120mhz.

i knoe this because friend just built a rig with those parts but an x38mobo instead of a p45. i'm going to do the same but with a P5Qdlux when their out.

ALL INMHO

[sneekypeet]

the FSB on this ABIT should be able to hold 400+ as it did on my ABIT fatal1ty...So OC'ing is in his future...if he can get the CPU fixed....

BTW @ R-T-B...you have PM reguarding the CPU!