Hello, crossfire DIY questions...

Hi everyone, i recently purchased a slightly used R2 with an i7 720 and a single 5870, I am considering adding a second card or crossfire configuration and I am having some difficulty finding information on where to source the card, bridge and any DIY guides on the internet.

I also heard that just recently a new 480 SLI card is being offered with the R2, from my standpoint would this be a better route performance and price wise?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

Is this a stupid question?

 

Don't really need a DIY guide, you just slot it in and connect the crossfire cable. The card, heatsink, and cable can all be sourced from dell (have also heard of people getting them from ebay).

480 SLI is not an option for R2 or anything else.

 

You can get a clevo or kobalt x7200 which does have 480m sli and a desktop cpu.....thats the fastest gpu set up currently....

 

BUT one wouldn't want to look away from one's x7200, otherwise one's house may be reduced to ash.

 

My bad, I mean 460 sli? Its a new option i believe?

Is there a cheaper route than ordering the parts from dell?

So its a simple addition? Is there a video out there that covers the procedure?

Thanks for all of the help everyone, i have scoured the net for information on this and I havent found a great deal of of information on how to go about doing this.

 

Will this card work?

Amazon.com: RADEON HD 5870 1GB DDR5 HDMI Graphics Card HD587XZNFC: Electronics: Reviews, Prices & more

 

Hehehe - pretty hot stuff arent they.....i wouldnt like to rest my hands on the keyboard palmrest for too long incase i got blisters

 

that's a desktop card man...

you need something like this, not sure if it will work for the m17x but it will look similar.

 

Thanks Maximos, this is actually a pretty expensive upgrade, is it worth it? How much does Dell want for card and bridge etc?

Anywhere cheaper?

 

I'm not sure about the Dell price. You will gain around 4k 3DMark06 points... depends on the games you play. I think it is good to have given the screen's native resolution, but it's all relative.

 

dell price is $324, the issue is getting them to actually ship it to you. the 5870 x-fire is more powerful than the 460 sli, and uses less power. plus the sli setup is new and likely all of the bugs haven't been worked out

 

Oh so I will likely have to persuade Dell to sell me this? ?

Any other advice?

Are there any sticky "how to's" on this mod?

Video's?

Thanks again for all the help

 

MXM Upgrade Home Page

Browse through that site. They are your go to guys for all MXM related upgrades.

 

These are the part Nos. for the slave (secondary) VGA - 5870

F605N (Fan)
RV546 (Vga Card including Cable & Heatsink) . .

 

Yes! Info Ive been looking for, thank you aarpcard and spiderman, this should get me started in the right direction.

Thanks for all of the help everyone.