A lane is a single point-to-point connection from the PCI-e slot to the Northbridge/Southbridge. If you only had 2 lanes, you might as well not get a graphics card at all. If you have 2 slots, you'll do better. However, with the new ATi GPUs, you'll get the best performance if you have two full-speed PCI-e 2.0 slots each operating at 16x (16 lanes each). That's something you can only get with an X38 or X48 motherboard. There's the cheaper route of going with an P45 board, but the PCI-e slots operate at 8x/8x in CrossFire. This chokes away some of the performance at high resolutions or in a demanding game such as Crysis. Either solution works, but you should understand the consequences of saving some dough.
Go with an X38/48 board. Otherwise you get X8/X8 max on C/F boards which don't give full support/performance. You'll need x16/x16 lanes for that, something only available on X38/X48 boards.
What's the difference between the X38 and the X48? Just a different chip? So just a bit better overclockability or what? Can you compare the X38 to a P35/45 on overclocking? I'm interested in C/F two 4870s too :).
What's the difference between the X38 and the X48? Just a different chip? So just a bit better overclockability or what? Can you compare the X38 to a P35/45 on overclocking? I'm interested in C/F two 4870s too :).death1505921
I actually read a review on anandtech (i think) a couple of days ago and there basically the same except the x48's have a higher rated FSB even though some of the x38's can hit the same FSB speeds they aren't technically rated to go that high. Other than that not much difference between them.
If your interested in CF go for x38 or x48 not the p35/45's as somone said earlier best performance is had from dual slots both at 16x
[QUOTE="death1505921"]What's the difference between the X38 and the X48? Just a different chip? So just a bit better overclockability or what? Can you compare the X38 to a P35/45 on overclocking? I'm interested in C/F two 4870s too :).pieatorium
I actually read a review on anandtech (i think) a couple of days ago and there basically the same except the x48's have a higher rated FSB even though some of the x38's can hit the same FSB speeds they aren't technically rated to go that high. Other than that not much difference between them.
If your interested in CF go for x38 or x48 not the p35/45's as somone said earlier best performance is had from dual slots both at 16x
Okay, so it is solely OCing stuff? I use an E8400 so I'd assume most if not all X38s could accept it.
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