Unusual Asus Radeon 6850 variant speculation

Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
edited February 2011 in Hardware
With the aid of Icrontic's dependable Newegg affiliate link I purchased a pair of Asus 6850 cards to crossfire in my rig. I wanted the tesalation performance of the newer cards, but I also wanted to keep a decent efficiency spec, and get away from the long 11" cards, so I decided, okay, the 6850 in a pair gets me where I want to be (and then some). So I've used Asus cards with their after-market cooling and the board stiffening rail they use, and I have always been pleased with the build quality. Also, a black PCB was just a must, I mean, PCB color is a huge driver in graphics card selection for me ;). Without doing all my homework, I bought the pair, opened it up and to my initial dismay, these 6850's each have twin PCIE connectors, making more wiring work for me, and I fear, a less efficient design than the stock units.

So, I get to thinking, why the heck would they require an extra connector? Reviews of the non V2 version have people overclocking the heck out of it, so I can't imagine there was any need for added power stability. It just does not add up.

So, purely speculation here, does anyone think I may have lucked out and gotten a pair of locked 6870's at a steal? Anyone have any suggestions for flashing the bios on these things so I can find out?

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Perhaps to assure the factory OC and/or the third-party cooling solution. Or they just wanted to use a Barts XT PCB.

    Just theories.
  • pigflipperpigflipper The Forgotten Coast Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Cliff: that is weird, because I built a system for a friend that used an Asus 6850 recently and yeah, it only had one power connector and was very stable with a modest 10% OC
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    All of the v2 versions of that Asus card come with 2 power connectors.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Popped both of these in last night, did not do anything real fancy to start, but I was a little dismayed when I realized my 890GX board actually crossfires at 8X/8X.

    Someone tell me the 6850's in crossfire can't saturate 8X bandwidth.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Nix that last question. I can't say I care when I'm pounding my old setup by 50% in just about every benchmark I can think of. I sold my old 5870 for $200, when you take out the rebates and pair of newegg promo cards, I paid $300 for a pair of 6850's. $100 for a 50% improvement. I feel so thrifty, and kinda brilliant, and I have not even overclocked, or played with flashing the cards BIOS yet.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    They do.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    They do.

    Sorry, what were you referring to?
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Cliff_Forster wrote:
    Someone tell me the 6850's in crossfire can't saturate 8X bandwidth.

    This, I imagine. Obviously that will depend on the task at hand, but running the Unigen benchmark or 3DMark11 will do the job.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    I've actually been experiencing some stability issues, random crashes and such since going crossfire. My motherboard has an auxiliary power connector for the PCIE lanes (that the manual says absolutely nothing about). I'm going to plug that in and see if it improves things.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    All auxiliary connectors on the motherboard should be populated now and forever. Failing to do so results in insufficient power delivery to the PCIe lanes. The ATX connector alone is not sufficient to deliver the 150W power each x16 slot demands with a card.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Thrax wrote:
    All auxiliary connectors on the motherboard should be populated now and forever. Failing to do so results in insufficient power delivery to the PCIe lanes. The ATX connector alone is not sufficient to deliver the 150W power each x16 slot demands with a card.

    I thought this might be the issue, molex plug will mate to the board tonight.
  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    Yup, my ASUS mobo has a 4-pin molex connector specifically for crossfire.

    Cool%20ROG%20logo%20can%20be%20found%20on%20motherboard%20as%20usual%20-%20Copy_575px.JPG

    it's in a shitastic location, but is nice to see the MOAR Power option on motherboards now
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    fatcat wrote:
    Yup, my ASUS mobo has a 4-pin molex connector specifically for crossfire.

    Cool%20ROG%20logo%20can%20be%20found%20on%20motherboard%20as%20usual%20-%20Copy_575px.JPG

    it's in a shitastic location, but is nice to see the MOAR Power option on motherboards now

    Mine is actually right above all the slots, so there won't be an interference issue, but if makes my wiring less pretty, and that bothers me a little, but obviously, allot less than random crashes.
  • mertesnmertesn I am Bobby Miller Yukon, OK Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    I wondered what that was. Needless to say, I will be connecting mine up tonight as well.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited February 2011
    All hail moar power.
    Ramen
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