David, thank you for the info.

I hear you RE deadline/driver issue, but how many people, realistically, do you anticipate using dual X2's? Aside from you (while I very much appreciate both your monetary and time investment in the cause), I know of no one here with plans to go X2 Crossfire (well, maybe Chuck).

You're right, probably just 1 or 2.

A lot of different dates being thrown out there for ATI's new driver. I read from a few places that Jan 31st is suppose to be the day. We'll see.

Chuck: that's only two dates: the 30th and the 31st. What others have you heard?

Jason, your X2 is being delivered tomorrow?

I just picked up another PSU from PC P&C, so there goes the $$ for the second vid card.


I'm running a 1KW right now. The problem is that the monster is 9" in length and blocks half the triple radiators in the bottom of the case -- they're not getting the air they need.

That was the motivating reason to give the Thermaltake 1200W a try in the other computer -- smaller form factor. The Toughpower works great, but it's not the build quality of the PC P&C (what is?).

I believe the introduction of the PC P&C 860W is the answer to my dilemma. It's 2/3rds the depth of it's big brother (5.9" vs. 9.1") with plenty of wattage to juice the two Laing water pumps, vid card(s) and five HDD. I ran this by PC P&C's tech support just to be sure. I wanted the PSU sleeved in brighter colors so I can distinguish the cables. I had Bob Roark send one of the units to Hank at Performance PC's for custom sleeving. There is a one week backlog, but should have the puppy in 10 days give or take. Yes, I know how to sleeve, but I don't like messing with heat supplies and heat guns -- it's too easy to melt wiring, etc. I limit my sleeving jobs to fan cables. haha

I'll let you guys know how it compares to the 1KW's I've been running:

PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 860W

It was delivered today, Chuck. I haven't had time to take it out of the box yet -- I'll get to it tomorrow.

Beyond making sure it's in one piece, there isn't much I can do with it until I get the waterblock (unless I wanted to pull the other card and let this run on air -- not inclined to do that because the Tygon is in the way).

Doh!

Understandable

Hopefully Eddy will get that block in the mail this week -- he said he would. It will take a week for it to reach me from Slovenia (that's a sentence I never thought I would type).

The X2's, themselves, are a bargain. The expense comes when you add the wblocks and related accessories. That easily adds another $200 to the cost of the card. Suddenly the $450 'bargain' card approaches pricing of an Ultra.

Would be really nice to see some before and after temps.

Irreverently speaking ... you could run the fan at full blast while gaming to get temps down in the 50s save the $200 for the w-block.

You could do that, but it might get loud.

Again, it would be nice to get some before and after temps.

I've tried that, my friend, but to no avail. Believe me, I would rather have used the $300 in other ways, but it's not a bad investment -- and nice to have a 1KW as a backup. I have had them fail on occasion. I think the 1KW are more prone to problems because of their size, heat and fact they have one bitty fan cooling them.

[Have to run -- my cat decided he likes my chili and is eating it out of my bowl.]

I was talking about the x2 vid card, Jason.

Got ya -- misread that. I could, but then I wouldn't have all that pretty, shiny copper to look at would I?