AMD sticks four two-GPU cards into gaming PC

Don't try this at home

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

14th July 2008 13:11 GMT

AMD is working on eight-way GPU co-operative rendering, the chip maker has revealed.

In an escalation reminiscent of the way disposable-razor maker are forever upping the number of blades built into their products, AMD spinner Chris Hook told Indian site Techtree: "AMD has already built a computer that has four 4870 X2s in it. So it has eight GPUs."

What he said next isn't recorded, but we can imagine a 'beat that, you f*ckers!' followed by an air-punch.

Competitive willy-waving aside, the two-GPU Radeon HD 4870 X2 board will go on sale in August, Hook said. It'll be made available in a couple of versions - sporting different clock speeds and/or memory configurations, presumably - to allow AMD to hit different price points.

So will you be able to buy four of them and stick 'em in your computer? You can try, but don't expect success: "Drivers will not be supporting eight GPUs at this point of time," said Hook.

Whether they will when the 4870 X2 goes on sale remains to be seen. And quite apart from a suitable driver, hooking up a quartet of 4870 X2s is going to require some serious power supply technology, not to mention a very good cooler.

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