The bridge chip is absolutely not needed, the lock is in the drivers. That, and also the fact that the cards work better without the chip, this is just a dirty solution to enable SLI on X58, just like in Skulltrail. An unneeded chip in the chain can only make things worse.
I don't know about the 4870X2 until I test it, but I'll tell you one thing: the 3870X2 does NOT work well. You get about the same FPS of 3870CF, and you get the exact same problems and incompatibilities. Now I have hopes for the microstuttering problem after looking at the early Sampsa's tests, but the 'you need a CF profile for each game, and it has to work well' thing still scares me, and I bet I'll face the same situation I faced when I used 3870CF and 3870X2 for a few weeks with 4870CF and 4870X2. The Crossfire Sideport has nothing to do with this, as it's only a connection between the cards.
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