ATI's Answer to SLI: Crossfire

Joose · 07-June-05, 02:18 PM

This was posted by newsbot a couple of times, but since there was no discussion, I guess most missed it.

HardwareZone has a really good write-up on the technology, which includes the ability to run somewhat dissimilar cards. It's also set up in a master/slave configuration, which is also different than nVidia's solution. Looks pretty interesting...

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com...76990696566639

CubanConnectionZ · 07-June-05, 02:27 PM

very interesting. Look good and if work even better competion is good.

TYCOON · 07-June-05, 02:30 PM

I have seen it about 5 days ago, almost complete review on hardocp and other sites. I jsut dont care. Im never goign to drop 1000$ into graphics so meh.

Bane · 07-June-05, 02:32 PM

Bleh i think that ATI should make it work on any SLI motherboard. Would reach out to more people

Cpt.Planet · 07-June-05, 02:39 PM

ATI's solution seems to be a little better than Nvidia due to the game sees it as one videocard where as sli you need to setup a driver profile. I really dont know if I wanna go SLI or Crossfire ATM. Any input?

Edit
[quote]Bleh i think that ATI should make it work on any SLI motherboard. Would reach out to more people

[\QUOTE]

There are a few problems with this. They are rival chip makers do you think Nvidia would sell the license and architecture to ATI. Also the cards work a little different meaning ATI Would hafta remake the video cards to make it accept sli.

TYCOON · 07-June-05, 02:41 PM

Well with the crossfire you dont need identicle cards, thats a big plus in my books if your using it for future upgrades.

Spectrum · 07-June-05, 02:42 PM

Will motherboards support Crossfire and SLI or just one of them? That would really limit choices down the line.

Joose · 07-June-05, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spectrum


	Will motherboards support Crossfire and SLI or just one of them? That would really limit choices down the line.

It would probably mean one or the other; I can't see them co-existing on one northbridge chip.

The performance numbers are encouraging; beta hardware shows a 60%-90% performance improvement

It sounds very interesting...competition _IS_ good...

Bane · 07-June-05, 03:09 PM

hmmmm, i'm just curious...how much more will the master cards sell for in comparison to the normal card? twould be a damper if the card itself was exhorbitively expensive. Already the X800s and X850's are a little pricey

Joose · 07-June-05, 03:22 PM

Here's some more links to preview articles...

Anandtech
ExtremeTech
Bit-Tech
ArsTechnica
Firing Squad
Tom's
[H]

Joose · 07-June-05, 03:27 PM

This is interesting:

From the Anandtech article:

"ATI has given us the indication that CrossFire should work on Intel Chipsets as well as their own. This could give new life to those Intel designs originally targeted at SLI. Though not explicitly stating that CrossFire will work in an NVIDIA SLI board, it definitely seems possible. From an adoption/compatibility standpoint, ATI is certainly "evaluating other options""

Joose · 07-June-05, 06:10 PM

Pricing information from the Anandtech article:

Cpt.Planet · 07-June-05, 06:25 PM

Does anybody know when the board and cards will be available I heard July. Im really thinkin of going this way.

TYCOON · 07-June-05, 06:27 PM

128MB x800XT...cool..does that mean you coudl have 384mbs of graphics memory :O

Cpt.Planet · 07-June-05, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TYCOON


	128MB x800XT...cool..does that mean you coudl have 384mbs of graphics memory :O

No the two cards hafta have the same amount of memory so you would have 256. Also they hafta have the same number of pipelines.

Anybody have any links to the overclocking of this board?

Joose · 07-June-05, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cpt.Planet


	No the two cards hafta have the same amount of memory so you would have 256. Also they hafta have the same number of pipelines. Anybody have any links to the overclocking of this board?

Not sure about the same amount of memory issue, but definitely NOT true about the pipelines. You will be able to run a 12-pipeline slave card with the 16-pipeline master, however, 4 of the pipelines will be disabled on the master card.

This is more or less a technology announcement; no one received any samples, so there are limited performance reports.

goodman123 · 07-June-05, 07:13 PM

i read a review somewhere (lost the link) that is wasn't as good as the nvidia SLI & it would be lot more expensive then the SLI configuration

Cpt.Planet · 07-June-05, 07:25 PM

Quote:


	There are only two criteria that must be met and be identical between the CrossFire Edition card and your regular Radeon X800 or X850 series video card to work properly. You must have the same amount of framebuffer memory between both cards, so if you have a 128MB video card get the X800 128MB CrossFire Edition, if you have a 256MB card get the 256MB X800 or X850 CrossFire Edition. You must also achieve parity with the number of pixel pipelines, so all the Radeon X 850 series have 16 pixel-pipelines, and as such, the Radeon X850 CrossFire Edition has 16 pixel-pipelines. What does not need to be the same are the clock speeds between both video cards. Unlike what you might think, the controller video card will not downclock itself to match a slower secondary video card. The clock speeds of both video cards can be different as long as the pixel-pipeline count and framebuffer size are the same. With the buffer

07-June-05, 02:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Joose Joosey Join Date: May 2003 Location: Milton, Ontario Posts: 5,537	ATI's Answer to SLI: Crossfire This was posted by newsbot a couple of times, but since there was no discussion, I guess most missed it. HardwareZone has a really good write-up on the technology, which includes the ability to run somewhat dissimilar cards. It's also set up in a master/slave configuration, which is also different than nVidia's solution. Looks pretty interesting... http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com...76990696566639 __________________ Joose - joosy since 1975 Cheap, Good, Fast - You can only have two out of three.

07-June-05, 02:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
CubanConnectionZ Apex Tech God Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: CENTRAL FLORIDA Posts: 2,114	very interesting. Look good and if work even better competion is good. __________________ Cue the grumpy old man voice: "Why back in my day, we didn't have 64-bit multi-core chips with gigabytes of ram, And we liked it. ..."

07-June-05, 02:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
TYCOON Apex Tech God Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: SCHOOLLLSSS Posts: 4,728	I have seen it about 5 days ago, almost complete review on hardocp and other sites. I jsut dont care. Im never goign to drop 1000$ into graphics so meh. __________________ AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.7GHz DFI LanParty SLI-D 2GBs PC3200 @ PC3500 // 2.5-3-3-6 EVGA 7950GT 512MB @ Stock Audigy 2 ZS 36Gb Raptor (os) 2x300Gb WD SATA 16MB CACHE (storage) 450Watt OCZ modstream Coolermaster Wavemaster

07-June-05, 02:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
Bane Apex Tech Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: California Posts: 553	Bleh i think that ATI should make it work on any SLI motherboard. Would reach out to more people __________________ Antec NeoPower 480W P4 2.66 Ghz 533 Mhz FSB Asus P4S800D-X 2x Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT PNY Nvidia 6800GT SB Audigy 2 Platinum Maxtor 200GB WD Caviar SE 120GB

07-June-05, 02:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
Cpt.Planet That's Mr. Freeze to you! Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Jersey Shore Posts: 3,299	ATI's solution seems to be a little better than Nvidia due to the game sees it as one videocard where as sli you need to setup a driver profile. I really dont know if I wanna go SLI or Crossfire ATM. Any input? Edit [quote]Bleh i think that ATI should make it work on any SLI motherboard. Would reach out to more people [\QUOTE] There are a few problems with this. They are rival chip makers do you think Nvidia would sell the license and architecture to ATI. Also the cards work a little different meaning ATI Would hafta remake the video cards to make it accept sli. __________________ 5.1ghz QX6700 5.255ghz X6800

07-June-05, 02:41 PM	#6 (permalink)
TYCOON Apex Tech God Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: SCHOOLLLSSS Posts: 4,728	Well with the crossfire you dont need identicle cards, thats a big plus in my books if your using it for future upgrades. __________________ AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.7GHz DFI LanParty SLI-D 2GBs PC3200 @ PC3500 // 2.5-3-3-6 EVGA 7950GT 512MB @ Stock Audigy 2 ZS 36Gb Raptor (os) 2x300Gb WD SATA 16MB CACHE (storage) 450Watt OCZ modstream Coolermaster Wavemaster

07-June-05, 02:42 PM	#7 (permalink)
Spectrum Former GameApex Editor Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 6,669	Will motherboards support Crossfire and SLI or just one of them? That would really limit choices down the line. __________________

07-June-05, 03:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
Bane Apex Tech Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: California Posts: 553	hmmmm, i'm just curious...how much more will the master cards sell for in comparison to the normal card? twould be a damper if the card itself was exhorbitively expensive. Already the X800s and X850's are a little pricey __________________ Antec NeoPower 480W P4 2.66 Ghz 533 Mhz FSB Asus P4S800D-X 2x Corsair CMX512-3200C2PT PNY Nvidia 6800GT SB Audigy 2 Platinum Maxtor 200GB WD Caviar SE 120GB

07-June-05, 03:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
Joose Joosey Join Date: May 2003 Location: Milton, Ontario Posts: 5,537	Here's some more links to preview articles... Anandtech ExtremeTech Bit-Tech ArsTechnica Firing Squad Tom's [H] __________________ Joose - joosy since 1975 Cheap, Good, Fast - You can only have two out of three.

07-June-05, 03:27 PM	#11 (permalink)
Joose Joosey Join Date: May 2003 Location: Milton, Ontario Posts: 5,537	This is interesting: From the Anandtech article: "ATI has given us the indication that CrossFire should work on Intel Chipsets as well as their own. This could give new life to those Intel designs originally targeted at SLI. Though not explicitly stating that CrossFire will work in an NVIDIA SLI board, it definitely seems possible. From an adoption/compatibility standpoint, ATI is certainly "evaluating other options"" __________________ Joose - joosy since 1975 Cheap, Good, Fast - You can only have two out of three. Last edited by Joose; 07-June-05 at 06:10 PM.

07-June-05, 06:10 PM	#12 (permalink)
Joose Joosey Join Date: May 2003 Location: Milton, Ontario Posts: 5,537	Pricing information from the Anandtech article: __________________ Joose - joosy since 1975 Cheap, Good, Fast - You can only have two out of three.

07-June-05, 06:25 PM	#13 (permalink)
Cpt.Planet That's Mr. Freeze to you! Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Jersey Shore Posts: 3,299	Does anybody know when the board and cards will be available I heard July. Im really thinkin of going this way. __________________ 5.1ghz QX6700 5.255ghz X6800

07-June-05, 06:27 PM	#14 (permalink)
TYCOON Apex Tech God Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: SCHOOLLLSSS Posts: 4,728	128MB x800XT...cool..does that mean you coudl have 384mbs of graphics memory :O __________________ AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ @ 2.7GHz DFI LanParty SLI-D 2GBs PC3200 @ PC3500 // 2.5-3-3-6 EVGA 7950GT 512MB @ Stock Audigy 2 ZS 36Gb Raptor (os) 2x300Gb WD SATA 16MB CACHE (storage) 450Watt OCZ modstream Coolermaster Wavemaster

07-June-05, 07:13 PM	#17 (permalink)
goodman123 Apex Tech Maniac Supreme Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canada/Quebec/Montreal Posts: 1,037	i read a review somewhere (lost the link) that is wasn't as good as the nvidia SLI & it would be lot more expensive then the SLI configuration