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ATI Launches Crossfire... Finally
Steve from Hexus writes "After a long wait, ATI's multi-GPU solution - CrossFire - is finally here. Hexus checks out Crossfire using an X850 Crossfire setup, which can be beaten in performance by a single GeForce 7800 GTX in some games. Too little too late, or will R520 based Crossfire prove more fruitful? Hexus also examines how Crossfire works, how easy it is to setup and what its limitations are with current hardware." Looks very interesting - I'd love to get one for review.
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Coral Cache
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/crossfire/r ossfire_detail/1.htmle viewxxx/e id=730&cid=2e /index.x?pg=1/ index.html
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/09/26/ati_c
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/crossfireatir
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODE1
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articl
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=168
http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=404
http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/ati-crossfir
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050926
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1862962 ,00.asp
NVidia currently has a couple SLI cards, which perform quite well. I recently picked up a 7800 GT, the low-end of the high-end cards, for around $350. The plan is to pick up a second one when the price drops to around $100. It's very reminiscent of my Voodoo 2 experience - the first cost $300 and the second cost $30.
Of course, Crossfire has the benefit of working with any other ATI card past a certain point. With NVidia's offerings, you have to match the card exactly (though supposedly the manufacturer doesn't matter). For my needs, it doesn't matter all that much, but it's something to consider.
Not that I'm a fanboy of either vendor. My last card was a Radeon 9800 Pro, which has worked great these last couple years. Now it seems that NVidia has the card that works best for my needs. Ain't competition grand?
It sounds like, even though Crossfire might not be the glorious thing everyone has been waiting for, that in the future it might prove better than SLI. I for one though, feel that it would be better to just wait for that one graphics card than to get two at the moment, considering how fast they become obsolete.
Anyways, from what I've read and been told, SLI requires special profiles to be taken advantage of in games, while crossfire simulates 1 graphics card and doesn't require anything but the default drivers to be taken advantage of.
$fortune
Tomorrow has been canceled due to lack of interest.
Page 2 :
"By definition, a single-link DVI connection only has enough bandwidth at its maximum clock rate to carry a 1600x1200 image at up to 60Hz, or a 1900x1200 image displayed at 54Hz. Therefore in terms of what the slave can send the master board for output via the compositing chip, it's limited to those resolutions."
Limited only if you read the original DVI spec. How does he think people run the HP and Apple 23" displays and the Dell 24" display over a single-link connection?
All card manufacturers, and 1920x1200 display manufacturers, allow you to run the channel with a reduced blanking interval, and so squeeze in the extra bandwidth needed for 1920x1200x60.
Bad start to the review - I'm not going to continue reading (even if I could after it has been slashdot'ed.