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ATI Launches Crossfire... Finally

Posted by Hemos on from the launching-to-catch-up dept.

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.

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Argh! by bassgoonist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Max res of 1600x1200 at 60hz...how...disapointing.

    --
    You can tell I'm an aries because of my ram.
    1. Re:Argh! by Brain_Recall · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The Inquirer discussed this limitation before. The Crossfire system can do 1920x1200, but only at 52Hz. The SiI 1161 chip on the Crossfire card that merges the two data streams has this bandwidth limitation, and it appears ATi won't be fixing it for awhile.

      Personally, I feel the Crossfire solution has far too many drawbacks for the benifits. Not only do you require a special motherboard, but now you also need a special Crossfire capable video card. The second card can be any card, but the RAM buffer should be the same size, otherwise it will defualt to the lowest value for both cards. The external cable adds some nice external heft to the system, as well.

      So, what do you get over the SLI system? There are added antrisropic filtering methods and increased anti-ailising, but these are already appearing in the latest nVidia drivers. You can use your exisitng card to upgrade to a Crossfire system, but you can already do this with SLI. All in all, the system has it's flaws, too many I think to make it worthwhile.

  2. Dammit by MatD · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why, why, why, can't the editors change the links to use coralcache ? It's retarded that every story on slashdot concerns an article that no one can read. Is it really any wonder that people post without RTFA?

    --
    Since when did operating systems become a religion?
    1. Re:Dammit by Bronz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It might be that part of the /. revenue stream is selling subscriptions to people who want to read stories before the servers melt. I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just saying it might partly answer your question.

  3. Resolution / Refresh Rate Limit by LTC_Kilgore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I feel that crossfire's biggest flaw is that there is a resolution limit at 1600x1200 @ 60Hz with crossfire enabld.

    The customers who ATI developed this product for (the most rabid and devout hardware addicts with large budgets) most likely have either large CRTs (FW900) or high resolution widescreen LCD's (2405FPW, etc).

    The failure to recognize that these customers would want to run games at their display's native resolution is unexcusable.

    Seriously, why elso would someone drop $1000 to upgrade their graphics hardware if it wasn't so they could run the latest games at high resolution with full detail settings.

  4. Re:Oh Boy... by PetiePooo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Happy "Abuse Hexus Day" everyone!

    except its really self-abuse. Anyone else notice both Hexus articles were submitted by Steve Kerrison? That's steve.kerrison@HEXUS.net (or steve@stevekerrison.com) from the Hexus staff

    ... guess its one way to drum up advertising revenue.