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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.

11 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. Linux support by digitalderbs · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great! Now we'll only have to wait about two years for mediocre linux support.

  3. ATI had better watch out... by LegendOfLink · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...for Jon Stewart. Folks say that man has been known to cease CrossFires that are just full of hot air. ATI had better deliver.

    --
    IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
  4. 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.

  5. Links to other reviews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/crossfire/
    http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/09/26/ati_cr ossfire_detail/1.html
    http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/crossfireatire viewxxx/
    http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODE1
    http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?article id=730&cid=2
    http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=168
    http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=404
    http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/ati-crossfire /index.x?pg=1
    http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050926/ index.html

  6. Compared to NVidia's Offering by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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?

  7. Poor research / lack of knowledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.