Slashdot Mirror
ATI X1800 CrossFire Cards Reviewed
AnInkle writes "ATI finally joins the Christmas party. If money is (virtually) no object and high-end 3D animation is part of your game, you'll want to check out The Tech Report's review of the ATI X1800 CrossFire card before spending your green on the green team. From the review: 'This new CrossFire card also sweeps away some of the limitations of the first-generation CrossFire hardware introduced just a couple of months ago, allowing mega-high-res gaming.' Further, if the latest rumors about the 7800GTX 512MB are true, it would mean that this CrossFire graphics subsystem would arguably stand alone at the top of the graphics benchmarking mountain."
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=3668
Get your Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool Here for FREE! - http://fedora.redhat.com
14 pages of clicking through ads... lol
Conclusions
A Radeon X1800 XT CrossFire rig is mighty fast. Also, it's six degrees Fahrenheit outside right now at my place, and I've enjoyed the room-warming benefits of CrossFire and SLI systems throughout the preparation of this review. My mind boggles, though, when I try to consider the value proposition of plunking down $1200 for a pair of graphics cards and roughly $200 more for the motherboard. Could a pair of Radeon X1800 XT cards in CrossFire be a better deal than two GeForce 7800 GTX 512s in SLI?
Yeah, I suppose so, especially with GTX 512 prices currently in low-altitude orbit. I do have my reservations about CrossFire, including the hassle of dealing with external dongles and the iffy I/O performance of CrossFire motherboards that use ATI's SB450 south bridge. Still, CrossFire performance generally scales well enough from one card to two, and I said in my initial CrossFire review that the long-term success of this solution would hinge on the quality of ATI's new GPUs. Turns out that the Radeon X1800 XT is a very desirable graphics card that matches the GeForce 7800 GTX feature for feature and adds a few new wrinkles of its own, including finer threading granularity for Shader Model 3.0 and the ability to do antialiasing with high-dynamic-range rendering. The Radeon X1800 XT trails the GeForce 7800 GTX 512 in overall performance, but Radeon X1800 CrossFire may hit the streets at prices as much as $150 lower per card than the 7800 GTX 512. (Radeon X1800 XTs are already widely available at $599 or less.) In the rarefied air of big-money graphics subsystems, that potential $300 price difference--if indeed it develops--could make a Radeon X1800 XT CrossFire system a, uh, er, uhm, solid value.
Yeah, I said it.
It's bitchin' fast, at any rate.
Don't go buying a Radeon X1800 XL card, however, expecting to add a Radeon X1800 CrossFire card later if you care at all about value. Dropping a $599 CrossFire card into your system and lopping off half of its RAM and much of its performance potential isn't the brightest of moves. That solution sacrificies too much, in my view. You can get a dual-graphics solution involving a Radeon X1800 XL, but it's far from optimal. Perhaps in the future, if prices drop dramatically on the Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition cards, teaming one up with an XL could make some sense. That seems like a shaky prospect to me, though.
Notice how the author acknowledges that "the GeForce 7800 GTX 512 is practically otherworldly." Doesn't really sound like there's any argument to be had.
My work here is dung.
At a cost of $1200, you're better off getting an XBox 360, a PS3, and the new Nintendo. You'll probably have a couple bucks left over for lunch. Just way too uch money for the average Joe. But I bet some uber Slashdot users already have them :)
gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/The GTX 256's perform at or near the X1800XT's (looking at the linked benchmarks). These cards will cost you at least $400 less for a pair, use a single slot design, run cooler and quieter.
**(And yes they now support Linux in SLI).
http://www.kubuntu.org/
The definition of the word "crossfire" as it pertains to a physical object:
A short circuit between two spark plug wires on an engine which causes a cylinder to fire at the wrong time, or causes more than one cylinder to fire at a time. It is a BAD THING (tm).
Now, it is perfectly normal that Chrysler pick the same word for one of their new cars, truth in advertising and all that. But the people at ATI don't want to have a name associated with a malfunctioning ignition system.
Holy crap, batman, any of these SLI/Crossfire modes will need quite a robust power supply. Even at idle in those configurations they'll pull about 150W, but when in max use can draw over 400W of power! I guess playing high-end games these days also comes with a big hit to your electric bill. Cripes! People might need to get a second job just to play games.
today is spelling optional day.
Considering how video cards have recently overtaken CPUs in complexity, I don't think they're charging too terribly much. Not only do you get more transistors in a modern GPU than a Pentium 4, but also 256-512MB of GDDR3 RAM. Granted, this sort of power isn't necessary for a lot of people. That's why both nVidia and ATi offer cheaper versions of their flagship cards with similar capabilities, only slower. For example, the GeForce 6200 and the Radeon x300 are both decent gfx cards that are available for around $50.
I wonder if ATi and nVidia even comes close in terms of profit margins on GPUs as Intel does on CPUs...
It is hard to get excited about bleeding edge graphics cards, because ATI and NVidia refuse to publish their register sets so people can write good free Linux drivers. I have programmed ARM, Blackfin, and PIC processors. In all cases the registers are exhaustively documented and there are thriving communities of experts trying to get the most out of them. Your $600 video card's drivers were probably developed by a team of 4. Is the code any good? You will never know. Thanks for nothing ATI and NVidia.
an ill wind that blows no good