ATI CrossFire Preview - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 2nd Jun 2005, 18:41

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...preview/1.html

RotoSequence · 2nd Jun 2005, 20:00

Definitely interesting; very interesting. I look forward to seeing what kind of performance ATI has in store for us; its approaching time for me to replace my first computer; The summer of 2005 shall be interesting indeed

uwannabigmak · 2nd Jun 2005, 21:56

If it works anywhere near as well as its supposed to, it will be amazing. It is definitely better than SLI in terms of compatability. The only bad part is that now, Ill have to spend another $700 to have top graphics preformance that I don't really need. At least it will (hopefully) make old games look much better.

Froggy · 2nd Jun 2005, 22:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwannabigmak

If it works anywhere near as well as its supposed to, it will be amazing. It is definitely better than SLI in terms of compatability. The only bad part is that now, Ill have to spend another $700 to have top graphics preformance that I don't really need. At least it will (hopefully) make old games look much better.

If your x850 is PCI-e, then this is what you will really love. Get the X850 Crossfire and you can link it to your current card.

That will save you a few bucks.

And bigz, not to be picky or anything, but i heard from the Inq that only ATI can make the crossfire, and not brands like saphire and powercolor. dunno if its true but your article suggests that you can get a saphire crossfire card.

I can't wait for benchmarks. Have you run any yet bigz? i know you did and just trying to tease me by holding back

Well i know now what im upgrading to this fall:
Dual core Pentium somthing comboed with 2x R520

Highland3r · 3rd Jun 2005, 01:10

Froggy, it seems ATI are initially making all of the crossfire master cards, but this production will be moved to their board partners after a short period.

From the initial benchmarks, the crossfire implementation seems to match SLI nicely, beating it quite often.
The Sapphire board has the added bonus of the mosfet area being coolable via a standard Northbridge sink (there are mounting holes available as well) which seems a great feature.
Not sure if this is true of all the boards, however the sapphire also boasts 4v Vdimm (with up to 30amps deliverable), 2.0v vCore (limited from a max possible of 2.7) 4 phase power regulation. Seems pretty well feature packed for overclockers tbh

The extra space between the 2 16* connectors is great for extra airflow too, tho it seems ATI are opting more for a dual slot design now.. Bios also seems pretty feature packed, almost everything thats available in the DFI appears to be present, including a manual option for vtt :|

Tim S · 3rd Jun 2005, 02:18

The board partners will sell the CrossFire cards.

You don't need that extra space, because of the way that the cooling solution works - pulls air in through the power end of the card and out through the back. Sapphire's CrossFire board did not have cooling on the mosfets. There may be a 'Pure' version soon, but right now it is a blue board that we have seen from Sapphire.

-EVRE- · 3rd Jun 2005, 07:11

maybe my "sped redin skils" failed me, but will this work with nforce4 mobos with two pcie slots? or will an upgrade require a new mobo AND second video card?

Tim S · 3rd Jun 2005, 11:44

For the moment you will require an ATI CrossFire motherboard. However, I get the impression that ATI have plans to get this working on the likes of NForce 4 SLI and VIA's K8T890 Pro chipset.

Highland3r · 3rd Jun 2005, 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigz

For the moment you will require an ATI CrossFire motherboard. However, I get the impression that ATI have plans to get this working on the likes of NForce 4 SLI and VIA's K8T890 Pro chipset.

If they do then

K.I.T.T. · 3rd Jun 2005, 12:25

hmmm......with the X800's coming down in price significantly since when i bought mine i think on my next pc (which may be next year sometime) a pair of X800 XT's would be affordable. this way of doing things is much better and (even more so if they do get it working on the NForce4 SLI chipset) easier since as long as you get the master card for the right series of cards then it will 'adapt' and the fact all the connections are external and theres no fiddling in your bios or flipping cards and moving jumpers about is just awsome.....can't wait to see performance figures

mattthegamer463 · 3rd Jun 2005, 20:38

Horray!!! Ati (my personal fav of vid cards) has finally made a SLi type device! Theyre a canadian company too!

2nd Jun 2005, 18:41	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	ATI CrossFire Preview http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...preview/1.html __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

2nd Jun 2005, 20:00	#2
RotoSequence Lazy Lurker Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: 'States Posts: 4,533	Definitely interesting; very interesting. I look forward to seeing what kind of performance ATI has in store for us; its approaching time for me to replace my first computer; The summer of 2005 shall be interesting indeed __________________ Technology Schmecnology

2nd Jun 2005, 21:56	#3
uwannabigmak Hypermodder Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 612	If it works anywhere near as well as its supposed to, it will be amazing. It is definitely better than SLI in terms of compatability. The only bad part is that now, Ill have to spend another $700 to have top graphics preformance that I don't really need. At least it will (hopefully) make old games look much better. __________________ You can bomb the world into pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace

3rd Jun 2005, 01:10	#5
Highland3r I Mod, Therefore I Own Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Leeds UK Posts: 7,159	Froggy, it seems ATI are initially making all of the crossfire master cards, but this production will be moved to their board partners after a short period. From the initial benchmarks, the crossfire implementation seems to match SLI nicely, beating it quite often. The Sapphire board has the added bonus of the mosfet area being coolable via a standard Northbridge sink (there are mounting holes available as well) which seems a great feature. Not sure if this is true of all the boards, however the sapphire also boasts 4v Vdimm (with up to 30amps deliverable), 2.0v vCore (limited from a max possible of 2.7) 4 phase power regulation. Seems pretty well feature packed for overclockers tbh The extra space between the 2 16* connectors is great for extra airflow too, tho it seems ATI are opting more for a dual slot design now.. Bios also seems pretty feature packed, almost everything thats available in the DFI appears to be present, including a manual option for vtt :\| __________________ Prawn or not...?

3rd Jun 2005, 02:18	#6
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	The board partners will sell the CrossFire cards. You don't need that extra space, because of the way that the cooling solution works - pulls air in through the power end of the card and out through the back. Sapphire's CrossFire board did not have cooling on the mosfets. There may be a 'Pure' version soon, but right now it is a blue board that we have seen from Sapphire. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

3rd Jun 2005, 07:11	#7
-EVRE- Supermodder Join Date: May 2004 Location: Idaho U.S.A Posts: 343	maybe my "sped redin skils" failed me, but will this work with nforce4 mobos with two pcie slots? or will an upgrade require a new mobo AND second video card? __________________ (Phenom II 940)(Foxcon A7DA)(8gb OCZ DDR2 800 )(8800gt aka hair dryer)(Big yellow case, CPU, GPU)(Enermax Liberty 500w)(lite-on DVD-RW w/LightScribe)(Seagate 300gb sata)(Seagate 320gb x2)(WD 200gb)(Dell 3007WFP 30"LCD, 19" Samsung, Acer 1280x720 projector)

3rd Jun 2005, 11:44	#8
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	For the moment you will require an ATI CrossFire motherboard. However, I get the impression that ATI have plans to get this working on the likes of NForce 4 SLI and VIA's K8T890 Pro chipset. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

3rd Jun 2005, 12:25	#10
K.I.T.T. Hasselhoff™ Inside Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: West Midlands, England Posts: 581	hmmm......with the X800's coming down in price significantly since when i bought mine i think on my next pc (which may be next year sometime) a pair of X800 XT's would be affordable. this way of doing things is much better and (even more so if they do get it working on the NForce4 SLI chipset) easier since as long as you get the master card for the right series of cards then it will 'adapt' and the fact all the connections are external and theres no fiddling in your bios or flipping cards and moving jumpers about is just awsome.....can't wait to see performance figures __________________ Founder of the RSPCM (see here) My Blog _____________________________________________ Q6600 (G0) @ 3.40Ghz \| 4GB G.Skill (5-5-5-15 2T) @ 533Mhz \| Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 \| DFI Lanparty UT X48-T2R \| Galaxy DXX 1000W \| 640GB WD Caviar Blue\| 1TB Samsung F1 \| 250GB Deskstar Last edited by K.I.T.T.; 3rd Jun 2005 at 12:31.

3rd Jun 2005, 20:38	#11
mattthegamer463 Mod Master Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 2,805	Horray!!! Ati (my personal fav of vid cards) has finally made a SLi type device! Theyre a canadian company too! __________________ Latest Work: Boombox Build Project PCB- Complete Digital Picture Frame 2.0- Complete RumbleMouse - Complete Latest Project: TestPC- Complete Lian-Li PC7: C2D E6600, XFX 8800GTS 640MB, Corsair 2GB PC6400, 320GB Seagate Barracuda, EVGA 680i SLi, OCZ 850W