ATI announces Crossfire

[Helevitia]

Much better than SLI IMHO. No special drivers needed and all games will work with it.

You did need a "master" card though. It has something called a "CrossFire compositing engine". The other card can be a regular card without the compositing engine.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050530/305066.html?.v=1

[schmosef]

I guess the big question is whether ATI will be able to ship this in enough quantity to satisfy demand. X800 cards are still very hard to come by in the distribution channel.

[Wombat]

Well, you knew they were up to something when they started offering rebates on their current cards.

[GT98]

Much better than SLI IMHO. No special drivers needed and all games will work with it.

You did need a "master" card though. It has something called a "CrossFire compositing engine". The other card can be a regular card without the compositing engine.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050530/305066.html?.v=1

But looks like your stuck using ATi's Mobo Chipset to make it work?

[DGhost]

But looks like your stuck using ATi's Mobo Chipset to make it work?

nope.

i do have to say, i like NV's solution because you don't have to use a #&$^$* dongle cable.

[Wombat]

I don't really mind the dongle. It's still a digital connection, I believe. So, nVidia's is internal, and ATi's is external. ATi's may be better in the long run, since you have more flexibility with card placement and alignment.

[[GDI]Raptor]

Well, let's se if ATi can deliver on time this time!

I think Crossfire is a bad idea now, I would rather save my money for a ATi R520 or a nvidia G70, since both probably will be faster than two high-end cards today in Crossfire/SLI

[Helevitia]

Yes, but what if you already have a setup with the ability to pop in another card rather than upgrading to a newer card? Would you spend $500 on a new card of pop in a 2nd card for half the price?

[Wombat]

Yeah, probably. Generally, I upgrade cards when I find that my current card simply doesn't have the features to render the games I want to play. The latest Shaders, DirectX 7/8/9, whatever.

If a card doesn't have the hardware functionality perform function X, then two of that card are going to not-render it twice as fast.

On the other hand, your current games aren't going to get any more demanding, so if one card is fine now, one card is fine later.

[Helevitia]

Yeah, probably. Generally, I upgrade cards when I find that my current card simply doesn't have the features to render the games I want to play. The latest Shaders, DirectX 7/8/9, whatever.

If a card doesn't have the hardware functionality perform function X, then two of that card are going to not-render it twice as fast.

On the other hand, your current games aren't going to get any more demanding, so if one card is fine now, one card is fine later.

hmmm...well after pondering your opinion I would have to disagree. Yes, current games will not get any more demanding but future games will and sooner or later you will run into a situation where your card is not up to snuff. DirectX updates are so few and far between as well. For instance, if I had two 9700 Pro's right now, what would I be missing out on?

[Wombat]

First, you can't have two 9700s, unless there was a PCI version I'm unaware of. Second, what kind of speedup would you expect? 30%?

Why would you have two now when one would suffice? If one didn't suffice, why would you buy another 9700, instead of a comparably priced X card?

Also, keep in mind that if dual cards gain in popularity, then card prices will not drop as fast as they have with the AGP cards.

And if you bought a single card now, you probably wouldn't think about matching it until later, like when Longhorn or Doom4 comes out. New DirectX, new OpenGL, respectively.

[Helevitia]

First, you can't have two 9700s, unless there was a PCI version I'm unaware of.

I know you can't have two 9700's. I was just using that as an example.

Second, what kind of speedup would you expect? 30%?

more than that. 70%+ in most cases and more in others.

Why would you have two now when one would suffice? If one didn't suffice, why would you buy another 9700, instead of a comparably priced X card?

How can an X800XT cost as little as a 9700/9800 pro?

Also, keep in mind that if dual cards gain in popularity, then card prices will not drop as fast as they have with the AGP cards.

And if you bought a single card now, you probably wouldn't think about matching it until later, like when Longhorn or Doom4 comes out. New DirectX, new OpenGL, respectively.

I'd buy another X800 in as soon as 6 months. Probably closer to a year though. But this brings me back to why I chose the 9700, because it was at the beginning of the DX9 cycle and therefore, you couldstay within the DX9 cycle for quite some time.

[Wombat]

Well, if you think it will work out for you....

But I went G200 -> G400 -> GF3Ti -> Parhelia (and back to the Ti) -> 9800Pro, and an X800XL on the way.

Each one performed functions the previous one could never handle, except the 9800 -> X800, which I'm doing to go from AGP to PCI-E. Otherwise, my upgrades practically match DirectX versions. In my case, adding a second card would have given me extra speed at extra cost, and I still would have had to buy the next-gen card to get those features.

[GT98]

Each one performed functions the previous one could never handle, except the 9800 -> X800, which I'm doing to go from AGP to PCI-E. Otherwise, my upgrades practically match DirectX versions. In my case, adding a second card would have given me extra speed at extra cost, and I still would have had to buy the next-gen card to get those features.

The other way to look at it is like this:

New Verison of DX comes out

New Video card comes out within 6 months of the DX release to support new features, if it doesnt already

Games take at leasts 6 months-1 year to fully utillize new DX verison...in the mean time that new video card that came out to support new DX verison comes down in price, but newer games push that video card harder then when it orginally came out, thus the need for an additional card or brand new card.

I dont see an issue of spending say $250-300 to get another video card to support a faster FPS, since that brand new card that might be only as fast as 2 of the older gen cards together, but costs $500 bucks (even though this is apples to oranges...Sonys/Nividia's claim of the PS3 GPU being twice as fast as 2x6800's). DX revisions arent nearly short lived as they once where (how long has DX9 been around? 2-3years? Wont see DXnext till Longhorn), thus longer development time.

To tell you the truth, I increasly see PC gaming getting smaller and smaller as time goes on, making high end 3D video cards pointless for the half dozen titles or less so that might come out year to year that might need them. As much as this pains me, I'd rather spend $300 on a Xbox or something then keep upgrading my Video card every year for the same price so I can play the one or two games that require a new one.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

I personally don't see the point of having 2 cards in general, be it SLI or Crossfire.

By the time games become slow, I will just shell out for a new card with new features instead of having two cards with old features.

besides, I don't really like the external dongle idae. I perfer the SLI configuration.