Crossfire Reviews

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Did any sites take a look at X800 pairups(and not the X850)? One review I read noted that the X800 XF card is an XL, so I'm curious at how constrained that makes pairups with all the X800 cards that have a faster core clock(the Pro, XT, and XT PE).

Unless I'm missing it, I haven't seen anything but X850 results.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: ronnn

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003


Ok ronnn, what was your problem with my post this time? And try not to be a d!ck this time. And if you're gonna quote me, Go the extra mile and get the last 2 sentences chuckles.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
"So why is this happening with ATI? Honest question.
Crossfire seems like it's not going to be preferred after all the reviews today.
A 16 pipe insanely clocked (R520 with SM3.0)
Incredibly late to market. (Process limitation?)

Unless anyone can say differently, this has to be the worst year for ATI in their entire history. WHY?

Are they incapable? Under staffed with mediocre engineers? I have no clue.
ATI fans are dissappointed everywhere. In every aspect of ATI. What gives? What is going on?"

No problems, thankyou. I would like to see your links for the insane overclock.

My links? You mean the well known 600MHz core R520 and ATI trying for higher? You actually haven't read that anywhere?

For me this would suggest heat, stability and power issues, likely with artifacts.

Heat, most definitely. Stability? remains to be seen. Power issues, same.

You are correct that the R520 is behind the 7800gtx (how long has it been out?). Avivo already looks like a winner for that part of the market (not sure what it will do for me though). As for x-fire, will have to see in 6 months - as everyone knew that the x850 gen would generate few sales - I mean why buy a second card when one better card is better? Actually your whole rant just seemed like standard fud.:beer:

It wasn't a rant. Just questions. You chose to see it as a rant. So did rbv5. You wonder why you guys get so much flak, you're very defensive and think everyone who owns and nvidia card is out to get your bank account statements.

 

[rbV5]

I'd appreciate discussion focused on Crossfire in this thread, thank you.

How about the availability of Crossfire products? I'm not talking about Crossfire ready slave cards, I mean Crossfire Motherboards and Crossfire Master Cards. I've not seen any briefly looking around.

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Did any sites take a look at X800 pairups(and not the X850)? One review I read noted that the X800 XF card is an XL, so I'm curious at how constrained that makes pairups with all the X800 cards that have a faster core clock(the Pro, XT, and XT PE).

Unless I'm missing it, I haven't seen anything but X850 results.

Dave Bauman did discuss this in his conclusion, but no benches or tests done.

 

[UltraWide]

I am guessing Nvidia will get a slight surge in sales as people who were holding out for the CrossFire go out and buy 7800s. Oh well, you can't win them all.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: ronnn

Originally posted by: rbV5

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Did any sites take a look at X800 pairups(and not the X850)? One review I read noted that the X800 XF card is an XL, so I'm curious at how constrained that makes pairups with all the X800 cards that have a faster core clock(the Pro, XT, and XT PE).

Unless I'm missing it, I haven't seen anything but X850 results.

Dave Bauman did discuss this in his conclusion, but no benches or tests done.

Are you refering to:

...... if this scenario were the case then in these tests here, the more graphically intense rendering always provided a performance gain with the lowest end configuration (Crossfire + PRO) over the X850 XT's performance (which is what a Crossfire board on it own equals). ...

It seems like he's refering to just the X850 configurations? Still it would be nice to see something concerning the X800 cards.

 

[Hacp]

My question is Why even bother with crossfire x800? I mean people don't have the cash to buy a whole new motherboard/ a master graphics card, and possibly a new processor JUST for the dual cards. It would have made sense if crossfire worked with any 2x pci-e motherboard, and if performance was a little less than the Nvidia solution, it wouldn't matter since you can use any 2x board, but with the need to buy specific boards, and specific overpriced master cards it does not make sense to have crossfire for the x800 family.

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

No problems, thankyou. I would like to see your links for the insane overclock.

My links? You mean the well known 600MHz core R520 and ATI trying for higher? You actually haven't read that anywhere?

For me this would suggest heat, stability and power issues, likely with artifacts.

Heat, most definitely. Stability? remains to be seen. Power issues, same.

What you fail to understand is that the R520 is designed for higher clock speeds. The architecture itself lends itself to higher clock speeds than the G70 chips are capable of. They were specifically designed this way! All the heat and power issues that you are continually ranting about are just figments of your imagination.

 

[rbV5]

Please, keep discussion topical to "CROSSFIRE REVIEWS" thank you.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Hacp
My question is Why even bother with crossfire x800? I mean people don't have the cash to buy a whole new motherboard/ a master graphics card, and possibly a new processor JUST for the dual cards. It would have made sense if crossfire worked with any 2x pci-e motherboard, and if performance was a little less than the Nvidia solution, it wouldn't matter since you can use any 2x board, but with the need to buy specific boards, and specific overpriced master cards it does not make sense to have crossfire for the x800 family.

I think t-break said it:

....In our opinion, the only reason ATI is releasing CrossFire on the x800/850 series is to show that they do have the technology ready. We're sure that we'll see it implemented on their newer GPUs in a more timely manner.

For x800 IMO, it has at least 2 fairly substantial hurdles:

*Resolution/refresh Support
*Lack of SM3.0

For a single card solution, neither represents a deal breaker, however for crossfire, the lack of SM3.0 support is a factor IMO, less supported resolutions than a single card solution takes it out of consideration all on its own for me.

 

[Mingon]

I just dont get the point if x-fire you have the ability to run decent res with aa/af but whats the point when you are going to have to use vsync to avoid tearing limiting you to 60fps. Whilst performance is good its a waste like this - like buying a jap import skyline capable of so much yet restricted to 112mph.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Mingon
I just dont get the point if x-fire you have the ability to run decent res with aa/af but whats the point when you are going to have to use vsync to avoid tearing limiting you to 60fps. Whilst performance is good its a waste like this - like buying a jap import skyline capable of so much yet restricted to 112mph.

It seems odd that the very reason for having multi-gpu solution isn't supported for a large # of the small user base that would even consider it.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: Rollo
ATI gamers waited a year for this mess?

Try not to exaggerate so much to further your cause. SLI was reviewed 10 months ago, Crossfire wasnt announced until well after that. People havent been waiting for Crossfire for a year.

SLI was a mess at launch too. SLI had its fair share of bugs, and has just now close to a year later finally matured. They did not have such a huge limitation as the 60hz though.

I do agree with you that I dont see any reason to get Crossfire (or 6800 SLI) at this point. A GTX is most of the time as fast, or faster, and much cheaper overall. Perhaps better things will come down the road for Crossfire, as of now, there is zero chance Ill be getting it.

 

[Bona Fide]

Haha...Rollo just needed to get in on this

 

[KeepItRed]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Rollo
ATI gamers waited a year for this mess?

Try not to exaggerate so much to further your cause. SLI was reviewed 10 months ago, Crossfire wasnt announced until well after that. People havent been waiting for Crossfire for a year.

SLI was a mess at launch too. SLI had its fair share of bugs, and has just now close to a year later finally matured. They did not have such a huge limitation as the 60hz though.

I do agree with you that I dont see any reason to get Crossfire (or 6800 SLI) at this point. A GTX is most of the time as fast, or faster, and much cheaper overall. Perhaps better things will come down the road for Crossfire, as of now, there is zero chance Ill be getting it.

Not to mention the useless features they still have. Profiling. Do I really want to change it each time I play a game? Or have it all automatic thanks to Crossfire?

 

[rbV5]

Not to mention the useless features they still have. Profiling. Do I really want to change it each time I play a game? Or have it all automatic thanks to Crossfire?

However, when you consider trade-offs, you kinda have to consider ALL the trade-offs. At this point, IF you could make a case for wanting a multi-gpu platform, it would be hard to pick Crossfire over SLI given the limitations wouldn't it?

 

[5150Joker]

What should be obvious to anyone that is not a fanboy is that Crossfire WAS a quick fix to address SLI and that is why it relies on an external fcpga chip + dongle. I'm willing to bet both R520 and R580 will also have the same limitations and Crossfire won't become viable until R600.

Since I'm cheap and have no games to warrant SLI or Crossfire, a single 7800 GTX is more than enough.

 

[SolMiester]

LOL.....ATI has ALWAYS been an also ran in terms of Video Cards, they always had sh*t drivers and are still playing catch-up with Nvidia. Its about time they started to think for themselves to bring out new technology of their own, otherwise they will always be 2nd best!

 

[Kalessian]

Originally posted by: SolMiester
LOL.....ATI has ALWAYS been an also ran in terms of Video Cards, they always had sh*t drivers and are still playing catch-up with Nvidia. Its about time they started to think for themselves to bring out new technology of their own, otherwise they will always be 2nd best!

You don't remember nv30, do you?

 

[SolMiester]

Was that the Ti4600 or FX5xxx?, doesnt matter, I stand by what I said, ATI were the All in Wonder great video capture boys when Voodoo was around.Its only because Nvidia bought out Voodoo that ATI thought it would try its hand. I had no choice but to buy GF256 DDR after voodoo went down as ATI couldnt write fast driver code to save themselves. LOL.....

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: M0RPH

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

No problems, thankyou. I would like to see your links for the insane overclock.

My links? You mean the well known 600MHz core R520 and ATI trying for higher? You actually haven't read that anywhere?

For me this would suggest heat, stability and power issues, likely with artifacts.

Heat, most definitely. Stability? remains to be seen. Power issues, same.

What you fail to understand is that the R520 is designed for higher clock speeds. The architecture itself lends itself to higher clock speeds than the G70 chips are capable of. They were specifically designed this way! All the heat and power issues that you are continually ranting about are just figments of your imagination.

I said heat definitely, stability remains to be seen, and power issues remains to be seen. Just to take your blinders off.
Yes, the R520 was designed for higher clockspeeds. Higher, not insane. ATI is really pushing it from what we all have read. Yes, you read it also.
I never ranted about heat and power issues and..... forget it. MORPH, now I know you are kidding.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: SolMiester
Was that the Ti4600 or FX5xxx?, doesnt matter, I stand by what I said, ATI were the All in Wonder great video capture boys when Voodoo was around.Its only because Nvidia bought out Voodoo that ATI thought it would try its hand. I had no choice but to buy GF256 DDR after voodoo went down as ATI couldnt write fast driver code to save themselves. LOL.....

but Image Quality on the GF256 was crap compared to the Rage Fury . . .
[i had both]

by the time Radeon DDR was out, ati HW had nearly caught up with nVidia but their drivers didn't really improve until almost a year after the 8500 was released . .

when the 9700p came out, it blew away nVidia's offerings . . . for a couple of years . . . until the 6800 series

currently, ATI and nVidia are about equal in driver quality with ati releasing drivers more often

 

[rbV5]

I'm not sure what NV30, ti4600, AIW, drivers or r520 have to do with Crossfire. Instead of bickering about the same stuff that erupts into some unreadable mess, how about concentrating on the topic?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: Rollo
ATI gamers waited a year for this mess?

Try not to exaggerate so much to further your cause. SLI was reviewed 10 months ago, Crossfire wasnt announced until well after that. People havent been waiting for Crossfire for a year.

Errr, yeah, ten months is a "big" difference from a year. :roll:

SLI was a mess at launch too. SLI had its fair share of bugs, and has just now close to a year later finally matured. They did not have such a huge limitation as the 60hz though.

A. I had SLI soon after launch, and it kicked ass compared to this mess. I had no problems with it other than getting a couple games to work.
B. You're too kind- 16X12 is almost as big a set back as 60Hz.

I do agree with you that I dont see any reason to get Crossfire (or 6800 SLI) at this point. A GTX is most of the time as fast, or faster, and much cheaper overall. Perhaps better things will come down the road for Crossfire, as of now, there is zero chance Ill be getting it.

Crossfire is best known as "Crapfire" or "Missfire". 16X12 at 60Hz, master/slave cards, dongles, and second tier ATI motherboards add up to Crossfire being DOA. Even a lot of the reviewers are saying they can't recommend it. A muchdifferent story than the original SLI reviews.

LOL- I remember you making a big deal about SLI not working with a 30" Apple monitor. Try "all decent CRTs" this time around. Crossfire as it stands is the biggest debacle foisted on the public in history- no exaggeration. I'd listen to my 5800 U fan for the rest of my life before I'd look at 60Hz for one hour.

 

[rbV5]

Crossfire is best known as "Crapfire" or "Missfire". 16X12 at 60Hz, master/slave cards, dongles, and second tier ATI motherboards add up to Crossfire being DOA. Even a lot of the reviewers are saying they can't recommend it. A muchdifferent story than the original SLI reviews.

Alot of reviewers also say that even SLI is only recommended for the highest end, currently 7800GTX in SLI. If thats not your target right now, it seems it shouldn't be a consideration, and I'll agree.

As far as the second tier motherboards, I would like to see some reviews of other cards in Crossfire motherboards and see how they compare from a performance/feature standpoint as well.