Crossfire setup

[Steve325]

I'm disappointed about this. 2 different video cards and none of them included the bridge. I've never done this before and have no idea how it works. I have both of my 4830's installed right now, but obviously it's not working. What do I need to get this working at the cheapest price? Asus P5Q Pro if that makes any difference on this

Thanks!

 

[Pelu]

hm.. strange.. sometimes the cards have the interconectors... my old two 3870 had them some other times teh board have them, but looks like in your case no one had the dongles... which is kinda odd... dunno what to say, because i dont know where to get those dongles separatly...

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Steve325
I'm disappointed about this. 2 different video cards and none of them included the bridge. I've never done this before and have no idea how it works. I have both of my 4830's installed right now, but obviously it's not working. What do I need to get this working at the cheapest price? Asus P5Q Pro if that makes any difference on this

Thanks!

That's very disappointing.

I bet you could pick one up on Ebay, cheap.

 

[Denithor]

Um, no. Just call the manufacturer (should be an 800 number or online support) and ask for them.

This is becoming standard, many manufacturers aren't including them as the majority of people never use crossfire mode. So it's just extra expense. However they will ship you bridges if you call and ask.

 

[dust]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Um, no. Just call the manufacturer (should be an 800 number or online support) and ask for them.

This is becoming standard, many manufacturers aren't including them as the majority of people never use crossfire mode. So it's just extra expense. However they will ship you bridges if you call and ask.

Yeah that's probably right, but in this case they didn't use common sense. He ordered two pieces(I assume they're from the same retailer and probably bought at the same time), so unless they thought he was going to play tennis with the cards they should have added at least a bridge. That's just bad service if you ask me.

 

[speedfreak]

yeah, even high end cards these days doesnt include those in the bundle.

 

[dust]

Nowadays you have to do some research before buying anything, otherwise you'll probably end up in that situation where you have to spend more money to make your initial investment worthwhile. It's so easy to conjure low rates, rebates and other cheap tricks but once the deal is done they're as cold as rocks, knowing you just have no chance but to buy additional stuff. I certainly hope they won't do the same with cars though. How would it be if you buy yourself a new car and you get it without wheels?

To the OP: I believe you'll need to find yourself the bridge, if you're lucky the retailer will simply ship them to you. Pls let us know how it goes with them.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: Drivenbyvoltage

Originally posted by: Denithor
Um, no. Just call the manufacturer (should be an 800 number or online support) and ask for them.

This is becoming standard, many manufacturers aren't including them as the majority of people never use crossfire mode. So it's just extra expense. However they will ship you bridges if you call and ask.

Yeah that's probably right, but in this case they didn't use common sense. He ordered two pieces (I assume they're from the same retailer and probably bought at the same time), so unless they thought he was going to play tennis with the cards they should have added at least a bridge. That's just bad service if you ask me.

Why would the retailer be responsible for something the manufacturer didn't include in the package? That makes no sense at all...

 

[dust]

Because they get special rates from the manufacturers, depending on the volume of business. They get increasingly better rates as their amount of brought business gets higher and they don't always make sure their customers get the same treatment. Considering how many manufacturers are in the market today for both ATI and Nvidia, I'm surprised to see that the retailers don't play this right.

To give you an example here in the M East there is only one Patriot distributor and an Viper series 4gb DDR2 is between 67-110$ towards the retailer with the option of getting lower rates by 15-20% as per the monthly purchase volume. The retailer price is almost double regardless and that makes everyone choose the Corsair/OCZ lines instead. To me that's just poor brand management from the retailer side. Oh and we have no taxes here, the petrol is also 1.8$/gallon so one might think it should be easy for the retailers to work with offers only they don't. Now that doesn't make sense!

 

[rarebear]

They sell them at newegg, AI sells the cheapest I think it was $7 or $10

I was like you where is the conector when I bought my card..

Here is the link
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814998002

Or just search for Crossfire
They also sell a HIS for $10.99

 

[alcoholbob]

Even the highest end nvidia cards don't come with SLI bridges you get them with an SLI motherboard.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Astrallite
Even the highest end nvidia cards don't come with SLI bridges you get them with an SLI motherboard.

This is true, and IMO makes the most sense. This is part of the SLI certification for motherboards IIRC. The way I see it, there should be no artificial limitations on multi card setups based on drivers locking out certain chipsets, but if a motherboard bears the SLI or Crossfire logo it should come with bridges.

Giving a bridge with every card is somewhat silly because the vast majority of people will never run dual cards, whereas someone who buys an SLI board is much more likely to run SLI. I've used the bridge I got with every SLI board I've owned at some point.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I have a few bridges that I'll never use. PM me your address and I'll mail you one if you'd like. I assume that sticking one in a small padded envelope should get to you fine with a stamp or two.

*edit - I'm assuming the bridge for my 2900 Pro and 4870 is the same for the 4830?

 

[Pelu]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Um, no. Just call the manufacturer (should be an 800 number or online support) and ask for them.

This is becoming standard, many manufacturers aren't including them as the majority of people never use crossfire mode. So it's just extra expense. However they will ship you bridges if you call and ask.

If they pick up the phone...

 

[Pelu]

that is really sad... that no one put the interconnectors on it... here i got interconnectors in the cards.. interconnectors in the mobo.. interconnectors everywhere... I was thinking on puting them on ebay...

 

[Keysplayr]

Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

Every CF motherboard I have purchased (GB, Asus, and MSI) NEVER included the CF bridge. I did get a SLI bridge with my X58 purchase, but again, no CF bridge.

Never actually realized that until now...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

No keys, that's only for SLI. For Crossfire, the bridges are supposed to come with the cards.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

not CrossFire; not my latest ASUS Rampage nor P5E deluxe nor my Gigabyte DS3P from 2 years ago
- all CrossFire MBs

i got all my X-fire interconnect bridges with my Videocards
- none from Sapphire [nor BGFtech's GTX280 - which is correct; they come with SLi MBs]

.. but from every other AMD partner
i got a little pile of CrossFire interconnects

 

[dust]

Didn't get it with my Rampage also but it is also true that it'd make more sense to be included in the mobo package. It's nothing anyway, 7-10$ compared to the price for the high end p(f)arts. Another point for the Sli vs CF!!!!!

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

This is true.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

This is true.

As has already been stated, this is the case for SLI but not CF. This is one of the few benefits of NVIDIA's SLI certification/licensing program over ATI's simple compatibility approach. Although, I was under the impression that ATI required a bridge to be shipped with their CF compatible cards.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

This is true.

As has already been stated, this is the case for SLI but not CF. This is one of the few benefits of NVIDIA's SLI certification/licensing program over ATI's simple compatibility approach. Although, I was under the impression that ATI required a bridge to be shipped with their CF compatible cards.

For whatever it's worth I looked in my motherboard box, and I have an MSI branded bridge there. I looked in my 4870 box and I also have one in there. My MSI one is a flexible ribbon type, the Sapphire one is rigid. Guess it's up to the manufacturers.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Bridges are supposed to come with the motherboards that support CF or SLI. Not with the cards.

No keys, that's only for SLI. For Crossfire, the bridges are supposed to come with the cards.

Gotcha. Only SLI boards then.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
For whatever it's worth I looked in my motherboard box, and I have an MSI branded bridge there. I looked in my 4870 box and I also have one in there. My MSI one is a flexible ribbon type, the Sapphire one is rigid. Guess it's up to the manufacturers.

It seems that way. I didn't get a Crossfire bridge with my ASUS board, but I did get a ribbon bridge with my Visiontek card.

I wonder if it's more common to see the Crossfire bridge included with the higher end cards.

I'm also kind of curious why ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte chose to include the bridge with their cards, and not with their motherboards.