Advanced Crossfire question

[Hosser]

Hi. I have an unusual question regarding Crossfire.

I own a Connect 3D Radeon X1950XT 256Mb which I've been using since Christmas. It is a fantastic card, considering the price I paid for it.

Now, my question is - this card states it is Crossfire compatible. However, this is Crossfire 1.0 compatibility - the kind that requires that horrible Y cable. If I were to buy a second, newer X1950XT that supports Crossfire 2.0 and use that as the Master, would I be able to use my old X1950XT as a Slave?

If not I'll just buy a Radeon HD 2900XT, but if I can get some more life out of my current graphics card by adding another for a mere £100~ then I'd prefer to.

Thanks for any help/advice.

[Barley]

Hmmm interesting question, to which I have absolutely no answer! I've never dabbled with crossfire before. My guess would be to say no though

[Anonymous]

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[Barley]

the problem is, and no offence, but it's a pretty naff card anyway

[Hosser]

[quote:4cfca7fc16=\"Barley\"]the problem is, and no offence, but it's a pretty naff card anyway [/quote:4cfca7fc16]

That's rubbish; it'll give your 8800GTS a run for its money in a few games.

And for £95 (the price I paid for it), you just can't complain.

[Barley]

Hehe, I bet it wouldn't, with the exception of HL2 which was ATi optimised

[Anonymous]

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[Hosser]

[quote:147adf0d02=\"PrivatePyle@Work\"][quote:147adf0d02=\"Barley\"]Hehe, I bet it wouldn't, with the exception of HL2 which was ATi optimised [/quote:147adf0d02]

Not entirely true mate.. Go back to last month's CPC for an indication. The 1900xt is a pretty bloody good card for the price tag it carries. For instance, it was the first card that could play Oblivion with everything cranked up to full settings, plus the architecture allowed you to turn on HDR and AA/AF at the same time, which you could not do with nVidia graphics cards.

Obviously it won't support DX10, which is why I am wondering what you would be doing to require 2 cards Hoss? Surely, by the time you have invested in two 1900s you will have spent enough money to buy yourself an 8800GTS (prolly the 320mb flavour). You might not see yourself playing DX10 games now (there aren't many!) or in the near future, but there are patches slowly emerging for DX9 games such as Company of Heroes, and titles will be released from now in the new format. Won't it pay to invest in newer technology?

Edit: Oh, and if you do buy DX10, stay away from the 2900, very late in arriving and very underwhelming performance. You'd be much better off with the 320 or 640 flavour 8800 for your money.[/quote:147adf0d02]

It's an X1950 XT damnit! >_<

Makes the world of difference. =D

As for your question about why I'd buy two obselete cards... I guess it's just that I have a Crossfire motherboard, and I feel it's going to the knacker's yard without me having ever used two cards, thus realising its full potential. I got it for £52 from Aria's bargain bin ages ago, so I've already got my money's worth I guess... =/

Crossfire just excites and intrigues me really - I'm a massive technophile - half the things I buy are just out of curiosity.

Also, you're right that the 2900XT is a late arrival... As for its performance? You might want to check some updated benchmarks and reviews - the new drivers allow it to best the 8800GTS in nearly all games, even beating the 8800GTX and Ultra in some! Plus nVIDIA's Windows Vista drivers don't have the greatest reputation, and I've never owned an nVIDIA card or used their software; I'll stick to what I know and trust.

Cheers for your opinions though guys

[Anonymous]

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[mac124]

personally i would sell the card you have (you should get £100+ easily) and put whatever cash you can towards it and buy a more powerful single card.

[Hosser]

[quote:1e74236a42=\"PrivatePyle@Work\"]I'd be interested in reading some of the benchmarks you talk about where the 2900XT tops the Ultra![/quote:1e74236a42]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40770
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40550
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7864
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2147064,00.asp

There should be some evidence there... I only glanced through it, to tell you the truth...

[quote:1e74236a42=\"mac124\"]personally i would sell the card you have (you should get £100+ easily) and put whatever cash you can towards it and buy a more powerful single card.[/quote:1e74236a42]

I think you're right. My friend will give me £95 for my X1950XT with the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 attached. Do you think I should ask for more?

And I might grab me a 1GB Radeon HD 2900XT soon. I hope Arctic Cooling release their nice cooler for it soon - the stock cooler is horriffic.

[mac124]

check out that auction site, the name fails me for now :wink: , for the going rate but a guy i know got £100 for a 1900xtx recently so i would think you should get that at least.

[Anonymous]

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[Hosser]

[quote:2420053b96=\"PrivatePyle@Work\"][quote:2420053b96=\"Hosser\"][quote:2420053b96=\"PrivatePyle@Work\"]I'd be interested in reading some of the benchmarks you talk about where the 2900XT tops the Ultra![/quote:2420053b96]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40770
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40550
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7864
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2147064,00.asp

[/quote:2420053b96]

Fair point Hoss, but all of the results in there are on 2900 Crossfire setups, so it looks like you'll need to buy 2 cards to come out as King Check out the guy who scored 34k in 3DMark05, 4 cores @5ghz..WOW!!

On that note, have they released any decent after market cooling for the 8800s?[/quote:2420053b96]

Aye, and the 8800GTX setup was SLI.

Besides, the Ultra costs almost as much as two HD 2900XTs, heh.

And the Arctic Cooling cooler I spoke of for the HD 2900XT that was shown at Computex will also fit the 8800. Win!

[Anonymous]

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