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4870 question???

because crossfire (used to be im not sure if it still is) is like SLI, cards need to be identical, not same manufacturer but same GPU, etc. little analogy, you bought yourself a nice new card your putting 17'' wheels on one side and 20'' on the other, doesn't work does it? im expecting 'fail' for that :p
 
Now CROSSFIRE

ATI Radeon 4850/4870 mix and match with Radeon 3850/3870

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38056/135/

Just keep in mind that these two cards need to include the same amount of memory. If you mix and match a 3850 with 256 MB of memory with a 4850 512 MB, the 4850 card will default to 256 MB. If you wonder whether you will be able to combine a 3870 X2 card with a 4850 board, our sources indicated that this scenario should work as well.
 
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Naster said:
ATI Radeon 4850/4870 mix and match with Radeon 3850/3870

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38056/135/

Just keep in mind that these two cards need to include the same amount of memory. If you mix and match a 3850 with 256 MB of memory with a 4850 512 MB, the 4850 card will default to 256 MB. If you wonder whether you will be able to combine a 3870 X2 card with a 4850 board, our sources indicated that this scenario should work as well.
Click to expand...

I believe thats already been proven not to work.
 
To expand on my earlier point - 4800 series cards can be mixed and matched, i.e. 4850 + 4870 and the 4870 will still operate at max speed (i.e. not downgrade to 4850's speed). this is because the screen can be split up for seperate rendering loads, i.e. top 60% to the more powerful card and 40% to the less powerful card.

However, memory usage cannot be split up in the same way, therefore if you mix a 512mb card with a 1gb card then both cards will show as 512mb. I "think" a 4870x2 at 1gb (2x512mb) plus a 512mb 4870 will be fine - effectively 3x4870's @ 512mb (or 1 4850 + 2x4870's if you want to use a 4850).

I'll have a dig for the reference paper that illustrates this.
 
Gashman said:
because crossfire (used to be im not sure if it still is) is like SLI, cards need to be identical, not same manufacturer but same GPU, etc. little analogy, you bought yourself a nice new card your putting 17'' wheels on one side and 20'' on the other, doesn't work does it? im expecting 'fail' for that :p
Click to expand...

Its nothing like SLi now, you can mix and match series cards, i.e a 4870 with a 4850, and they'll both run at their own seperate clockspeeds, they can also do Dual Screens, where as SLi (below GT200's) have to be identical cards, i.e 9800 GTX + 9800 GTX, it can't do Dual screens, and you have to make sure you have your faster card in the primary slot (if your cards are differing speeds), as it will then clock down to match the slower one, GT200's are slightly different as they can now be mixed (you can pair a GTX260 with a GTX 280), but they still can't do Dual Screens, CrossfireX is far more advanced than SLi. :)
 
crossfire was never like sli.. my first crossfire gpu's was a x1600xt + 1650pro, both cards ran at they own speeds. only thing was the memory size goes to the lower card memory
 
It was worse when it first started, one of the cards had to be a master, and they connected by some weird dongle/cable externally.

Gashman said:
shame NVIDIA haven't noticed that crossfire actually works and updated SLI to compete :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Been saying that for ages, definately needs an overhaul to bring it up to date, CrossfireX just blows it away now, may not be in speed, but its the far, far better system. :)
 
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