ATI Confusion

[offspringy]

Hi all

First off:

I was gonna get a:

Leadtek 7950GT 512mb

or

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 ICEQ3 SILENT Heatpipe

Im guessing that the ATI be faster (hence price n stats/reviews)

But WTF does:

1- Crossfire Edition Master card (Compatible with any Slave X1900 card)

2- Crossfire Edition Motherboard required such as Asus A8R32-MVP or Intel 975 based boards

3- Crossfire compatible - Master Edition ATI/HIS X1900 card required!!

Mean?



nVidia i just buy the card n it works, but im confused on the master and non master versions, do these cards work without crossfire boards and on their own, or do they need another card to make them work correctly?

Cheers!

 

[Naffa]

First off, buy the HIS X1900XT IceQ3. It cannot be beaten for the money.

But WTF does:

1- Crossfire Edition Master card (Compatible with any Slave X1900 card)

2- Crossfire Edition Motherboard required such as Asus A8R32-MVP or Intel 975 based boards

3- Crossfire compatible - Master Edition ATI/HIS X1900 card required!!

Mean?

Do not buy the Crossfire edition master card.

Crossfire is ATI's dual card solution which requires a standard (or slave) card paired with a Crossfire edition card.

Basically you can buy either and they will work fine on their own, but I'd recommend that you buy the standard card over the Crossfire edition as it's cheaper and you can buy the Crossfire on in the future (maybe) if you need it. Or if the R600 chipset supports slave only Crossfire then you don't need to think about it, but don't worry yourself with that.

Crossfire Edition Master Card - The card that (at the moment) is needed for Crossfire to function. Crossfire being ATI's dual card arrangement.

Crossfire Edition Motherboard - This is a motherboard which features 2 PCIE slots to allow two cards to be used at the same time. They also use a Crossfire chipset and thus will not work with SLI or any other motherboards.

Crossfire compatible - This is just telling you that you'll need the Master card for Crossfire to work.

Now I'm sure that made no sense to you but you won't need the Crossfire Edition card for much longer afaik.

In short, go for the HIS IceQ3 X1900XT. It is the best card for the price and cannot be beaten.

 

[Jakus]

Most cards are crossfire compatible

A master card is required to run a 2nd card set up in (Crossfire)

A Motherboard that supports 2 ATI cards in (crossfire) is obviously Crossfie compatible

A crossfire Master card can Run by itself as a single card

Google is spelt google....

 

[offspringy]

Yet again, you guys helped me get this sorted, damn OcUK forums rool!

so to get this dead streight get the:
-HIS X1900XT IceQ3 Dual DL-DVI VIVO 512/256MB PCIe

Does the non master work alone too? (you said master works alone)

Thanks guys!

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Crossfire is ATi's answer to SLi, all the Crossfire master cards have the composing (sp?) chip on them which is required for Crossfire on the high end cards (XT's, XT-X's), they also come with the dongle which links the 2x cards (also required), however no master cards are required for the x1900 GT, x1600,x1300, x1800 GTO as they do crossfire through software, so any 2x can be paired like SLi.

The master card will work just as a normal card on its own until its paired with another card (slave = normal x1900 etc...) , and also a crossfire motherboard is required to as it has 2x PCI-E slots just like a Nv SLi one.

R600 when that comes out will mean the end of the master cards alltogether, as it is going to be very similar to SLi, as its the same bridge method as SLi, but it uses 2x bridges instead of one.

Bugger beaten.

 

[Naffa]

so to get this dead streight get the:
-HIS X1900XT IceQ3 Dual DL-DVI VIVO 512/256MB PCIe

Does the non master work alone too? (you said master works alone)

It sure does.

And very well!