• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

ATI Crossfire Help

Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2007
Posts
3,072
Location
Wirral
i just got an ATI X1950 Pro, working great but ill soon be upgrading to a new M/B and Dual Core CPU.

firstly i need an LGA775 M/B that supports crossfire, i could only find AMD crossfire on OCUK site. and also would i just buy another X1950 Pro for crossfire or does it need to be a X1950 Master?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Feb 2007
Posts
3,072
Location
Wirral
looking at the master card, it is only for the XT-X, the pro says
- Crossfire2 READY (Internal Crossfire Connection) - Just buy another X1950 Pro for Crossfire!!

so that fixes that problem.

now to get the money for it all :)
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2003
Posts
2,636
Location
Wicklow, Ireland
Any mobo with an Intel chipset should support Crossfire.

Here's another two from the OcUK lineup:

Budget:
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (Intel 945P Chipset, DDR2 667/533)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-003-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=


Quality:
Asus Commando Intel 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (Intel P965 Express Chipset, DDR2 800/667/533 )
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-220-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Feb 2007
Posts
3,072
Location
Wirral
ill probably go for the AsRock, i dont need an expencive one with good overclocking support as i dont overclock (Stock speeds are already fast enough on the Core 2 Duo)

1 more thing, low cost 2GB RAM kits
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Jul 2003
Posts
30,062
Location
In a house
Any x1950pro will do for Crossfire as the x1950pro's use the new crossfire2, which is connected internally by a Bridge just like SLi, its the old Crossfire 1 that needed a master card.

I wouldn't bother though as its worthless, be far better to sell the card you have and get a G80, GTS is probably faster than 2x pro's in Crossfire. :)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Feb 2007
Posts
3,072
Location
Wirral
LoadsaMoney said:
I wouldn't bother though as its worthless, be far better to sell the card you have and get a G80, GTS is probably faster than 2x pro's in Crossfire. :)

im not gonna sell it, ive only just bought it. I dont want an 8800 as ive always had ATI and i wont be getting a DX10 card till 2008 when there cheaper and theres actually games that need DX10
 
Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2004
Posts
1,777
RaiderX said:
im not gonna sell it, ive only just bought it. I dont want an 8800 as ive always had ATI and i wont be getting a DX10 card till 2008 when there cheaper and theres actually games that need DX10

Good man, i too dont want to go nVidia but the last few revisions ive really had no choice. (went from a x800pro to a 7800gs+ (agp) because of no ATi solution at the time)

Im 3/4 thru my new build and would love to drop a x1950xtx in it but the G80 is soo much stronger. And yes i agree with your DX10 point.

LoadsaMoney said:
Any x1950pro will do for Crossfire as the x1950pro's use the new crossfire2, which is connected internally by a Bridge just like SLi, its the old Crossfire 1 that needed a master card.

I wouldn't bother though as its worthless, be far better to sell the card you have and get a G80, GTS is probably faster than 2x pro's in Crossfire. :)

Loads would you say that any x1950xtx will do internal xfire without a master card aswell?
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2007
Posts
2,064
Location
Northampton
I've got 2 older 1950XTX's one is a master and ones a slave, dunno if the new 1950XTX's need that set up though. They have different sockets on the backplate to connect them together.

1950 Pros's support crossfire without that connection I think.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2004
Posts
1,777
WoZZeR said:
I've got 2 older 1950XTX's one is a master and ones a slave, dunno if the new 1950XTX's need that set up though. They have different sockets on the backplate to connect them together.

1950 Pros's support crossfire without that connection I think.

Nice 1

Question... are you happy with the performance? Are you tempted to go the G80 route?

Do you think 2 x1950pro's would be strong enough against the latest games @1920x1200?. For a tad over £200 i could crossfire both of them, but in a few weeks i could get a 8800gtx for £320approx. I would prefer ATi but just cant make up my mind...grrr
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Jul 2003
Posts
30,062
Location
In a house
Elrein said:
Loads would you say that any x1950xtx will do internal xfire without a master card aswell?

No they wont as the x1950 XTX's are Crossfire1, its only the x1950pro, x1650's that are crossfire2 and can use the internal bridge, also the upcoming R600, however the x1950 XTX's do not require a master card anymore as ATi added the Crossfire in the drivers, so you can just buy any 2x slave x1950 XTX's, however there is a performance hit when not doing it the proper way with a master card and dongle. :)

To RaiderX, you don't buy the GTS for Dx10 (no one is buying the G80's for Dx10), you buy it for the now, it absolutely destroys ATi cards now in Dx9 performance, plus later on down the line when you do want a card for Dx10 then you will be able to sell, as by then no way will you get rid of 2x x1950pro's, you would be lucky if you got rid of the x1950pro you have now as the sub £200 GTS has just killed them off, as well as the x1950 XT's, no one wants those cards now as Nvidia have brought out the 320mb GTS for less than £200, and it destroys them. :)

Only 2x options you have are, either sell the x1950pro you have now and get an 8 series, or if you don't want to do that then just keep the single one you have and wait till R600, just do not make a terrible move and get another for corssfire, its worthless, you may as well go outside and give the money to a passing stranger, there is just no sense at all in getting another x1950pro now, 2x decent pro's are going to be what say £280, you would be throwing your money away, the single 320mb GTS is sub £200, its faster than those 2x, even the 640mb GTS is less than those 2x as thats only about £250, so your spending more on 2x slower old cards, don't do it. :(
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2007
Posts
2,064
Location
Northampton
Originally posted by Elrein
Nice 1

Question... are you happy with the performance? Are you tempted to go the G80 route?

Ta, I bought the first XTX Master way before the G80 came out so was kind of stuck upgrade wise.

Obviously the G80 pummels the 1950's into the ground performance wise, I'm not one for serial upgrades though so I'm holding on for a year or so before my next upgrade.

Overall, I'm happy with my lot, despite been outclassed by all these G80 guru's.

Games wise you'll have to trawl around Tom's Hardware and the like and decide whether to upgrade to G80 or go Crossfire yourself. My Shuttle supports Crossfire only, not SLi so I'll probably keep a keen eye on the R600's for my next upgrade.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Feb 2007
Posts
3,072
Location
Wirral
i run all my games at 1280x1024, the X1950 Pro can run any game maxed out at that res so i dont exactly need the best card out, and 2 X1950 Pro will be plenty to run all games for the next few months at atleast mid settings
 
Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2004
Posts
1,777
LoadsaMoney said:
1280x1024, even more reason to not go Crossfire, Crossfire is only wrth it for resolutions of 16x12 and up, your single x1950pro will handle that res for the next few months no sweat.

Loads what do you think of a 1950pro CF setup on a 24" @ 1920x1200

Soz about all the questions but im close to hitting the buy button just need some last info before i commit
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2004
Posts
7,883
Location
Buckinghamshire
Also, intel chipsets only do the second PCI-E lane at *4 speed when in dual GPU configuration.

Basically, going crossfire is a waste and anyone not wanting to go nVidia are only shooting themselves in the foot.

nVidia G80 IQ is better than ATI R5* as the aniostropic filtering is better and has been proved.
 
Associate
Joined
17 Aug 2004
Posts
1,777
Mekrel said:
Also, intel chipsets only do the second PCI-E lane at *4 speed when in dual GPU configuration.

Basically, going crossfire is a waste and anyone not wanting to go nVidia are only shooting themselves in the foot.

nVidia G80 IQ is better than ATI R5* as the aniostropic filtering is better and has been proved.

A quick "google" found this...

975X 1066/800 MHz Dual-channel
DDR2 667/533 with ECC support
Intel MPT support
8GB Max Dual PCI Express x16 (1 x 16 or 2 x 8 for 16 lanes)
CrossFire Support

Looks like 1x16 and 2x8 to me?

I agree the G80 is the better solution but i want my ATi back grrr dam R600 delay!!
 
Back
Top Bottom