crossfire question

[nukemdukem]

Hi, i am wondering with crossfire do you have to have 2 cards that are EXACTLY the same, identical in every detail? can they be different brands?

I am thinking of getting an ati 5770 but early next year i am going to upgrade my computer as my cpu, motherbaord, ram etc are not up to scratch, havent done a system upgrade for about 2 years.

I just got a new 22inch monitor (to be delivered sat) which is why i need a new graphics card, so i am stagering the cost of a complete system upgrade over a good 3-4 months.

So i am thinking of buying a 2nd ati 5770 when i upgrade my motherbaod and cpu - to be the most cost effective. But i am worried the card i get now wont be around next year, maybe there will be an updated version, higher clock core etc.

So would that matter?

Thanks

 

[95thrifles]

No its fine you can mix brands, so long as theyre from the same series

 

[TheTard]

dont quote me on this but i think i read somewhere that with crossfire, they dont gave to be the same card, ie you can have a 5750 and 5770 but it will underclock the 5770 to act like a 5750. also they dont have to be the same brand, but again, i'm not completely sure so dont take my word for it.

 

[nukemdukem]

ok cool, so really it does matter if they run at the same speed or even have the same amount of memory, i could just buy any ati 5770 to go with any existing ati 5770?

 

[95thrifles]

yes thats right, tard is almost right but its memory they declock, was an issue with the 4870 cards which had half gig and full gig versions, if you put one of each in the full gig would only be able to address half a gig as it had to match the other. At present all 5770s are one gig, cant see em releasing a half gig, and I doubt a 2 gig either, but if they did release a 2 gig thered be no point you getting it to xfire cos it would scale back to 1 gig to match up

 

[nukemdukem]

ok cool thanks, i think thats what i will do, get 1 ati 5770 now and then another one in 3 months. that way when dx11 games start appearing i will get good performance. while at the moment i will get great performance on existing games with 1 ati 5770.

 

[coolsouthern]

yes thats right, tard is almost right but its memory they declock, was an issue with the 4870 cards which had half gig and full gig versions, if you put one of each in the full gig would only be able to address half a gig as it had to match the other. At present all 5770s are one gig, cant see em releasing a half gig, and I doubt a 2 gig either, but if they did release a 2 gig thered be no point you getting it to xfire cos it would scale back to 1 gig to match up

+1