Forgive my ignorance. Different graphics cards in crossfire?

[Anominity]

I have read a lot about people CrossFiring different cards together, (3870 w/ 4850) and was wondering, just out of "Bored at work" curiosity how this works.

Say if you were to Crossfire a Sapphire HD4870, with say, a 4870X2 when it comes out, what benefit does that give over just the 4870x2?

Do Nvidia cards still have to be paired with another of like make and kind?

 

[TheCenturion]

The general rule is, the more gfx cards you have, the higher the performance should be. Nvidia cards need to be the same model but do not have to be same manufacturer ( eg you could have an evga gtx 280 with a leadteak gtx 280 in sli and it would be fine)

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Say if you were to Crossfire a Sapphire HD4870, with say, a 4870X2 when it comes out, what benefit does that give over just the 4870x2?

Do Nvidia cards still have to be paired with another of like make and kind?

You would get more performance, as you would have 3x 4870's in Crossfire, not just the 2x of the X2.

The GT200's can be mixed and matched, so you can pair a GTX 260 with a GTX 280, its only series cards below those, that still have to be the same cards, but can be differing manufacturers.

 

[Anominity]

Ok thanks for clearing that up for me

 

[tres]

and ATI cards?

I have a 3870 256mb - what plays nicely with that?

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Can be paired with any other cards from the 3800 range, and will soon be able to be paired with any from the 4800's as ATi's working on that now, but i wouldn't bother personally, as you only have 256mb.

 

[tres]

not worth spending a bit and getting another 3870, but 512mb?