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Serious Help

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grs_link

grs_link

Associate
Joined
16 May 2003
Posts
579
Location
Aberdeen
ok... guys I really can do with some help..

been an nvidia fan all my life and i was veryyyy close on getting 2 7900GTs until.... i had a flashback to check on ATIs.. well I can now say that I am almost hooked to the idea of getting 2 1900XTs..

and here is the problem... SLi.. ok easy... but crossfire has me a bit... well messed up to be honest!!! :s

so the question....: will 2 x
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-112-SP) work??

cause ok I heard... there is a Master/Slave configuration that you have to follow... but to be honest.. ocuk is the only vendor that actually have an ATi card refered to as MASTER.... none of the competitors have :(

so is there any easier way of spotting them..?

2nd question... : will a Slave card work by its self? or a standalone has to be a Master?

and 3rd and final question...:

what are your thought on Saphire motherboard?
personaly i love the white PCB and Ati mobo with Ati gfx.. well it kinda sounds nice :)

so guys can you help a bit..? well a lot?

tnx all
 
Firstly; To run two ATI cards in Crossfire you need a master card and a standard card running as a slave. For your situation, being interested in X1900 Crossfire, you will need the X1900 Crossfire Edition card and any X1900XT-X or X1900XT card as a slave. Running two standard X1900XT or X1900XT-X cards together will not work I'm afraid, a Crossfire Edition is required.

Secondly; The Crossfire Edition and standard cards are both very capable of running on their own if you are not interested in Crossfire just yet, for example if you wanted to buy the master card now and run a Crossfire setup later by adding an X1900XT or X1900XT-X sometime in the future then that would be fine.

Thirdly; While I've never used a motherboard with an ATI chipset, I hear good things about the Sapphire boards, but most people tend to stick with the leaders like Asus and DFI for their motherboards. Like I said though, never heard a bad word about the Sapphire boards, and those white PCBs sure are sexy (especially with red graphics cards sitting in them.) ;)

Hope this helps. :)
 
Yeah for x1900 Crossfire you do need 1x master card, and 1x slave card (normal x1900), as the master card has got the composing (sp?) chip on it that Crossfire requires, also a master or slave card will work fine on its own as a normal x1900. :)

The top one here is the master card, and you just pair that up with any other x1900 XT, or XTX. :)

Not sure on the Sapphire board, but the best ones would be the DFI LanParty UT CFX3200-DR RD580 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-019-DF), and the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS), both good boards by all accounts. :)

Bah beaten. :( :p
 
ok thanx guys for the fast replies...

as you canguess I am still drulling on them but unfortunatelly noonw has a Master in stock besides ocuk...

the only bad thins is that ocuk doesnt have any payment plans...
like spread the cost for buys over 400£.. a feature that will deffently have a major success.. since most of us are redlining our plastic :D

most likely i will do the xp4000 with a nice mobo and a Enermax Liberty form ocers... but the cards will have to come from someone with a payment plan...
500+ for games... hope its worth it ;)

tnx ppl
 
master card buisness is real crappy, and the efficiency of crossfire does no way come close to that of sli.

if you multiple card then go for nvidia, if you want single card then go for ati x1900xt, or the 7950gx2
 
The whole master card thing is a bit naff, but performance-wise Crossfire isn't really better or worse than SLi as far as I have seen in benchmarks. In fact Crossfire is a clear winner in some games, particularly Oblivion.

Personally, I am pretty anti-multicard regardless of brand. I think that neither SLi or Crossfire deliver performance that justifies the cost, unless of course you're running in insane resolutions on 30" widescreen LCDs, and would usually just say get a single card instead.

As for the 7950GX2: I like it, but it ain't a single card. ;) :p *Puts flame-proof suit on.*
 
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Cyber-Mav... with all due respect...

plssss don't do this tome know...!!

Yes I am after dual gfx.. but still I my opinion 2x1900XT should outperform
2x7900GT
cause remember price wise that is the equivelant...
not GTX not 7950 ( pls 1100watt psu with quad sli, i mean come on... does my dad own hydroelectric...?) to say i had a hydroponic system i ok.. atleast i 'll get some money back :p but plsssss

anyways... to say something about the crossfire vs sli...

Sli renders half screen each card...
crossfire does it like the old VOODOO cards from 3dfx used to do...
remember them...? to be honest... in theory i much prefer that way!
 
If you want Crossfire you'll need a Crossfire motherboard (see sig) or the previous non deluxe model. I take you've got a Nvidia SLI motherboard?

tbh I wish I bought a non Crossfire single PCI-E motherboard, would have saved some money.
 
Motherboard wise I think I am decided now...

I'll go with Sapphire for 99£ from ocuk....

I fancy its looks and ithink it is time for a bit of a change.
I had Asus all my life with one exception of an Epox, which by the way it was fantastic... loved it to bits :D
 
Crossfire has a few ways of rendering 3d applications, which it uses is down to the application and Catalyst A.I...

if your going for a top end dual card setup, then crossfire is the way to go, ok its alittle more expensive and slightly harder to set up, but imho image quality is superior... not only that it sounds cooler saying "I have a Crossfire X1900 setup" lol :D
 
lol... i like the way this theard is developing... :cool:

squiffy sorry but i was under the impression that I had allready cover that part,
but oviously it was another thread :p

U see i had Asus all my life.. yes they are reliable... yes they are the best in my opinion.. but come on.. i wanna play a bit...

I once had an epox... and man.. it was great fun... i would recomend them to anyone... stable, reliable... and trust me.. i did **** her eyes out... :D

to be honest the next one i want to test are Abit...
they have a tradition on ocing and I never heard anything bad about them..

Besides.... Sapphire gfx on a Sapphire mobo.. well it should be magic... or else...!!!! I 'll sue them

u see i was thinking along these lines with asus... (see sig)
and within a month the card stop supplying current to the fan...
it gives 0.2volts lol,, which forced me to use anexternal power supply for its fan...

well difective products from asus... very dissapointed...
same with an Asus CDRW it went dead with less than 50 hours of burning
mobos great all the rest... well they kinda suck!!

Sapphire here I come :cool:

LanceCrossfire i ike the way you think... but i have to argue...:
sorry mate i run a quad system... well kinda sound even cooler.. :eek:
imagine.. u can keep ** coffee warm with ** 1100psu... just add a cupholder!

later all... tnx for the feedback
 
hmmm read a few people complaining about Sapphire motherboards.
Most people hold Asus up in high regard, I have three in the house and all stable, P4PE has a occasional refusal to power up maybe 1 in 10 power ons, think general fault with the model...but once it's on it's fine.
 
yeah... another guy mentioned something about bad support
i.e bios updates etc... it has me a bit worried..

Asus has a 50!!!page thread...
but nothing on DFIs 3200 how come?
 
If going crossfire, probably best to get the X1900 mastercard now (as it will run fine on its own) & then later get a X1900XT or X1900XTX (to run as a slave), as they are much easier to find. At least this way you have split up the costs.

As for motherboards i dont know of any motherboards which have never had a single complaint geared twards them. Just get the one with the features you want, that doesnt have everyone complaining about them.
 
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