Two X1800XT, Crossfire without mastercard

Gashman · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:01

right, i need definate answers for this one please, can you really 100% run two 1800XTs in crossfire mode on ATI 3200 chipset without using a crossfire mastercard?

Durzel · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:12

Gashman said:
right, i need definate answers for this one please, can you really 100% run two 1800XTs in crossfire mode on ATI 3200 chipset without using a crossfire mastercard?

Yes.

Gashman · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:25

thats awesome, cause i been debating for a while whether to go SLI or crossfire, in both cases means new motherboard and two cards, but saying as the XTs are like £209 or something and there monsters, i think there my best bet, could you recommend a good clocking motherboard with ATI 3200 chipset?

squiffy · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:33

What about two X1900XT's with Asus A8R-MVP Deluxe?

Gashman · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:59

well X1900XT cost some £150 or so more than X1800s, and X1800 performance is more than enough for me, know if overclockers are gonna be stocking sapphire ATI pure crossfire PC-A9RD580 boards, cause there like the pure innovation crossfire series i think

oweneades · 3 Apr 2006 at 08:26

Isn't this only an options with drivers that have yet to be released though?

I thought someone on here has said that yes it will work bnut only with Cat 6.5's which are being released in May?!

Gerard · 3 Apr 2006 at 10:19

Durzel said:
Yes.

Seeing as crossfire requires a compositing chip which is on the master card i doubt it.

fullfat · 3 Apr 2006 at 10:59

Gerard said:
Seeing as crossfire requires a compositing chip which is on the master card i doubt it.

what about the x1600's, they work without having a master card ?

Gerard · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:13

fullfat said:
what about the x1600's, they work without having a master card ?

They can shift the data across the pci-e bus though, they don't even require a dongle.

oweneades · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:17

Gerard said:
They can shift the data across the pci-e bus though, they don't even require a dongle.

That is what the X1800's do on the newest RD580 motherboard although I am sure it will require a new driver (cat 6.5) to do it.

jrodga2k5 · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:32

Yeha just waiting on new drivers and it should able to happ[en!

Jack Bauer · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:49

How much are these boards and do they do a 939 verion?

oweneades · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:51

The board is a S939 only I believe. (Or at least I havn't seen a Intel version so I may be wrong).

Check out Overclockers motherboard section for pricing.

Jack Bauer · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:24

It would seem like a resonable upgrade route however by the time I would need a second x1800xt DX 10 will be round the corner. I dont think I could justife the drop in value I would see from two x1800 DX 9 cards when 10 hits the market. Plus I would not keep the setup long as I would be dieing to get a dx 10 as soon as vista comes out, even if there arnt games avilable.
I suppose if your planning on getting it soon its worth it

Gashman · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:55

mastercard-less crossfire is the 3200 chipsets best selling point, it says quite clearly 'does not require crossfire master card' even though crossfire with X1800 requires composition chip, maybe the composition chip is somewhere on the board itself, but its definately a feature of the new chipset, not only X1600s do that without mastercard, X800GTOs do as well, and the result is quite impressive in some games

FrankJH · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:56

and with no disrespect to ATI, being the first release ( without a dongle etc) it may have performance problems etc for a while.

Gashman · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:05

thats gonna be a pretty much definate issue for a while until they make some proper optamised drivers, but the hardware is sound, im quite content to wait for ATI to iron out problems with there drivers and stuff, so can anyone name a good Xpress 3200 board with good reliability, good overclockability and lots of upgradability, i know theres the ASUS which looks like a cracking board, but are there any more to consider?

LoadsaMoney · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:11

Not sure on this now, this is the rumour thas been doing the rounds, just replace the stars with h e x u s, the drivers its on about i heard were going to be the 6.5's in May, but as i said its just rumours, and its also been denied i think, ive been following it for a bit now as im interested, but best to wait and see, thats what im doing anyway.

Gerard · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:43

dble post

Gerard · 3 Apr 2006 at 13:45

oweneades said:
That is what the X1800's do on the newest RD580 motherboard although I am sure it will require a new driver (cat 6.5) to do it.

Hardocp had a post about this from kyle bennet who asked an ati engineer and he stated even with the better effeciency of rd580 the dongle was still needed for the x1800\x1900 series.

post here:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1029083295&postcount=38