Whats the difference between SLi and Crossfire?

hutchisoni

hutchisoni

hutchisoni

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What is the difference or what is the best SLI or Crossfire? :confused:

I possibly might upgrade my A8N-SLI to a crossfire mobo as i have an ATi X850XT gfx card and buy a second Crossfire gfx card! :cool:

Thanks
 
SLI = You have to use two identical NVidia cards i.e. 2 7800gt's, 2 7800gtx's

Crossfire = You can use two different ATI cards i.e. 1 X1800XT + 1 X1800XL but you have to buy a crossfire mastercard first i think lol :rolleyes:
 
with sli... does it just have to be the same chipset... or EXACTLY THE SAME CARD ??
i.e an asus 6600GT 256MB and a sparkle 6600GT for example ? ( i dunno if spark make em.... just an example)

am i right in thinking the performance from sli / crossfire aint all its cracked up to be ?
Rick
 
I hear that performance wise it depends what your displaying onto.

Isn't it ment to be great if you have two monitors or a single large monitor as you get the xtra oumth.

But kind of pointless if you are using saying a 15" monitor and play games that don't require that much power to run.

I think it depends a lot on your setup and what you do with your computer.
 
I think SLI is pointless on screens from 17 to 19 inch as the resolution is too small so one top card from either ati or nvidia would suffice for those type of screens. As for larger screens 20inch and above this is where you can see the advantages of having sli or crossfire as this is where these technologies will excel.

As for whose better, i think the perform roughly the same one of these might edge it over the other but either way you will have a great setup, just depend on the persons preference. Some people favour ATI and others Nvidia.
 
R B CUSTOMS said:
with sli... does it just have to be the same chipset... or EXACTLY THE SAME CARD ??
i.e an asus 6600GT 256MB and a sparkle 6600GT for example ? ( i dunno if spark make em.... just an example)
Click to expand...

I've also been wondering this, and since that part didnt get a nod in any direction im bumpin it :P
 
R B CUSTOMS said:
with sli... does it just have to be the same chipset... or EXACTLY THE SAME CARD ??
i.e an asus 6600GT 256MB and a sparkle 6600GT for example ? ( i dunno if spark make em.... just an example)
Click to expand...

Recent drivers apparently remove the requirement for the cards to be identical (even to BIOS level I think) to the point you can use the same type of card from different manufacturers.

Jokester
 
Also I think different memory sizes can be used as long as the card is the same type, though if you have 1x 128MB and 1x 256MB 6600GT it will only use 128MB of each I believe. :)
 
Mikey1280 said:
I think that is similar to crossfire, however you can mix and match any x1000 series cards. Although I think that if you had a x1800xt master card and a x1800xl then they both run at x1800xl speeds.
Click to expand...

They don't they run at their seperate speeds, all you lose is 256mb Ram from the XT master, so you have an x1800 XT 256mb and an x1800 XL 256mb in Crossfire, you have to get the x1800 XT 512mb master card for the x1800 XL to run in Crossfire as they are not releasing an x1800 XL master, only downside to that is the higher price. :)

Don't go Crossfire on the x800/x850 series cards, their maximum resolution is 1600x1200, and they are stuck at 60hz. :)

The new RD580 motherboard Chipset is supposed to be out around Feb, Crossfire on that is much faster than the RD480 Chipset that is out now, and apparently is much faster than SLi, also rumour has it that the new Asus RD580 chipset board is due around the same time as the x1900, the 24th Jan. :cool:

Welcome to the forums btw. :D
 
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