Cross fire X800 card issue

woodyg

Hi folks need to know if it's possible to run 2 X800 card's on this motherboard in crossfire configuration?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312894

i am thinking of buying this board and putting 2 X800 cards on it with an
amd64 X2 4200 processor and a gig of ram.

But im not sure what cards are crossfire ready!

8T8

Yeah that board supports Crossfire.

Do you already have a PCI-E X800 GPU and want to run that in Crossfire mode ?

The X800 class as far as I'm aware require the X800 Crossfire Master card they don't support the soft version whereby the data is transferred over the PCI-E bus.

This early version of Crossfire also had some nasty bugs and limitations in it like a max resolution of 1600x1200 allowed so I don't think it is worth going for. For the amount of money it would cost to get hold of the X800 Crossfire Master card as they are not supposed to be easy to get hold of anymore it would be better spent on a new more current GPU which would offer better performance compared to the X800 Crossfire setup anyway.



Here is a rough guide to what cards are required to work in Crossfire mode;

X1950 = Crossfire X1900 edition required.*
X1900 = Crossfire X1900 edition required.**
X1800 = Crossfire X1800 edition required.***
X1650 = Any X1650 class GPU.
X1600 = Any X1600 class GPU.
X1300 = Any X1300 class GPU.

X850 = Crossfire X850 edition required.
X800 = Crossfire X800 edition required.


* ATI are launching new GPU's this August the X1650XT and X1950GT these have an internal version of Crossfire that works very much like NVIDIA's SLI whereby the connector is internal and plugs into both cards removing the need for a master card altogether. The X1950XT will still require the use of the X1900 Crossfire Master card it seems.

** The X1900GT can work without a master card, just another regular X1900GT is required for Crossfire but this requires a motherboard with two x16 PCI-E slots like those based on the Crossfire Xpress 3200 series chipset. ATI have said they will enable master-less Crossfire for the X1900GT in an August driver update.

*** The X1800GTO can work without a master card, just another regular X1800GTO is required for Crossfire but this requires a motherboard with two x16 PCI-E slots like those based on the Crossfire Xpess 3200 series chipset.

woodyg

No i dont have an x800, but the reason i'm looking at the x800 is because of price.

Does any combination of x1600 cards work in crossfire?
I read somewhere that the they dont require the special connector.
they just work using the catalyst software as long as you have 2 x16 pci express slots which the motherboard i'm getting does.
(1 of the reasons i choose the board).

The price of the x1900 is way out of my league.
Specially since this is going to be a half pvr-media centre and a games machine.

8T8

Yes any type of X1600 will work in Crossfire without the need for a master card (the card which has the dongle).

Just so you know for the price of two X1600's you could buy a single 7600GT or X1650XT (released in mid-August according to rumours) which would arguably offer equal or better performance.

If you are set on Crossfire what I would do is wait for the X1650XT to come out ATI are saying that it will be faster than the 7600GT and cheaper plus it will sport the internal Crossfire connector so you can later on down the road just add another X1650XT and be in business with a much higher performing setup than two X1600's or a single 7600GT.

I don't know if a X1650 & X1600 will work in Crossfire but I'm leaning towards it wont due to the fact the 1650 is a new GPU and has the internal Crossfire connector.

If you dont want to wait for the X1650XT or it fails to show on time, although ATI has the advantage in you get the AVIVO DVD decoder for free with their GPU's which is great for HTPC's (NVIDIA charge for Purevideo) the 7600GS and 7600GT have the performance advantage by in large for most titles in single GPU or dual GPU SLI mode over the X1600 line. If you could find the 7600GS for around €100 a piece an SLI setup of those would offer better performance than a single 7600GT going for €200.

woodyg

Thanks for the help.
I'd say i will go for 2 x1600 due to the fact of price and that the x1650xt is not released till October seemingly.

I would be looking at frame rates of 85fps with two x1600's so would be more than happy with them till the price drops on the new x1650xt's.

€200 for 2 x1600's would be grand for a mid range system,