- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 13,000
AMD’s longstanding brand for multi-GPU (mGPU) solutions has been terminated: PCWorld reached out to a representative after noticing that their latest drivers lacked any mention of CrossFire, and they said that the branding is no longer relevant because it technically refers to DX11 applications. “In DirectX 12, we reference multi-GPU as applications must support mGPU, whereas AMD has to create the profiles for DX11. We’ve accordingly moved away from using the CrossFire tag for multi-GPU gaming.”
That’s a surprising twist to come out of the blue—CrossFire is a firmly established brand with a meaning (“multiple Radeon graphics cards”) that enthusiasts are very familiar with. With AMD pushing DX12 so heavily though, establishing the distinction in marketing copy may be worthwhile. And yes, this is a branding change, not a technical one. AMD is correct that enabling mGPU support in DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games are very different. Developers need to build multi-GPU support into DirectX 12 engines and games, explicitly telling the software how to control the hardware.
That’s a surprising twist to come out of the blue—CrossFire is a firmly established brand with a meaning (“multiple Radeon graphics cards”) that enthusiasts are very familiar with. With AMD pushing DX12 so heavily though, establishing the distinction in marketing copy may be worthwhile. And yes, this is a branding change, not a technical one. AMD is correct that enabling mGPU support in DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games are very different. Developers need to build multi-GPU support into DirectX 12 engines and games, explicitly telling the software how to control the hardware.