Crossfire Question(s)

[ViktorHark]

Right now I'm debating whether or not to go into crossfire mode, and right now it looks like I'll be doing it sometime down the road.

Now, I'm pretty unfamilar with Crossfire and how it works, but some of the biggest questions I have right now, is:

1. Do you have to have the same card x2? Not necessarily refering to same brand, but same model, like, for example could I crossfire a HD 2900 XT and then a XTX when it comes out later this year?

2. I know that nVidia Chipsets on motherboard's don't support crossfire, but right now ATi's selection of motherboard chipsets is quite... weak. Would crossfire be ultimately worth it later on, when I'd have to sacrifice some preformance to get a Crossfire 3200 northbridge? (I'm on an AMD platform, so Intel Chipsets are out of the question)

 

[quadnad]

1. With both SLI and Crossfire you must have two cards of the same model (i.e. two XTs)

2. Currently the ATi chipset offerings aren't all that good, but the upcoming RD790 will hopefully change all of that. If I remember correctly, it will release alongside Barcelona. Both Crossfire and SLI aren't very good options as "upgrade me later" upgrade paths. By the time the person chooses to add a second card, the next generation is either about to arrive or already has arrived (6 months after the release of the first) and usually has a single card which performs at least as well as a dual card configuration. Only consider a dual card configuration if you're running a 24' or larger monitor.