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X1800XT CrossFire Editions - Memory Sizes

M

Mysterae

Gawd
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
648
Here's some food for thought and questions I've not seen an answer for..

Looking through various etailers who are advertising X1800XT's only seem to have the CF version of the XT in 256mb and not 512mb, but the non-CF is available in 512mb. So it begs the questions, albeit hypothetical:

1 - is a 512mb X1800XT CrossFire Edition going to be made available?

2 - what would be the effect of running the CF master card with 256mb and the other CF card (XT) with 512mb?

3 - what percievable performance gains would there be running 2x 512mb XT's as opposed to 2x 256mb XT's? Everyone keeps harping on that 512mb doesn't make that much difference in todays games, what about 1,024mb!!

4 - do both XT's in a CrossFire setup have to be from the same manufacturer?

So looking forward to seeing some real life benches of the XT CrossFire...
 
1. Not sure, probably dependant on demand.

2. I'd imagine the 512Mb would run as if it had 256Mb.

3. Doesn't work like that, two 512Mb cards is still 512Mb of memory.

4. Not as far as I know, you can use from different manufacturers.
 
Thanks for your reply.

I know the memory doesn't technically work like that, (512 vs 1024) but if each card is doing half the screen (depending on mode) then the I'd guess you'd add them up, no? Afterall, there is 1024mb in total available. Where it would get tricky (for the hard/software) is knowing what is loaded in to which memory to be displayed when. Probably the reason why a 512mb card would be downgraded to 256mb if in crossfire config - prevents a balance if you like. Guess we'll wait and see.
 
^ No each card keeps the same exact information in their memory. They both keep all the video data in even if they are not using it.
 
I am pretty sure that cards in Crossfire must have the same frame buffer size.

However, you can mix brands/BIOSes, even series on the slave card. ATI has promised that, for example, the X800XL will work in Crossfire with an X850XT Master card in Crossfire. It will also work with 12 pipe X800, etc, but 4 of the pipelines on the master card will be disabled.
 
Mysterae said:
So looking forward to seeing some real life benches of the XT CrossFire...
Click to expand...

Very true - are x1k-based xfire cards not out, yet, or why has noone tested these setups in the first wave of reviews?
 
wizzackr said:
Very true - are x1k-based xfire cards not out, yet, or why has noone tested these setups in the first wave of reviews?
Click to expand...

I can only presume it was due to no CF motherboards being available at the time of testing, or XT master cards. I've found 1 CF motherboard available to actually buy now, but of course no XT cards.

I don't think ATI left, or even supplied, any CF master cards to reviewers to try out. Or there is some stupid NDA in place.
 
We probably wont see the X8X00 series in Crossfire setups until the X1800 XT is released unfortunately. There is still hardly any X850 Crossfire cards out there as we speak :rolleyes:
 
Lazy_Moron said:
We probably wont see the X8X00 series in Crossfire setups until the X1800 XT is released unfortunately. There is still hardly any X850 Crossfire cards out there as we speak :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well, considering X800 crossfire cards and crossfire mobos are already out that statement is far from accurate.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
We probably wont see the X8X00 series in Crossfire setups until the X1800 XT is released unfortunately. There is still hardly any X850 Crossfire cards out there as we speak :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That and there are no CF mobos really widely available. I've been looking and can't find to much if anything out there. On top of that...the one I did find was over $250...for a friggin desktop board....come on!
 
the 256mb framebuffer cf card would dock the slave x1800 xt down to 256mb of available memory, if i understand it all correctly

i have seen an x1800 xt cf setup, but only through a window, at an ATI tech day event, before the x1000 series launch

so i know it works, somehow, but of course it's going to be a month or two before we see cf's for the x1800 xt out there anywhere
 
Ingonuts13 - I've only found 1 CF mb available to buy, but it's reasonable at under £92. Personally I'm holding out for Sapphire or Asus to release a board.

Brent - I was afraid of the dumbing down of memory of one card to match the other. I guess they have to be perfectly balanced.

Looking at the pre-order sites for XT's I've noticed that the CF master card is slightly cheaper than it's slave counterpart, only by a tenner or so. Marketing meh!
 
LOL...Mysterae.

The shipping alone ont hat product would kill me. But yeah, I am going to wait for the DFI or ASUS version of the board to release.

Does anyone know when the X1800XT Master Cards will be available?
 
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