x1900gt masterless, dongleless crossfire?

[jebo_4jc]

soo, if I were to buy another x1900gt, would I need to buy a x1900 crossfire edition card with the dongle? Or can the PCI-E bus handle it?

 

[MrGlobe]

To use crossfire, you need a CF compatible mother board, 1 standard card, and 1 master card of the same series. (Unlike SLI where you can use any 2 cards of the same model/series) And yes you need the external dongle.

MH

 

[aiya]

the upcoming X1950Pro will be a remake of the X1900GT but on 80nm process and higher clockspeeds. also it will be a mastercardless card, so that means you can just buy 2 X1950Pros and run them in crossfire mode on a crossfire board of course. no more dongle.

 

[Mabrito]

I believe to Crossfire the X1900GT, all you need is two regular X1900GT's and no Crossfire Edition cards.

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

You could always call AMDATI or the manufacturer of your graphics card.

 

[jebo_4jc]

I believe to Crossfire the X1900GT, all you need is two regular X1900GT's and no Crossfire Edition cards.

That's what I thought, but I just want to be sure.

 

[MrGlobe]

My bad, i was going off of this:

However, with ATI's release of the new Motherboard Chipset named "CrossFire Xpress 3200", the 'master' card is no longer required for every "CrossFire Ready" card (with the exception of the Radeon X1900 series). -Wiki

But then found that with the new 6.6 drivers, all that is needed is a xfire board.

learned something today

MH

 

[Diablo2K]

My bad, i was going off of this:

However, with ATI's release of the new Motherboard Chipset named "CrossFire Xpress 3200", the 'master' card is no longer required for every "CrossFire Ready" card (with the exception of the Radeon X1900 series). -Wiki

But then found that with the new 6.6 drivers, all that is needed is a xfire board.

learned something today

MH

That makes no sense to me, Why in he hell is ATI making this is damn complicated! its no wonder Nvidia is kicking there ASS!

 

[Spriggan_X(ò_ó)]

I think with a xfire mobo all you need is 2 of the same cards, no mastercard. This is what I'm going to do with my x1900gt, and then I'll be playing games even better xD.

 

[gostriker]

The Ati box for the x1900gt states that a crossfire editions graphic card is needed (the crossfire ready graphics card is in the box).

 

[Vlad_13]

The Ati box for the x1900gt states that a crossfire editions graphic card is needed (the crossfire ready graphics card is in the box).

you have to think outside the box

sorry, couldn't resist

 

[Diablo2K]

Ok, so I got a X1800XT, is it Crossfire ready? With this new board will I need a Master Card! Because I would like to get a new motherboard soon!

 

[Trimlock]

X1800XT's require a CF mastercard as well

for all high end cards you will need the master card, for any mid range and below you do not.

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

X1800XT's require a CF mastercard as well

for all high end cards you will need the master card, for any mid range and below you do not.

So, in other words, we pay more for the privilege of having to buy a Crossfire Edition card

Hopefully AMD can sort out ATI's business model and driver team.

 

[Trimlock]

So, in other words, we pay more for the privilege of having to buy a Crossfire Edition card

Hopefully AMD can sort out ATI's business model and driver team.

...

I honestly have no idea what you are trying to prove, or convey, but that tangent hardly deserves to be in this thread. The need for the mastercard is purely for the DONGLE support, the compositing chip on the mastercard also provides for increase AA support as well, but the Dongle is purely needed for bandwidth, the kind that the PCI-E bus cannot give.

ATI already solved this problem, they don't need AMD to do anything for them since AMD does CPU's and has no involvement with GPU's so theres another area where you went that I have no clue what you were trying to convey. As far as drivers ...

Mastercard support is great in theory and on paper, just a horrible horrible idea for development, the way Nv has it is just way less head ache as far as production goes, but like that hasn't been said over 100 times on these boards.

 

[mjz_5]

the new r600 cards (DX10 cards) do not need a master crossfire card.. all cards are going to be crossfire able.

 

[pypeters]

How has ATI solved the problem?

...

ATI already solved this problem, they don't need AMD to do anything for them since AMD does CPU's and has no involvement with GPU's so theres another area where you went that I have no clue what you were trying to convey. As far as drivers ...

 

[Trimlock]

R600 has an internal bridge, and the compositing chip is on the die

honestly the things people sought as problems with the CF weren't even peeves with me, the dongle i don't care about, the need for a mastercard i don't care about, the only problems i had were with the card itself not the set up, crossfire was easy enough to set up, the competition just had an easier way of doing it, doesn't exactly make CF shitty.

 

[Apallohadas]

That makes no sense to me, Why in he hell is ATI making this is damn complicated! its no wonder Nvidia is kicking there ASS!

It's 'thier'. If you're going to rant senselessly, at least get it right maaaan!

 

[ivzk]

It's 'thier'. If you're going to rant senselessly, at least get it right maaaan!

Actually it's "their". Just to correct your correction.

 

[Firebat]

Actually it's "their". Just to correct your correction.

Own3d

Im happy ATI's getting rid of the dongle, and the Master/slave crap.

 

[Trimlock]

not to feed the trolls like from that post, but Nvidia's not kicking anyones ass, last time i checked both companies were doing extremely well and it wasn't due to either one "pwnering" anyone else in a single topic.

 

[ivzk]

not to feed the trolls like from that post, but Nvidia's not kicking anyones ass, last time i checked both companies were doing extremely well and it wasn't due to either one "pwnering" anyone else in a single topic.

I don't think anyone was thinking that. It's just that nobody wanted to feed the troll, like you said.

 

[jebo_4jc]

Trying to keep this as on topic as possible, but I do believe the companies have significant leads in certain areas. For example, IIRC, ATi pwns the laptop video market and the low end desktop market, while nvidia has a sizeable lead in the high end desktop market. The net effect is about 50/50 distribution of the non-Intel GPU market between the two companies.

Back on topic...how is R600 going to get rid of the dongle? Is dual PCI-e x16 enough to handle the necessary communication between the cards I wonder?

 

[pypeters]

So I do not need a crossfire edition 1900 card to go with my 1900XT with this m/b ECS KA3 MVP ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135024

R600 has an internal bridge, and the compositing chip is on the die

honestly the things people sought as problems with the CF weren't even peeves with me, the dongle i don't care about, the need for a mastercard i don't care about, the only problems i had were with the card itself not the set up, crossfire was easy enough to set up, the competition just had an easier way of doing it, doesn't exactly make CF shitty.

 

[jebo_4jc]

So I do not need a crossfire edition 1900 card to go with my 1900XT with this m/b ECS KA3 MVP ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135024

As far as I know, here is the situation:

If you have a x1900XT or x1900XTX, you need an X1900 Crossfire Edition

If you have a X1800XT you need the x1800 crossfire edition

If you have a x1900GT, x1800gto or anything from the x1600 or x1300 families, you only need a second duplicate card.

Is this correct?

The thing I don't know is about the x1800xl. Any more I'm missing? Maybe we can get a sticky.

 

[pypeters]

So the R600 does nothing for 1900x cards. You still need a crossfire edition and external cable?

So would it be better to have 2 1900GT cards?

As far as I know, here is the situation:

If you have a x1900XT or x1900XTX, you need an X1900 Crossfire Edition

If you have a X1800XT you need the x1800 crossfire edition

If you have a x1900GT, x1800gto or anything from the x1600 or x1300 families, you only need a second duplicate card.

Is this correct?

The thing I don't know is about the x1800xl. Any more I'm missing? Maybe we can get a sticky.

 

[Un4given]

I could deal with the master card scenario, and even the dongle doesn't bother me, but OMFG get us more than just 2-3 Crossfire boards, and get down from that freaking $200+ mark!

 

[jebo_4jc]

So the R600 does nothing for 1900x cards. You still need a crossfire edition and external cable?

So would it be better to have 2 1900GT cards?

When you say "R600 does nothing for 1900x cards" I think you are referring to your motherboard, right?

Quick clarification:

R600 is the code name for ATi's next generation, unreleased graphics processor (As in, Radeon x2800XT, when it comes out this winter sometime)

RD600 is the code-name for the soon-to-be released Radeon Express 3200 Intel Edition motherboards.

The ECS motherboard you linked to is a Radeon Express 3200 AMD edition. The code name for this was RD580.

When you ask "would it be better to have two 1900GT cards", the answer is no. If you add a x1900 Crossfire Edition video card to the x1900xt you already have, you will get performance that is about as good as it gets, (excluding quad SLI).

If you get two x1900GT cards, it will be cheaper, but you won't get the same high level of performance you would get with your XT cards.

 

[pypeters]

Oops

I was confusing SB600 (new South Bridge) with R600. Shame on me.

Thanks for the info

When you say "R600 does nothing for 1900x cards" I think you are referring to your motherboard, right?

Quick clarification:

R600 is the code name for ATi's next generation, unreleased graphics processor (As in, Radeon x2800XT, when it comes out this winter sometime)

RD600 is the code-name for the soon-to-be released Radeon Express 3200 Intel Edition motherboards.

The ECS motherboard you linked to is a Radeon Express 3200 AMD edition. The code name for this was RD580.

When you ask "would it be better to have two 1900GT cards", the answer is no. If you add a x1900 Crossfire Edition video card to the x1900xt you already have, you will get performance that is about as good as it gets, (excluding quad SLI).

If you get two x1900GT cards, it will be cheaper, but you won't get the same high level of performance you would get with your XT cards.

 

[aiya]

I could deal with the master card scenario, and even the dongle doesn't bother me, but OMFG get us more than just 2-3 Crossfire boards, and get down from that freaking $200+ mark!

the crossfire boards that are out for s939 are all below the $200 mark. just the DFI is the most expensive but Asus and Abit are around the $150 range.

 

[Trimlock]

Is dual PCI-e x16 enough to handle the necessary communication between the cards I wonder?

16x16 motherboards are going to be rare and expensive, the bandwidth is supposed to be enough to handle that kind of data pushing, but in the case that these cards are most likely going to find their way on 8x8 configured motherboards more then not they will have an internal bridge connection (like nvidia's) instead of their current exterior design.

 

[jebo_4jc]

16x16 motherboards are going to be rare and expensive, the bandwidth is supposed to be enough to handle that kind of data pushing, but in the case that these cards are most likely going to find their way on 8x8 configured motherboards more then not they will have an internal bridge connection (like nvidia's) instead of their current exterior design.

correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all the Radeon Express 3200 motherboards were 16x16, and it was already said they can be found for around 150, and the ecs is even less than that.

 

[Spriggan_X(ò_ó)]

GET 2 x1900gt's and you got yourself something more powerful than a x1950xtx !!!!!

 

[pypeters]

Links to any reviews that back it up

GET 2 x1900gt's and you got yourself something more powerful than a x1950xtx !!!!!

 

[Puterguru]

Quick clarification:
RD600 is the code-name for the soon-to-be released Radeon Express 3200 Intel Edition motherboards.

This is what I think I may be buying if I can wait, assumig it supports Conroe. Anyone know when this is coming out?

 

[Spriggan_X(ò_ó)]

Links to any reviews that back it up

No reviews just common sense.

 

[Trimlock]

correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought all the Radeon Express 3200 motherboards were 16x16, and it was already said they can be found for around 150, and the ecs is even less than that.

16x16 boards are out now, the RD600 boards (E3200 chipsets) are out now for AMD and soon for intel, some support up to 16x16 but it just needs the 8x8 support to be compatible, but like i said even if there were boards out that could handle it, they sitll have the bridge technology since there isn't a strict design saying it "has to be a 16x16"