CrossFire-on-a-Stick

czar1020

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Lol , thanks for the laugh, The card looks cool only reason id consider getting it is because it a big nasty looken thing.
 

sailer

Splendid
Ok, they built it, but their drivers don't work very well. It may perform better than a plain 1950 Pro, but it still gets beaten by the 8800s. And it won't do DX10. So what's the point of it? Spend a lot of money to get an ATI card that doesn't beat a 8800? I already have that in my old 1900 XTX Toxic that I bought last summer. So, no thanks to this card.
 

MrCommunistGen

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Uhh... why did they use an Intel board for their tests instead of the DFI Crossfire one? Since they couldn't get it running on an Nvidia board its obviously dependent on Crossfire, and wouldn't it be better to run it on an ATI Crossfire chipset? Also, if Crossfire was disabled for the Oblivion tests, why did the Sapphire perform so well in the outdoor tests? Last complaint: the article feels like it was hastily put together since it had quite a few typos. Interesting looking product though. Maybe AMD/ATI will release their own version of this with the R600s. :D

-mcg
 

sojrner

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Ok, they built it, but their drivers don't work very well. It may perform better than a plain 1950 Pro, but it still gets beaten by the 8800s. And it won't do DX10. So what's the point of it? Spend a lot of money to get an ATI card that doesn't beat a 8800? I already have that in my old 1900 XTX Toxic that I bought last summer. So, no thanks to this card.

well, it is a pre-release sample. It is not final and yet it DOES beat an 8800gts in some tests... (well, it runs right with it anyway) that makes a possibly viable alternative if all the drivers issues are worked out by retail time. Seems like a cool product, more for the speculation in the article of 32 devices and the inherent benefits of xfire vs. sli... but we will have to see.
 

sojrner

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ya stranger, they had to convert in the words lorry, torch, boot etc... and add in a few "oy!" and "bloody-eh!" cries to make it legible. lol.


they should really write a script to automate that... ;)
 

sailer

Splendid
Ok, they built it, but their drivers don't work very well. It may perform better than a plain 1950 Pro, but it still gets beaten by the 8800s. And it won't do DX10. So what's the point of it? Spend a lot of money to get an ATI card that doesn't beat a 8800? I already have that in my old 1900 XTX Toxic that I bought last summer. So, no thanks to this card.

well, it is a pre-release sample. It is not final and yet it DOES beat an 8800gts in some tests... (well, it runs right with it anyway) that makes a possibly viable alternative if all the drivers issues are worked out by retail time. Seems like a cool product, more for the speculation in the article of 32 devices and the inherent benefits of xfire vs. sli... but we will have to see.

I realize that it was a pre-release model, which at least in my mind makes the benches of questionable value. As for its being a replacement for the standard 1900-1950 series, I'm not sure that it meets its goals. Then again, it is a pre-release and not a retail card. For myself, if I was to step up in a video card, I'd either go for a 8800 GTX or wait for the R600 instead of getting another DX9 only card. But that's my choice and other people will make their choices.
 

sojrner

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oh sure, and I agree with you.

from a pure technology, geeking-out view though I find this more interesting than the 8800. More so for the fact of that 32 device idea that has bee floating around crossfire for many moons. This is the first time anything has really materialized that shows that potential.

but stepping from theoretical/possible I would definitely get an 8800 at the moment if I was buying a new card right now. I just did not think that was the point of the article. :)
 

blade85

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Sep 19, 2006
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it's working now. why the delay though?
They had to translate it from "American English" to "English". :roll:

-mcg

fixed :lol:

lololol :lol: :lol: :lol:


well you can see the idea has potential, but i guess its gonna take a few more releases before it really starts to kick in.
 

sojrner

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seriously though stranger, can't you just surf to the US site? I realize that the principal is there for sticking w/ the UK site... but if you really wanted to read it couldn't you just jump over to the US site?



...of course, hoping the pond is a big jump but still... ;)
 

bum_jcrules

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I don't have a second card as of yet but when I have two final production models I will attempt a four-way crossfire setup. I was traveling all week but I wanted to get this up before the weekend so people could start thinking about the possibilities of a multi-way CrossFire setup.

I tried hooking up an X1950 Pro to the Sapphire X1950 Pro Dual. When the Sapphire was in the first X16 slot and the second card was in the second, I could enable CrossFire. When I reversed the order I could not. I ran a few tests and got the same (similar) figures for 3DMark05 and Doom3.

I am going to see what can be done with the card I have here to see if overclocking is possible. Perhaps we can get more out of the card. I will also try some older drivers to see if there is one that makes CrossFire "happier" than the Catalyst 7.3 I used in the review.

I also plan to keep bugging AMD and Sapphire for a real driver that can enable quad operation.

If you have any ideas on what we should try to do with it (other than suggesting we turn it into a paper weight) I would be up for those.
 

lordaardvark2

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i have no idea who would buy this card with the r600 coming out and better 8-series cards already out, but it is quite interesting. it was a nice article, too. i'm glad to be partially proven wrong after that "letter to Omid" thread.
 

phaxmohdem

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Interesting engineering project for their engineers, but I don't really see this being a viable product. Mainly due to the timing of the thing.

If r600 is all its cracked up to be, and it is due out in a month or so, assuming this thing launches around the same time, why would anybody want one? I could possibly see such solutions being useful on non-crossfire boards as an upgrade path, but I simply don't see potential buyers for this product.

Lack of DX10 support, and AMD/ATI support also hurt it.

Maybe they are already working on a dual r600 solution as well which depending on price & config could be cool.

Just my opinion, and I am just a lonely pessimistic bastard. :)
 

lordaardvark2

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yeah, concept design like the infamous 4x4? :lol: couldn't help my self.

i agree, though. not necessarily something that i'd do as a CEO of a company, but... thats probably why i'm NOT a CEO. and it would be cool if there were r600 applications of this technology coming in the near future as phaxmohdem suggested :D