CrossFireX Still A Go On Intel P45 Chipsets

[cah027]

Looks like we might be able to have Ati's Best Graphics with Intel's best Processors!

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/20/crossfirex_still_a_go_on_intel_p45_chipsets_/


Wouldn't that be nice! Maybe with Nehalem and 4Xcrossfire we can play on ultra high settings!

 

[oldscotch]

Only makes sense. Why cut yourself off from a market even if it is competition to your CPUs? ATI/AMD know that they've got a good thing with Crossfire and they'd be shooting themselves in the foot not to make it as available as possible.

 

[T8RR8R]

Can't say the same for SLI though.

 

[rentoner]

So are you suggesting that Crossfire is a better technology then Sli?

I'm torn right now for which way to go with a new system. I definately want to go Intel CPU. I know the P35 boards are great performance/money, but they are left going with crossfire if I ever want dual GPU's...this is a problem since it seems widely agreed that nvidia is leading the GPU race right now with the very affordable 8800GT compared to ATI's 3870. If I go nvidia, I can never expand to dual GPU with the P35 board...but if I go with a 680i or 780i chipset to get sli available, then I feel like the board and chipset isn't as good as the P35 boards.

If there is evidence to suggest that crossfire is actually better technology then Sli, maybe that will make my decision easier and I'll go with P35 board, Interl quad core cpu, and 2 ATI 3870's....

 

[sailer]

So are you suggesting that Crossfire is a better technology then Sli?

I'm torn right now for which way to go with a new system. I definately want to go Intel CPU. I know the P35 boards are great performance/money, but they are left going with crossfire if I ever want dual GPU's...this is a problem since it seems widely agreed that nvidia is leading the GPU race right now with the very affordable 8800GT compared to ATI's 3870. If I go nvidia, I can never expand to dual GPU with the P35 board...but if I go with a 680i or 780i chipset to get sli available, then I feel like the board and chipset isn't as good as the P35 boards.

If there is evidence to suggest that crossfire is actually better technology then Sli, maybe that will make my decision easier and I'll go with P35 board, Interl quad core cpu, and 2 ATI 3870's....

Yes, I think Crossfire is a better technology than SLI. For single cards, at the moment, Nvidia has the lead and will have it for some time to come. ATI's advantage comes when using Crossfire on boards that don't support SLI, or where boards that do support SLI, such as the ones you mention, aren't as good as the ones that support Crossfire.

A bigger question comes as to whether you really need either Crossfire or SIL. Unless you have a large monitor, either technology will give you better framerates, but you won't be able to see the difference. When thinking about 3 or even 4 vidio cards, the situation becomes even more rediculous. If you have a smaller monitor, you may speed your framerates up to 200 fps or more, but who can see it? After 60-80 fps, people can't see the difference, so getting 200 fps instead if 100 fps is purely academic, beyond posting high scores on 3DMark 06 or something.

 

[rentoner]

My interest in being dual GPU friendly is for future (1-2 years +) when a single 8800GT or 3870 is not able to run full out games that are being released. That is when I feel that upgrading the CPU, throwing in another 2 Gig or RAM, and adding another GPU card will give you a longer PC life span. That's where my thinking is coming from...poke some holes if you think it's faulty...but I only buy a new PC every 3-4 years, so I want to be able to keep this up to date as much as possible over that span.

 

[sailer]

My interest in being dual GPU friendly is for future (1-2 years +) when a single 8800GT or 3870 is not able to run full out games that are being released. That is when I feel that upgrading the CPU, throwing in another 2 Gig or RAM, and adding another GPU card will give you a longer PC life span. That's where my thinking is coming from...poke some holes if you think it's faulty...but I only buy a new PC every 3-4 years, so I want to be able to keep this up to date as much as possible over that span.

Ok, I like to keep a setup for around three years myself, so I always buy a board that's capable of running two cards just in case I desire such. I've run SLI in the past, and at the time decides that I would rather have had Crossfire. Since then, cards became good enough that a single card from either ATI or Nvidia will be good enough much of the time.

The critical thing, as I see it, is monitor size. Presently, it seems that a 22" widescreen (1600x1050 resolution) is the breaking point. Smaller than that and there is no real advantage for to running two or more cards from either company. Above the 22" widescreen size, having two cards shows advantages. So its not so much a question of building a machine that can take two cards as it is a question of whether your monitor is big enough to need two cards to power it.

I plan on doing a build next month. I haven't decided whether to go with Intel or AMD, but either way, I will be getting a motherboard that supports Crossfire. Its a personal choice in part, and in part, because Nvidia has refused to license Intel to build SLI boards and Nvidia does not fully support AMD chips. Others may like SLI for reasoning of their own and I won't argue against them. We all have our favorites. As to buying a mobo that supports two cards, I'm all for it, whether you choose to go with one that supports Crossfire ot SLI.

 

[cpburns]

the usual tendency is that the next generation of single cards often beats the previous generation in dual-gpu mode. a single 8800GT/S/X beats sli 7900GTXs, etc. i only find SLI/CF to be a viable idea if implemented when the system is built initially.

by the time you need to add a second card to improve performance, you can often spend the same amount, or a bit more, for better performance from the next generation of cards.

that said, i still like the idea of crossfire, and it is known to scale better than SLI, along with now being a cheaper system to implement, especially for 3-4 cards.

on my budget, i'm likely to get a single 3870; but i'm certainly amenable to a crossfire system in the future, when i can afford it.

 

[rentoner]

Right now I have a 22" (non-wide) and run at 1600x1200. In that 3-4 years I may very well be upgrading that to a same size or larger widescreen LCD. And I would only be looking to pick up a 2nd GPU card down the road (before they go obsolete, but after they dropped in price and were no longer the current best sellers).

I'm looking to buy next month as well...after the new year....and I don't know if I'll fully make up my mind on which way to go until then. I know 100% I'm going intel...that's about it...I really like the P35 boards...so then the decision just becomes do I take the 8800GT that I believe is the better single card now, or do I take the 3870 single card that should still be pretty decent now, knowing I can throw another one in after they drop to the $100 range over time. There is always a dilema with computers....although if Nvidia and Intel got their act together, and the P35 quality boards were Sli compatible...I'd have my setup figured out right away.

 

[T8RR8R]

The 8800GTS 640mb card that I have right now has been great for me since day one, but I paid around $400 when I got it back in Feb. Now that I look back on it I don't think I'll go with the higher end cards anymore because they cost so much. Besides that, they only last a year till they are outdated and get there butt kicked by something nearly half their price. It just isn't worth it to me anymore.

I'll probably pick up a 3870 or whatever is faster sometime in late February, and then whenever that card starts to struggle(more) I'll just grab another for Crossfire when it's super cheap.

As far as monitor size and resolution goes. I probably won't change my 20" 1680x1050 monitor for another year or 2. I'm happy with this size and resolution for the more current games that I play. Probably look for a 24-26" 1920x1200 whenever I change.

Anyway, back to the p45 crossfireX stuff.

 

[sailer]

...I really like the P35 boards.

The P35 is a good design, no question about that, but the X38 and even more, the X48 which is coming out next month, would be better to buy if you're looking at the long term. Intel is changing its FSB specifications and as good as it is, the P35 is headed into history. Many of the X38s, if not all, can be upgraded with a BIOS change to the 1600 FSB, but the P35 looks shakey in this respect.

Just thought I'd point this out for consideration, as you previously mentioned wanting to have a machine last for awile and be upgradeable.