ATI Crossfire Perf - x3200 vs Master/Slave GPUs

[GrJohnso]

So I'm sitting here with an older single pci-e mb in my hands and a Crossfire Edition x1800 wondering how to spend more money wisely. Okay, wisdom is lost when spending money on gaming rigs, but anyway...

This is assuming that with the latest drivers, crossfire is working on the new x3200 motherboards for x1800 series without a special master card.

The question is, is there, or will there be any performance difference running a crossfire setup on an older x200 based motherboard in the standard Crossfire Master/Slave type setup or using a new x3200 based motherboard to manage a crossfire setup?

I picked up the my x1800 Crossfire Edition card for $300, so it's not like a spent much extra to have that option. x1800 is "in the mail" so it's still NIB.. I'm just looking at my next step, A or B.

A = Buy a good older x200 based mb and x1800xt card. Save $50-$100 on the mb. (thinking Asus, but still looking)
or
B = Buy a new x3200 mb, and an x1800xt card. Maybe sell my Crossfire Edition to someone who NEEDs it due to older mb setup. = $more money$

Any thoughts, info, benchmarks, etc? Just wondering if there is anything to be gained moving from one setup to the other?

THoughts, opinions, random smack talk, anyting is appreciated...

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: GrJohnso
So I'm sitting here with an older single pci-e mb in my hands and a Crossfire Edition x1800 wondering how to spend more money wisely. Okay, wisdom is lost when spending money on gaming rigs, but anyway...

This is assuming that with the latest drivers, crossfire is working on the new x3200 motherboards for x1800 series without a special master card.

The question is, is there, or will there be any performance difference running a crossfire setup on an older x200 based motherboard in the standard Crossfire Master/Slave type setup or using a new x3200 based motherboard to manage a crossfire setup?

I picked up the my x1800 Crossfire Edition card for $300, so it's not like a spent much extra to have that option. x1800 is "in the mail" so it's still NIB.. I'm just looking at my next step, A or B.

A = Buy a good older x200 based mb and x1800xt card. Save $50-$100 on the mb. (thinking Asus, but still looking)
or
B = Buy a new x3200 mb, and an x1800xt card. Maybe sell my Crossfire Edition to someone who NEEDs it due to older mb setup. = $more money$

Any thoughts, info, benchmarks, etc? Just wondering if there is anything to be gained moving from one setup to the other?

THoughts, opinions, random smack talk, anyting is appreciated...

I wouldn't work under the assumption that X1800 "dongleless" Crossfire is working at this point. This ability is rumored to be implemented in Cat 6.5, however, Cat 6.5 is nowhere to be found and it is almost the end of the month.

Either way, as far as Crossfire motherboards go I would go with an Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe over the A8R-MVP. The A8R32-MVP apparently addressed many issues that the A8R had, and is overall a more polished motherboard as I understand it. I owned an A8R-MVP previously, and didn't care for it very much. It was pretty slow to boot, had sketchy USB2, and was not very featrue-rich for the cost IMO (plus, it was brown instead of black :Q !!!!) . I don't have any experience with the A8R32-MVP, but there are a few people on here that have.

 

[GrJohnso]

Good info... I have seen some pretty mixed reviews on the A8R-MVP, seems like a lot of variance between peoples experiences. Was kinda willing to try my luck with it, but am pretty non-comittal right now. Didn't realize it was brown, guess that is kinda a deal killer.. I'm not ready to pull the trigger on a purchase right this second, so I'll wait a little longer to see about the c6.5 drivers. Was just wondering if anyone had any luck playing with the beta's and dongleless crossfire on anything above a x1600 card.

Guess I'll just resolve myself to the fact that I'll need to spend a few extra bucks on a mb that I had originally hoped. I hate it when a little upgrade becomes nearly a full rebuild.

BTW, did you bother with the onboard audio of that MB? Was curious about the quality of the nifty HD audio. Would like to ditch my pci audio if ASUS was providing an adequate onboard solution... Looking for clean 2 channel line out to my stereo... nothing fancy...

Anyway, will keep cruising the reviews and keep an eye on the price for the a8r32...

 

[nitromullet]

I have an X-Fi, so I didn't try out the onboard audio. I honestly didn't have the board for very long before it went back... If I do decide to go CrossFire again in the future, I imagine that it will either be when there are motherboards with both the northbridge and southbridge made by ATI or if I get an Intel Conroe board that does Xfire. I don't really like the ATI/ULi combination.

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
I have an X-Fi, so I didn't try out the onboard audio. I honestly didn't have the board for very long before it went back... If I do decide to go CrossFire again in the future, I imagine that it will either be when there are motherboards with both the northbridge and southbridge made by ATI or if I get an Intel Conroe board that does Xfire. I don't really like the ATI/ULi combination.

I am currently running the A8R-MVP with a X1800XT. I had some trouble with the MB orginally, as it is very picky about ram and timings if you tend to overclock. That being said, I can now say that I really enjoy the MB, as I have no problems with it. The USB issues that Nitromullet mentioned are unknown to me. I am running 5 USB devices, including a backup harddrive. The onboard HD audio sounds wonderful to me, I use it with a 5.1 setup along with some headphones for gaming. I feel it is a great value for less then $100. If you end up getting one, feel free to message me if you need some help setting it up.

Josh

 

[GrJohnso]

Josh, thanks for the feedback. We'll see what I end up doing. Just received my x1800 CE so I'm kinda itchin to make a move... It's encouraging to hear more positivies about the older A8R mb... Looks like you are getting some decent overclocking with your setup, so that does look hopefull. My mem would be my bottleneck at this point. Hmmm.. Budget is getting worked with this 'little' upgrade...

Thanks again