HardOCP Crossfire review up

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: Wreckage

There have been many people saying that it's faster but does not look as good. It tops out at 14X compared to 16X for SLI.

ATI?s 14x looks better than NV?s 16x-AA ?

techreport

Make of these images what you will, but I'd say this is a clear win for ATI. To my eye, the SuperAA 10X mode produces smoother gradients, better preservation of fine details in the antennas, and smoother handling of the tree leaves than SLI 8X. Even NVIDIA's 16X mode, which grabs more samples than SuperAA 14X, doesn't look quite as good as ATI's 14X mode for the same reasons ..

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
It's that same fact again. Not enough time. They had to go external compositor because it was the only thing they could have done, or knew how to do. Its the fact that they used an external cable in the first place that I can't get over. There is really no question in my book. This was thrown together the best way they knew how in a short amount of time.

For somebody complaining about me not backing up MY statements, I see no proof from you that this is indeed true. Why don't you back up YOUR claims with some links, "brudda".

Yeah, sure. I'll just phone ATI's development team and ask them, "Excuse me, but is your crossfire solution the very best solution the engineers could come up with? Or did you just not have enough time to do it right?"

You see Creig, what I said about it being easier to slap a compositor chip on the card than to respin the core with native crossfire support, makes more sense than you saying, "Apparently, hes not in the majority." At least I put some thought into my comments.

Now, why don't you go find the majority of reviews that disagrees with me.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: Rollo
Crossfire X850 was a joke.

I'll mostly agree with you on that one. It seemed to be more for the benefit of their PR dept than anything else. But for people with LCDs, the refresh rate issue is meaningless. So it wasn't totally useless.

Ah, those silver linings.

So what's your point? Am I wrong?
If you can't go over 1600x1200 @ 60Hz with your current display, then Xfire X850 is not totally useless. So your right. You found the silver lining. Unfortunately, people with CRT's are screwed who bought Xfire X850 setup. But, you don't care about those folks do ya?

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Rushed. Rushed. Rushed. I can almost hear the echo's of the whips crackin in the ATI development labs. One guy in a suit slashing the whip around groaning, "Work faster you insignificant nothing of a scientist!!! We have money to steal from our uninformed sheep. I don't care how you do it, JUST DO IT RIGHT THE F NOW!!!" LOL.

:roll: We already have one Rollo in these forums, quit trying to be Rollo #2.

I'll get right on that Creig. :laugh:

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Paratus
(Rollo as soon as I read that review I knew you'd let us know about it )

I live to serve Paratus!

Seriously - anyone who builds their own gaming box can handle the current issues with Xfire - especially since most can be addressed with better drivers.

The problem is we don't know if that is the case or not. I imagine ATI can address driver issues with individual games. (e.g. the green Quake4)

We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

Drivers won't address the issue of two howling X1800XTs pumping much heat into your room and case either. (I know they exhuast out the back, but the card itself roasts)

Mountain out of a mole hill IMHO

Mountain out of a mountain, IMO, these issues make SLIs "no WS at start" and "no Windows 2000" issues look like a welcome vacation.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
A little strange that they didnt use the 5.13's, that were available three weeks ago. Especially since they are the first driver to support X1800 Crossfire, and have several fixes.

ATI CrossFire? allows for multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to be placed within a single PC, to provide superior gaming performance. The Catalyst® 5.13 software suite is the first Catalyst® to provide ATI CrossFire? support. CrossFire? support is available when an ATI Radeon® X1800 CrossFire? Edition product is installed with another Radeon® X1800 product. Further information on ATI CrossFire? can be found at: http://www.ati.com/technology/crossfire/faq.htm

yeah , but apparantly thats what ATI sent HOCP to do the testing with

 

[nts]

Originally posted by: Rollo
We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

I don't understand how you can view not having profiles for crossfire as some sort of hardware limitation.

ATi already has driver profiles, just not for crossfire. Give it time or e-mail ATi and ask, in the mean time stop spreading FUD.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer

Originally posted by: Ackmed
A little strange that they didnt use the 5.13's, that were available three weeks ago. Especially since they are the first driver to support X1800 Crossfire, and have several fixes.

ATI CrossFire? allows for multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to be placed within a single PC, to provide superior gaming performance. The Catalyst® 5.13 software suite is the first Catalyst® to provide ATI CrossFire? support. CrossFire? support is available when an ATI Radeon® X1800 CrossFire? Edition product is installed with another Radeon® X1800 product. Further information on ATI CrossFire? can be found at: http://www.ati.com/technology/crossfire/faq.htm

yeah , but apparantly thats what ATI sent HOCP to do the testing with

Little late arent you? Since I posted that, Brent has said the review was done the 21st of Dec. But just a few days ago got published. The delay was allegedly because the editor (Kyle) was on vacation or whatever for three weeks.

The lack of image comparisons, Super/SLI AA comparisons, and poor wording regarding availability makes it a poor review to me. It was late, and didnt bring anything new to the table. Except that they used TRAA/AAA which most do not.

 

[dadach]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: Paratus
(Rollo as soon as I read that review I knew you'd let us know about it )

I live to serve Paratus!

lol...somehow i dont think it was ment to be a compliment

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo
We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

I don't understand how you can view not having profiles for crossfire as some sort of hardware limitation.

ATi already has driver profiles, just not for crossfire. Give it time or e-mail ATi and ask, in the mean time stop spreading FUD.

You're the one spreading misinformation nts.

ATI has profiles for Crossfire as well, and there is no problem with them AFAIK. The problem is they have no options for non profiled games.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: dadach

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: Paratus
(Rollo as soon as I read that review I knew you'd let us know about it )

I live to serve Paratus!

lol...somehow i dont think it was ment to be a compliment

I realize that.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Just a bit off topic:

PCIe is dead! All hail PCIe 2.0! heheh

 

[nts]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo
We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

I don't understand how you can view not having profiles for crossfire as some sort of hardware limitation.

ATi already has driver profiles, just not for crossfire. Give it time or e-mail ATi and ask, in the mean time stop spreading FUD.

You're the one spreading misinformation nts.

ATI has profiles for Crossfire as well, and there is no problem with them AFAIK. The problem is they have no options for non profiled games.

I meant you can create your own profiles for whatever you want, they are just missing crossfire settings atm.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Just a bit off topic:

PCIe is dead! All hail PCIe 2.0! heheh

I guess Crossfire is dead too then as they have no PCIE 2? Poor ATI.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo
We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

I don't understand how you can view not having profiles for crossfire as some sort of hardware limitation.

ATi already has driver profiles, just not for crossfire. Give it time or e-mail ATi and ask, in the mean time stop spreading FUD.

You're the one spreading misinformation nts.

ATI has profiles for Crossfire as well, and there is no problem with them AFAIK. The problem is they have no options for non profiled games.

I meant you can create your own profiles for whatever you want, they are just missing crossfire settings atm.

Which means?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Customizable?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: nts

Originally posted by: Rollo
We don't know if there's something about Crossfire that makes giving us the ability to choose modes impractical/impossible. SLI has had this almost from the beginning, and Crossfire is over four months old now. (not to mention how long they must have worked on it before launch)

Why doesn't Crossfire have the ability to create profiles? SLI had that almost from the beginning as well?

I don't understand how you can view not having profiles for crossfire as some sort of hardware limitation.

ATi already has driver profiles, just not for crossfire. Give it time or e-mail ATi and ask, in the mean time stop spreading FUD.

You're the one spreading misinformation nts.

ATI has profiles for Crossfire as well, and there is no problem with them AFAIK. The problem is they have no options for non profiled games.

I meant you can create your own profiles for whatever you want, they are just missing crossfire settings atm.

Which means?

Answer: Exactly what I said.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Yeah, sure. I'll just phone ATI's development team and ask them, "Excuse me, but is your crossfire solution the very best solution the engineers could come up with? Or did you just not have enough time to do it right?"

You see Creig, what I said about it being easier to slap a compositor chip on the card than to respin the core with native crossfire support, makes more sense than you saying, "Apparently, hes not in the majority." At least I put some thought into my comments.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
It's that same fact again. Not enough time. They had to go external compositor because it was the only thing they could have done, or knew how to do. Its the fact that they used an external cable in the first place that I can't get over. There is really no question in my book. This was thrown together the best way they knew how in a short amount of time.

So basically all your "facts" are simply wild guesses with absolutely no evidence presented to back up your claims. Very scientific, I must say. Well done.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
If you can't go over 1600x1200 @ 60Hz with your current display, then Xfire X850 is not totally useless. So your right. You found the silver lining. Unfortunately, people with CRT's are screwed who bought Xfire X850 setup. But, you don't care about those folks do ya?

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: Rollo
Crossfire X850 was a joke.

I'll mostly agree with you on that one. It seemed to be more for the benefit of their PR dept than anything else. But for people with LCDs, the refresh rate issue is meaningless. So it wasn't totally useless.

See where I agreed with Rollo that X850 was mostly a joke? See it? If I thought X850 Crossfire was an unqualified success I would have said so. But I didn't. I said that for people with LCDs the main issue of the X850 Crossfire refresh rate issue isn't really a problem. That leaves CRTs. So if I said that with LCDs there isn't really any problem but didn't say the same for CRTs, what do you think that means?

Try thinking a bit harder before posting next time.

 

[nRollo]

There's really nothing to "argue" about here.

The state of Crossfire, while improving, is no where near the state of SLI.

Time will tell if this improves, for now, that much money is much better spent on SLI.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Yeah, sure. I'll just phone ATI's development team and ask them, "Excuse me, but is your crossfire solution the very best solution the engineers could come up with? Or did you just not have enough time to do it right?"

You see Creig, what I said about it being easier to slap a compositor chip on the card than to respin the core with native crossfire support, makes more sense than you saying, "Apparently, hes not in the majority." At least I put some thought into my comments.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
It's that same fact again. Not enough time. They had to go external compositor because it was the only thing they could have done, or knew how to do. Its the fact that they used an external cable in the first place that I can't get over. There is really no question in my book. This was thrown together the best way they knew how in a short amount of time.

So basically all your "facts" are simply wild guesses with absolutely no evidence presented to back up your claims. Very scientific, I must say. Well done.

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
If you can't go over 1600x1200 @ 60Hz with your current display, then Xfire X850 is not totally useless. So your right. You found the silver lining. Unfortunately, people with CRT's are screwed who bought Xfire X850 setup. But, you don't care about those folks do ya?

Originally posted by: Creig

Originally posted by: Rollo
Crossfire X850 was a joke.

I'll mostly agree with you on that one. It seemed to be more for the benefit of their PR dept than anything else. But for people with LCDs, the refresh rate issue is meaningless. So it wasn't totally useless.

See where I agreed with Rollo that X850 was mostly a joke? See it? If I thought X850 Crossfire was an unqualified success I would have said so. But I didn't. I said that for people with LCDs the main issue of the X850 Crossfire refresh rate issue isn't really a problem. That leaves CRTs. So if I said that with LCDs there isn't really any problem but didn't say the same for CRTs, what do you think that means?

Try thinking a bit harder before posting next time.

I think it means you didn't say it. You're speaking "market-speak".
Wild guesses? Hardly. More like common sense. If you had any, you'd see it also. I cannot believe how you are falling for this "external compositor is superior" BS. Of course it isn't. It could have/ should have been soooooo much better. But, it was rushed as any fool can see. It would be nice to see ATI take the extra time to integrate native xfire support into the R600 core. The dongle won't be there forever dude. ATI knows it sucks. They have to know it does. It's just the marketese that tries (and apparently succeeds) to make you feel differently about it.