SLI vs. Crossfire

[padukes]

Hi All,

I thinking of getting one of the Core 2 Duo CPUs because everyone says they're the shizzle and I'd like to pair it with a decent graphics card that I can upgrade in the future. My understanding is that crossfire can use two different ATI cards, but SLI can only use two identical Nvidia cards - so I was thinking of getting a Crossfire motherboard because I can buy a decent card now like a X1900 something, and then get a different better card and use them both in the future.

Does this make sense? Is it typical?

Also, my understanding is that any motherboard that supports a Core Duo CPU can support a Quad Core CPU when they come out - is that also true?

Thanks!
Pa

 

[cmdrdredd]

Actually I don't think crossfire with a X1900xt and a X1950XTX crossfire edition would work.

They have to be the same model (x1800, x1900, x1950).

SlI i can SLI a BFG and a EVGA card and that doesn't matter. Although like memory it's recommended to match it.

In my very honest opinion neither solution is worth it. Unless you have to play on a rediculously high resolution, any decent high/mid range card will work fine without any SLi or crossfire.

 

[jleves]

I don't think every mobo that supports core 2 will support quad cores. Here's a link to an anandtech article about support for quad core.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2848

 

[jleves]

As for SLI vs Crossfire, the choice would depend on what games you play and what your resolution is. If you aren't going beyond 1280x1024, get a single card and I don't think it matters. If you have higher resolution, the game makes a difference. I went with crossfire cause I want to play Oblivion. Here's another link to games and high end video cards from anandtech.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821

 

[westihockey09]

Don't buy 2 vid cards of anything right now, in a week....DX-10 also, there is no need for 2, if you SLI, then why wouldn't you save a little money and buy a better single card model than the modelsyou were going to SLI with. (ex. Instead of buying 2 7600GT's, buy 1 7900GT for the same price). But i would wait a week or 2.

 

[padukes]

Thanks all - I was thinking of buying 1 mid range card now, and then getting another in several months time - Why would you wait - I thought the only DX-10 cards coming out are coming in Dec and will only be the super high end?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: padukes
Thanks all - I was thinking of buying 1 mid range card now, and then getting another in several months time - Why would you wait - I thought the only DX-10 cards coming out are coming in Dec and will only be the super high end?

other cards should drop in price too