Crossfire is out, and SLi is no longer king

[ctjoyce]

Well ATi has released its new series of of cards, X1800, and the 7800's have been put to shame. With 3DMark05 scores of 2,000+ more than the 7800GTX on a single card, its about time ATi took its crown back. Want more info http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-23719-2610-x-x-x.
And for those who still dont believe me:
Doom 3, 1600x1200, High Quality
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
82
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
92
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
63
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
85
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
58
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
64
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
49

Doom 3, 1600x1200, High Quality, 4xAA/8xAF
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
43
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
54
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
36
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
47
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
37
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
39
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
31

Half-Life 2, 1024x768, High Quality 4xAA/8xAF
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
113
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
107
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
91
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
93
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
81
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
58
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
69

Half-Life 2, 1600x1200, High Quality 4xAA/8xAF
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
69
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
57
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
51
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
48
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
44
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
31
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
38

3DMark05, 1024x768
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
9240
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
7749
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
7216
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
6888
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
6193
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
5043
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
5256

3DMark05, 1600x1200
Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
6549
GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB
5812
Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
5105
GeForce 7800 GT 256MB
5026
Radeon X850 XT 256MB
4256
GeForce 6800 GT 256MB
3431
Radeon X800 XL 256MB
3571

Test System Setup: Athlon 64 FX-57 2.8GHz, 1GB (2 x 512MB) Corsair XMS DDR SDRAM (400MHz), Asus A8N SLI Deluxe Motherboard, Seagate 7200.7 160GB NCQ SATA Hard Drive, Windows XP SP2.

Drivers : Forceware 78.01, Catalyst 5.9, Beta Catalyst Driver 8.173.1

The new X1800 XL will ship sometime this week, and the XT will follow on Nov 5. The cost will be between $500-700 depending on the card varant, and manufacure.


Cheers
Cameron

PS. AP you were looking for an upgrade, here ya go.

[4_Series_Scania]

Very nice, My 6800GT suits me just fine though.  ;)

[NicksFXHouse]

Yep... As long as the ATI card says: CROSSFIRE READY

Your ready to rock


Suits me just fine because I do allot of mutimedia and my new AIW X800 XT 256mb CROSSFIRE READY will be here by 10am tomorrow.


...all I have to do is wait for the crossfire mobo release and pair it up with another crossfire enabled card

.... and a AMD Athlon 64 FX57 San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor  ;D

[ctjoyce]

[quote]

Yep... As long as the ATI card says: CROSSFIRE READY

Your ready to rock


Suits me just fine because I do allot of mutimedia and my new AIW X800 XT 256mb CROSSFIRE READY will be here by 10am tomorrow.


...all I have to do is wait for the crossfire mobo release and pair it up with another crossfire enabled card

.... and a AMD Athlon 64 FX57 San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor

[Delta_]

Yep... As long as the ATI card says: CROSSFIRE READY

Crossfire cards only work with their similar types.  
An x800/x800xl crossfire works with:
x800
x800pro
x800xl
x800xt
x800xt PE

BUT not
x850 and other models.

The same is also true for the x850xl crossfire, this will not work with the x800 range or other models

However crossfire means cards from different manufacturers can be mixed together aswell.  ;)

[ctjoyce]

Well kiddies if you want one you can get one for less than a 7800GTX at $475 each. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102610

[the_autopilot]

Finally. ATI has disappointed up until now. Finally a card that puts them back for the single-card king.

Unfortuately, none of these benchmarks show SLI vs. crossfire performence which is really what I'm interested in.

However, I'm still planning on getting the new ATI cards/mobo (for crossfire)

BTW, some of the new x1800 xt willl have 512mb of ddr3 memory. Here's all I have to say to that:
HELL YEAH!!!!!!!

[ctjoyce]

+1

Also check out the new X1k series websight at www.ati.com for some astonishing footage of the X1800 in action. The rendering capabilities are absolutely amazing.

Stick it nVidia, just stick it.

[-sam-]

Ah yes ATI once again....
and.. did they allready give a date when a stable driver will be released ??

[NicksFXHouse]

Ah yes ATI once again....
and.. did they allready give a date when a stable driver will be released ??

the latest CAt release is awesome

[GunnerMan]

2000 more on 3dmark 05 is BS I have yet to see becnhc marks showing over 1000 for that. Also ATI HARDLY beats 7800GTX in real time gaming. the 7800gtx wins in some games but they are both close. I was thinking ATI would have a card that would put the 7800 in the trash after taking sooo long to release. Unfortuantly I was wrong and Nvidia will still come out on top in sales in the end because they had their card for sale so much earlier and ATIs card barly beats it anyway. Once Nvidia gets their 512 meg ver of the 7800 out I wouldint be surprised if they boosted the clock on it and took back the single digit frame lead ATI has. 3dmark05 is great but it just scores higher there because of the shader model. So if you spend your life doing 3dmark then ATI is for you. Just a little tidbit I guess ATI is having heat probs as they are using the 2 slot cooler that you ATI guys complained about on the 6800.

[NicksFXHouse]

2000 more on 3dmark 05 is BS I have yet to see becnhc marks showing over 1000 for that. Also ATI HARDLY beats 7800GTX in real time gaming. the 7800gtx wins in some games but they are both close. I was thinking ATI would have a card that would put the 7800 in the trash after taking sooo long to release. Unfortuantly I was wrong and Nvidia will still come out on top in sales in the end because they had their card for sale so much earlier and ATIs card barly beats it anyway. Once Nvidia gets their 512 meg ver of the 7800 out I wouldint be surprised if they boosted the clock on it and took back the single digit frame lead ATI has. 3dmark05 is great but it just scores higher there because of the shader model. So if you spend your life doing 3dmark then ATI is for you. Just a little tidbit I guess ATI is having heat probs as they are using the 2 slot cooler that you ATI guys complained about on the 6800.

I get 4900 in 3Dmark 05 with 4AA and 16AF enabled on a x800AIW

Unlike other 3Dmark tests of the past, 3DMark 05 is more about the CPU than the GPU. 3Dmark 03 has 2 major CPU tests but the final score results are more about the GPU. More and more video games are becoming CPU dependant. Flight simulator is really the leader in that area.

The reason for my high 3DMark 05 score is not because of my video card, it is because of my FX57 processor and the 500MHz overclocked bus. I can get 3100 with an ATI9800 pro in the same system.

If I were to set my graphics card up to "let the application decide" instead of forcing 4AA and 16AF those numbers would increase significantly but that would not load my system down so I can evaluate the video performance. I use those tests for setting up a system BIOS and checking the video drivers for correct installation, nothing else.

The new cat drivers were just released. They include the new crossfire drivers. I find them to be the best and most stable drivers ATI has released in a long time.

As for needing a matched card for crossfire... that is not the case. All that is required is 2 "Crossfire Ready" cards. They will synchronize with one another and if one is slower than the other, the faster card will automatically reduce its core and memory in order to sync up with the 2nd card. This will not be a performance loss issue because of the balanced load on 2 adapters. "2 heads are better than 1" Since each card only needs to do 1/2 the work load, any reduction in sync will never be seen.

[bm]

I can't understand anything anyones talking about these days lol! Is it just me  8)

[Jimbo]

[quote]I can't understand anything anyones talking about these days lol! Is it just me

[the_autopilot]

Your not alone!....Although i know the majority of it, i still aint got a clue!

This is all you need to know:
Get ATI's new x1800 XT now (when it comes out on Nov. 5)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!