CrossFireX reviewed: it's a start

Quick note to the graphics enthusiasts in the house, HardOCP took a long look at CrossFireX using dual Radeon HD 3870 X2s. As you might expect, some games benefit from the raw power, some games require driver tweaks and knob-fiddling to get going right, and some games were just about the same without (read: your mileage my vary -- for now). Check out their full review for the details.

[Thanks, Risk]

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Mar 6th 2008 7:32AM]

that looks a lot like a lego case

[0mega @ Mar 6th 2008 9:13AM]

Tis a test bench, every big name site uses them for reviews, cuts down on overheating trouble.

[H]ard|OCP FTW. Real world testing > *

[Ryan @ Mar 6th 2008 10:11AM]

LEGO case would be awesome. :)

Another review here using 2, 3 and 4 GPUs in CrossFireX mode: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=523

[daaper @ Mar 6th 2008 8:34AM]

"some games require...knob-fiddling to get going right"

hmm...

"Not now mom, I'm playing my game. I'm trying to get going right..."

[THe_SySTeM @ Mar 6th 2008 9:24AM]

"your mileage my vary" < oop looks like some 1 forgot to hit spell check all good tough =P

[HotMayo @ Mar 6th 2008 9:35AM]

It would have passed the spell checker with flying colors.

[rockintom @ Mar 6th 2008 9:40AM]

Says the person who can't figure out how to spell "one" or "though".

Don't forget the punctuation, either!

[koresho @ Mar 6th 2008 10:05AM]

"oop" looks like "some 1" forgot to hit the spell check too... its all good "though".
I'm not being mean; I just think it is funny when people critique someone else's spelling when they make as much or more mistakes in their critique.
As far as the actual post:
CrossfireX is underwhelming at best. SLI has the definite edge here, admittedly CrossfireX is cheaper but for real performance you can't beat dual 8800 Ultras.

[THe_SySTeM @ Mar 6th 2008 8:02PM]

its called irony and sarcasm =P

[Kurian @ Mar 6th 2008 10:01AM]

Pointless. Crysis still lags.

[Kurian @ Mar 6th 2008 10:01AM]

If it doesnt run Crysis, please dont invent it.

[Ken @ Mar 6th 2008 10:07AM]

"Pointless. Crysis still lags."

People just don't get it. If you've seen the nVidia Tri-SLI reviews you'd also see poor performance gains over Dual-SLI. People keep throwing expensive cards, hi-powered CPU's and all kinds of junk at this game. You know what obvious thing that no one has figure out? Crysis sucks. That's right, the same thing with Far Cry too. The software developers are pissing away hardware resources in their games, making them barely playable on most hardware. You think that's good coding? Benchmark after benchmark just proves that Crytek has done exactly what they did before. And they'll do it again. My advice is just to play a different game.

[Iridium @ Mar 6th 2008 10:33AM]

I could give a crap about benchmarks using two of the same cards with crossfireX. What I want to know is how much of a performance gain you get over a single card if you buy a ATI motherboard with the new DX10 graphics chip. Or put a high end card with a low end card. That is the appeal of crossfireX, not putting two of the same card together.

[slyd3z @ Mar 6th 2008 11:34AM]

Unless... both cards are top-of-the-line, high-power cards, and the consumer wants the most graphics processing power possible. That's like saying no one is interested in having two of the same processor in a dual socket board (because the potential exists to pair up different devices).

[the doo @ Mar 6th 2008 10:39AM]

Dang! That is a sick heat-sink on the board.

[prateeko @ Mar 6th 2008 11:30AM]

Cross fi-ah! You'll get caught up in the cross-fiiree!!

Wait a minute...