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Crossfire or other options?

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Quizno

Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2001
Location
Vancouver, BC
I have a x1600 pro right now. in the near future ill be buying a new mobo(this one will go to my brother's build) so i figure i might as well get a crossfire board( the ASUS M2R32-MVP looks pretty decent).

now, my question is would it be worth it to buy another x1600 pro and run crossfire with it?(from what i understand this can be done now). i know its not the zippiest of cards, but its cheap($100ca), what kind of boost might i get in performance? i guess my other option would be to sell this card and buy the cheapest x1950 card(saw a pro for $235ca) and maybe/maybe not crossfire it later(chances are by the time i upgrade again itll be a full mobo/cpu swap anyways).

i guess it boils down to this: which is faster? 1 x1950 pro(256mb) or two x1600 pros(256mb ea)?

any other ideas? keep in mind im on a fairly tight budget.......but i can be persuaded as well :)
 
Quizno said:
i guess my other option would be to sell this card and buy the cheapest x1950 card(saw a pro for $235ca)
I got my x1950 Pro at Future Shop on sale for $250. In fact they have it on again this week >>Link<<. Should also keep in mind, when DX10 is the norm you'll probably be looking for an upgrade, so maybe a 2nd x1600 os good for now.
 
I got a x1950xt 256 from newegg for 170 last month :) I am very pleased best card I have owned to date. (Only 6k in 3dMark 06 though)
 
I have two cards in crossfire and its great when everything works, but sometimes its a PITA.

Also keep in mind that crossfire does not work in all games (ie: FSX, Stalker...)

As the 1950Pros are made on the 80nm process, one 1950Pro will probably use less power then two 1600s.

Not sure about in BC, but here you can get Sapphire 1950pros (256MB) for CDN$199.

I'd get the 1950pro for now, and wait for 45nm or K8L before making your motherboard decision.
 
JCLW said:
I have two cards in crossfire and its great when everything works, but sometimes its a PITA.

Also keep in mind that crossfire does not work in all games (ie: FSX, Stalker...)
QUOTE]

actually xfire does work with Stalker. You can't run Stalker @1920x1200+HDR without crossfire.

Optimization of apps in crossfire requires ATI to specifically code the optimization profiles into the drivers. That's why you can use alternatives like renaming to a known profile to boost performance in games. Especially games that use the same graphics engine as a known profile. Some example profile executable names that work are: fear.exe, sam2.exe, graw.exe, traod.exe, cod2sp_s.exe

The other alternative is to use the default AFR (alternate frame rendering) mode to tap into crossfire resource for games that don't seem to support crossfire or don't have ATI's xfire profiles. You can rename the game executable to AFR-FriendlyD3D.exe or set the Cat AI mode to advanced. BTW, according to the CAT7.3 drivers for Vista, it sets the AFR mode by default so you don't have to.

of course, all of this applies only to D3D games and not OpenGL games.
 
thanks for all the advice.

im buying a new motherboard anyways(the one i have was bought as temp, and is going into a comp that im building for my brother) so i thought i might as well get an xfire board. but, who knows.

i think as far as graphics go, ill go with a 1950 and have this one go to my brothers comp too. and with the mobo well see what happens.......
 
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