Competitive Multi GPU Performance: CrossFire Benchmarks Anandtech

Jejking · Jul 22, 2005, 03:16 PM

So, what have we learned? CrossFire is a solid competitor to SLI at the high end. The hardware and drivers are far enough along to provide very good performance on quite a few titles. SuperTiling works using 32x32 blocks and doesn't seem to have any problems other than the odd glitch while changing modes. CrossFire AA modes don't work quite yet, but games will run and something near what should be there shows up.

Gigabyte has stated that they not only have NVIDIA SLI working on their GA-K8AMVP Pro, but that dual 3D1 cards will work as well (with a modified BIOS and driver at the moment). We haven't had a chance yet to test this ourselves, but we will definitely have something up on the combination as soon as we can.

There are some downsides, however. While CrossFire often provides more performance than the 7800 GTX, we don't get the benefit of SM3.0, which is being used in more and more games. The added cost will either eat into your budget for a next generation card when they come along, or will usurp money that might be better spent on a monitor to handle very high resolutions. There are plenty of examples of CPU limited games at 1600x1200 using CrossFire (basically the same list as the 7800 GTX). As time goes on, it will be important to invest in a monitor or money spent on ultra high end graphics solutions will go to waste.

The bottom line is that CrossFire is a success in implementation. We are impressed with the performance of the solution, especially considering the very early hardware and software that we have our hands on here. When a final solution is released, we will be doing a much more in-depth performance and image quality analysis of the hardware, but at this point, we just want to get a solid idea about what to expect. And right now, we expect exciting things for ATI. If they can get their chipset out there alongside CrossFire, we could see some good adoption. Their new chipsets are no slouches (well, maybe the southbridge is a little lacking). What is very clear is that ATI needs to get a solution out as soon as possible. Time isn't standing still for ATI while the 7800 GTX is out with zero competition in a single slot.

Official source: Anandtech

mike2h · Jul 22, 2005, 04:46 PM

good article & quite abit of good info. once crossfire is mature- looks promising.
however they did bring up a very good point, & one i agree with, without sm3 support & being based on an older gpu design why would you spend the $$ on this? you either go 7800 or wait for r520.
i would also wait for somebody else to come out with a supporting mb chipset or wait for ati to come out with an improved chipset. a multiple gpu setup is just to much $$ to spend & not have the fastest, stablest mb out there. jmo.

Erroneus · Jul 22, 2005, 05:23 PM

Damn impressive actually.

Crossfire clearly does a better job then SLI and together with R520, oh my :O

mike2h · Jul 22, 2005, 06:28 PM

clearly? where did you get that? i am willing to give ati the fact that they will probably get most of the bugs ironed out by the time they release it, but that is not set in stone by any means. so 'clearly' is something of an overstatement at this time.

Jejking · Jul 22, 2005, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

good article & quite abit of good info. once crossfire is mature- looks promising.
however they did bring up a very good point, & one i agree with, without sm3 support & being based on an older gpu design why would you spend the $$ on this? you either go 7800 or wait for r520.
i would also wait for somebody else to come out with a supporting mb chipset or wait for ati to come out with an improved chipset. a multiple gpu setup is just to much $$ to spend & not have the fastest, stablest mb out there. jmo.

There are ALWAYS people who have too much money to spent (unfortunately

). I think not SLI neither Crossfire can go into low/medium-budget range. It's just too slow, you can see it in the tests of Anandtech. A dual 6600GT are supposed to be within (or over) the 6800 Ultra-range, but in a large couple of tests it is more than 60% behind! No way a customer with normal brains is going to buy that. Or another example: the review by HardOCP of a SLI- Geforce 6800 (non-Ultra), just disappointing

...

Erroneus · Jul 22, 2005, 07:16 PM

SLI hasn't impressed me, beause the gain in % by adding another card isn't that high, but these crossfire-benchmarks actually shows great numbers.

Crossfire and SLI are still an expensive solution and aimed for the really top-gamers, but crossfire does seem to give you more value for your money

Allthough i would like to se how r520 and crossfire works together before any final conclusion

Jul 22, 2005, 03:16 PM	#1
Jejking HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Europe Posts: 582 Rep Power: 0	Competitive Multi GPU Performance: CrossFire Benchmarks Anandtech So, what have we learned? CrossFire is a solid competitor to SLI at the high end. The hardware and drivers are far enough along to provide very good performance on quite a few titles. SuperTiling works using 32x32 blocks and doesn't seem to have any problems other than the odd glitch while changing modes. CrossFire AA modes don't work quite yet, but games will run and something near what should be there shows up. Gigabyte has stated that they not only have NVIDIA SLI working on their GA-K8AMVP Pro, but that dual 3D1 cards will work as well (with a modified BIOS and driver at the moment). We haven't had a chance yet to test this ourselves, but we will definitely have something up on the combination as soon as we can. There are some downsides, however. While CrossFire often provides more performance than the 7800 GTX, we don't get the benefit of SM3.0, which is being used in more and more games. The added cost will either eat into your budget for a next generation card when they come along, or will usurp money that might be better spent on a monitor to handle very high resolutions. There are plenty of examples of CPU limited games at 1600x1200 using CrossFire (basically the same list as the 7800 GTX). As time goes on, it will be important to invest in a monitor or money spent on ultra high end graphics solutions will go to waste. The bottom line is that CrossFire is a success in implementation. We are impressed with the performance of the solution, especially considering the very early hardware and software that we have our hands on here. When a final solution is released, we will be doing a much more in-depth performance and image quality analysis of the hardware, but at this point, we just want to get a solid idea about what to expect. And right now, we expect exciting things for ATI. If they can get their chipset out there alongside CrossFire, we could see some good adoption. Their new chipsets are no slouches (well, maybe the southbridge is a little lacking). What is very clear is that ATI needs to get a solution out as soon as possible. Time isn't standing still for ATI while the 7800 GTX is out with zero competition in a single slot. Official source: Anandtech __________________ Strike back with Team MAD against disease, it's worth the try

Jul 22, 2005, 04:46 PM	#2
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	good article & quite abit of good info. once crossfire is mature- looks promising. however they did bring up a very good point, & one i agree with, without sm3 support & being based on an older gpu design why would you spend the $$ on this? you either go 7800 or wait for r520. i would also wait for somebody else to come out with a supporting mb chipset or wait for ati to come out with an improved chipset. a multiple gpu setup is just to much $$ to spend & not have the fastest, stablest mb out there. jmo. __________________

Jul 22, 2005, 05:23 PM	#3
Erroneus Get off my lawn! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,417 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	Damn impressive actually. Crossfire clearly does a better job then SLI and together with R520, oh my :O __________________

Jul 22, 2005, 06:28 PM	#4
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	clearly? where did you get that? i am willing to give ati the fact that they will probably get most of the bugs ironed out by the time they release it, but that is not set in stone by any means. so 'clearly' is something of an overstatement at this time. __________________ Last edited by mike2h; Jul 22, 2005 at 06:33 PM.

Jul 22, 2005, 07:16 PM	#6
Erroneus Get off my lawn! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 13,417 Rep Power: 119 System Specs	SLI hasn't impressed me, beause the gain in % by adding another card isn't that high, but these crossfire-benchmarks actually shows great numbers. Crossfire and SLI are still an expensive solution and aimed for the really top-gamers, but crossfire does seem to give you more value for your money Allthough i would like to se how r520 and crossfire works together before any final conclusion __________________