Dual Card Graphics ......

Zardon · Jun 1, 2005, 11:43 AM

Vote and discuss !

davidnsibs · Jun 1, 2005, 11:57 AM

lets be truely honest, a single card can play all games out there pretty well and even at high resolutions and a little eye candy. I can live without the 16x12 6xaa 14xaf or whatever maxes ati's out, and anyway, this would be playable on high end single cards except perhaps only doom3 and farcry. by the time fear and stalker are out, the next gen will be here and the single card to put in my new system (long overdue) will be available

bananaman · Jun 1, 2005, 12:01 PM

i am not goingto write it iff as i might need it to get 1920x1200 with AA in the future, but i cant see any real need right now

nana

Sandok · Jun 1, 2005, 12:34 PM

I have a 1280x1024 screen and my X800XT can run most games with some AA and always with AF so I really don't see the need for multicards...

But maybe I'll buy a SLI or Crossfire system for some fun

Bruuce · Jun 1, 2005, 01:08 PM

I'll be honest, I'm waiting to see how Sapphire's new cooling works out. After that, I'll decide what I'm going to do, especially since I bought my new video card not too long ago.

interspaced · Jun 1, 2005, 02:11 PM

Not much point upgrading right now anything i get now will soon be bested by the ps3 and the xbox 360 so I would suggest waiting a bit before upgrading.

HawgsHead · Jun 1, 2005, 03:20 PM

All I can say is for now,SLi rules!But I do still play the majority of my games on a single card system.My "Shark" rig is in my bedroom and my SLi rig is in the basement,in my office.And my wife gets ticked when I spend all nite down there.So,it's upstairs for me.Or I will get "cut off"!!!

Shadow Lady · Jun 1, 2005, 04:23 PM

shoot, i want to change my vote for "is a waste of money", I mistakenly voted "hasnt impressed me so far, but who knows"

Vikingod · Jun 1, 2005, 06:11 PM

Seems the cost benefit of it doesn't quite pan out yet. I'm sure things will change, but I'm not overly impressed. I have my differences with both camps on their approach to dual cards, time will tell if its worth it i guess.

Dark Lord · Jun 1, 2005, 06:13 PM

i think its a possability that some day i may get dual card.

GeneralClaymore · Jun 1, 2005, 06:15 PM

Its a waste of money, we going backwardrs, pcs are suppose to be getting smaller not bigger, and all of them cards will make your computer more hotter.

you will be spending more doing dual then what you would if u doing 1 card so i see it as a waste of money.

aaronbond · Jun 1, 2005, 06:37 PM

IMHO no use in it until games are multithreaded on dual core's. Too many games are CPU bound these days. And the higher levels of AA they plan on implementing will only strengthen the need for a dual core system.

CDsDontBurn · Jun 1, 2005, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawgsHead

All I can say is for now,SLi rules!But I do still play the majority of my games on a single card system.My "Shark" rig is in my bedroom and my SLi rig is in the basement,in my office.And my wife gets ticked when I spend all nite down there.So,it's upstairs for me.Or I will get "cut off"!!!

then switch your systems then

CDsDontBurn · Jun 1, 2005, 07:12 PM

the reviews i've read keep saying that crossfire isn't as big an improvment as SLI was. 1 6800 ultra scores around 6k in 3Dmark05 and 2 6800 ultras score around 10k in in 3Dmark05. The 3Dmark05 benchmarks i've seen of x850XTs are around 7k dual x850XTs in 3Dmark05 is around 10k as well. On a percentage basis the 6800 ultra SLI is far superior than ATI's Crossfire that's coming out. But then again, it hasn't been released and still has room for improvment by the time of release.

CDsDontBurn · Jun 1, 2005, 07:15 PM

i voted "hasnt impressed me so far, but who knows".

I do see the benefits of running dual video cards, but ATM i don't really see a whole lot of benefit for shelling out $1000 (or more) on two video cards for only a 25% performance gain.

HawgsHead · Jun 1, 2005, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

then switch your systems then

THAT is a BIG ole pain in the ass!I had 6 hip surgerys in a 120 day timespan 8 years ago.WAYYYYY too many trips up and down the steps for me.I live on Oxycontin & Fentanyl patches.

**MIG-31** · Jun 1, 2005, 07:23 PM

Their is no option 'can't afford to'.

This is one that should be added to the vote list.for one i would dearly love to try out a dual card system but just simply as a working class guy i don't have the cash to do so.

as i have a x800pro even the prospect of the new crossfire options are out.

Zardon · Jun 1, 2005, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIG-31

Their is no option 'can't afford to'.

done.

**MIG-31** · Jun 1, 2005, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

done.

hehe.... thanks Z thats my vote.

bake15 · Jun 1, 2005, 07:42 PM

voted is next on my list after seeing this

PoopyTheJ · Jun 1, 2005, 07:43 PM

Broke, I'll wait

caqde · Jun 1, 2005, 08:48 PM

Broke can't afford $1000 on anything. Especially when I am moving to AZ in the fall for school. Bye bye money..

Oh well I still see it as a cool thing. Should be better in the future.

BWX · Jun 1, 2005, 09:12 PM

Broke!

Asmoday · Jun 1, 2005, 09:38 PM

Another broke vote...

Sonata · Jun 1, 2005, 09:56 PM

I'm not broke, but I like to buy things that are good value for money. I'll wait and see how good crossfire performs when (or should I say if) it is widely available. So far SLI hasn't impressed me much with cost vs performance.

Sonata · Jun 1, 2005, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawgsHead

THAT is a BIG ole pain in the ass!I had 6 hip surgerys in a 120 day timespan 8 years ago.WAYYYYY too many trips up and down the steps for me.I live on Oxycontin & Fentanyl patches.

You should get one of your friends to help you move your computers, or pay wife or something.

No_Style · Jun 1, 2005, 10:42 PM

It doesn't make sense to do any form dual card. The idea behind it is:

"You can buy one high end card today and then buy another one down the road."

Say I buy an X800XT now for $777 CAD and then wait until the next one drops to say... 499~599 CAD. By that time, I will already need a new motherboard, a new single video card solution will be out that has technological features that my current X800XT does not and if it will probably outperform the SLI/CrossFire set up I have!

The only benefitial thing I can say about this you can show your friends/family/co-workers that you spent more on 2 video cards than they do on their entire system. You can also show them that before and after effect with your electricity bill

BWX · Jun 1, 2005, 11:03 PM

I still think a dual GPU card or a dual core GPU on a single card would have been better and more cost effective way to beat Nvidia SLI.. (for the end customer)

Still a crossfire system would be nice to have.. but even if I had the money I would probably opt for a top of the line single video card solution from ATI..

CDsDontBurn · Jun 2, 2005, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIG-31

Their is no option 'can't afford to'.

This is one that should be added to the vote list.for one i would dearly love to try out a dual card system but just simply as a working class guy i don't have the cash to do so.

as i have a x800pro even the prospect of the new crossfire options are out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

done.

now i wish i could take my vote back. If I didn't have to spend $800/mo. (US) on my nice ride, I would probably have all the newest toys

.

IvanV · Jun 2, 2005, 11:36 AM

It's expensive, there's not much need for 1600*1200 AA4X on a 17 inch monitor, and it covers all expansion slots on the motherboard (there might be one left on the SLI boards, but I'm pretty sure all are unreachable on the CrossFire board after two cards are installed).

Jun 1, 2005, 11:43 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Dual Card Graphics ...... Vote and discuss !

Jun 1, 2005, 11:57 AM	#2
davidnsibs 9500pro Forever Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Bath, UK Posts: 273 Rep Power: 0	lets be truely honest, a single card can play all games out there pretty well and even at high resolutions and a little eye candy. I can live without the 16x12 6xaa 14xaf or whatever maxes ati's out, and anyway, this would be playable on high end single cards except perhaps only doom3 and farcry. by the time fear and stalker are out, the next gen will be here and the single card to put in my new system (long overdue) will be available __________________ Goodbye 9500pro, you've been a faithful servant through Half life, Deus Ex, Unreal 2, Max Payne 1+2, Nolf 1+2, CoD, Far Cry, Civ IV, F.E.A.R and many more

Jun 1, 2005, 12:01 PM	#3
bananaman banana muncher Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: London Posts: 1,254 Rep Power: 64	i am not goingto write it iff as i might need it to get 1920x1200 with AA in the future, but i cant see any real need right now nana __________________

Jun 1, 2005, 01:08 PM	#5
Bruuce DriverHeaven Winner Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 293 Rep Power: 0	I'll be honest, I'm waiting to see how Sapphire's new cooling works out. After that, I'll decide what I'm going to do, especially since I bought my new video card not too long ago. __________________

Jun 1, 2005, 03:20 PM	#7
HawgsHead Rest In Peace Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Danville Virginia.The United States of America"In the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob We Trust" Posts: 2,012 Rep Power: 0	All I can say is for now,SLi rules!But I do still play the majority of my games on a single card system.My "Shark" rig is in my bedroom and my SLi rig is in the basement,in my office.And my wife gets ticked when I spend all nite down there.So,it's upstairs for me.Or I will get "cut off"!!! __________________ Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.

Jun 1, 2005, 12:34 PM	#4
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	I have a 1280x1024 screen and my X800XT can run most games with some AA and always with AF so I really don't see the need for multicards... But maybe I'll buy a SLI or Crossfire system for some fun

Jun 1, 2005, 02:11 PM	#6
interspaced DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 287 Rep Power: 0	Not much point upgrading right now anything i get now will soon be bested by the ps3 and the xbox 360 so I would suggest waiting a bit before upgrading.

Jun 1, 2005, 04:23 PM	#8
Shadow Lady Avril Fan Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: somewhere in colombia, okok, bogotá city :p Posts: 1,262 Rep Power: 0	shoot, i want to change my vote for "is a waste of money", I mistakenly voted "hasnt impressed me so far, but who knows" __________________ Oblivion ftw

Jun 1, 2005, 06:11 PM	#9
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Seems the cost benefit of it doesn't quite pan out yet. I'm sure things will change, but I'm not overly impressed. I have my differences with both camps on their approach to dual cards, time will tell if its worth it i guess.

Jun 1, 2005, 06:13 PM	#10
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 125 System Specs	i think its a possability that some day i may get dual card.

Jun 1, 2005, 06:15 PM	#11
GeneralClaymore HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: MI Posts: 434 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Its a waste of money, we going backwardrs, pcs are suppose to be getting smaller not bigger, and all of them cards will make your computer more hotter. you will be spending more doing dual then what you would if u doing 1 card so i see it as a waste of money. __________________ Source: x-fi titanium hd 2x LT1124ACN+ 2x LT1115 > Matrix M-Stage V2 /w 2x LME49710NA> DT880 pro 250ohm

Jun 1, 2005, 06:37 PM	#12
aaronbond DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 86 Rep Power: 0	IMHO no use in it until games are multithreaded on dual core's. Too many games are CPU bound these days. And the higher levels of AA they plan on implementing will only strengthen the need for a dual core system.

Jun 1, 2005, 07:12 PM	#14
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	the reviews i've read keep saying that crossfire isn't as big an improvment as SLI was. 1 6800 ultra scores around 6k in 3Dmark05 and 2 6800 ultras score around 10k in in 3Dmark05. The 3Dmark05 benchmarks i've seen of x850XTs are around 7k dual x850XTs in 3Dmark05 is around 10k as well. On a percentage basis the 6800 ultra SLI is far superior than ATI's Crossfire that's coming out. But then again, it hasn't been released and still has room for improvment by the time of release. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jun 1, 2005, 07:15 PM	#15
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	i voted "hasnt impressed me so far, but who knows". I do see the benefits of running dual video cards, but ATM i don't really see a whole lot of benefit for shelling out $1000 (or more) on two video cards for only a 25% performance gain. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jun 1, 2005, 07:23 PM	#17
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,860 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	Their is no option 'can't afford to'. This is one that should be added to the vote list.for one i would dearly love to try out a dual card system but just simply as a working class guy i don't have the cash to do so. as i have a x800pro even the prospect of the new crossfire options are out. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Jun 1, 2005, 07:43 PM	#21
PoopyTheJ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,588 Rep Power: 66	Broke, I'll wait __________________ [COLOR=Blue]“Alright boys, let’s start her up and see why she doesn’t work.” - John Fritz "I aim to misbehave" Malcolm Reynolds ATI Catalyst Beta Tester[/COLOR]

Jun 1, 2005, 08:48 PM	#22
caqde HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: US, IL Posts: 505 Rep Power: 66 System Specs	Broke can't afford $1000 on anything. Especially when I am moving to AZ in the fall for school. Bye bye money.. Oh well I still see it as a cool thing. Should be better in the future. __________________ AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3/ Giga-byte MA790XT-UD4P XFX HD5770 1GB / 2x8GB of Geil DDR3 12800 10-10-10-28 Samsung SH-S182D DVD-RW drive / Sony Optiarc BD-5300S BD-RW drive Western Digital WD1501FASS(Primary)/Western Digital 15EADS(Secondary)/Western Digital 7500AACS(Secondary)/Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb(Secondary) Antec TP-550 / CoolerMaster CMStacker Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Professional / Creative Inspire 6600 6.1 speakers Samsugn T200HD 20" LCD Monitor / Logitech Internet 350 Black Keyboard Logitech MX510 Mouse

Jun 1, 2005, 07:42 PM	#20
bake15 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Wigan,UK Posts: 582 Rep Power: 0	voted is next on my list after seeing this

Jun 1, 2005, 09:12 PM	#23
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	Broke! __________________

Jun 1, 2005, 09:38 PM	#24
Asmoday Demonic Join Date: May 2002 Location: In the cold, dark north... Posts: 5,198 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Another broke vote... __________________ How You can help Hardwareheaven by using Digg

Jun 1, 2005, 09:56 PM	#25
Sonata DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hot as hell in summer Posts: 284 Rep Power: 0	I'm not broke, but I like to buy things that are good value for money. I'll wait and see how good crossfire performs when (or should I say if) it is widely available. So far SLI hasn't impressed me much with cost vs performance.

Jun 1, 2005, 10:42 PM	#27
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	It doesn't make sense to do any form dual card. The idea behind it is: "You can buy one high end card today and then buy another one down the road." Say I buy an X800XT now for $777 CAD and then wait until the next one drops to say... 499~599 CAD. By that time, I will already need a new motherboard, a new single video card solution will be out that has technological features that my current X800XT does not and if it will probably outperform the SLI/CrossFire set up I have! The only benefitial thing I can say about this you can show your friends/family/co-workers that you spent more on 2 video cards than they do on their entire system. You can also show them that before and after effect with your electricity bill __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Jun 1, 2005, 11:03 PM	#28
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	I still think a dual GPU card or a dual core GPU on a single card would have been better and more cost effective way to beat Nvidia SLI.. (for the end customer) Still a crossfire system would be nice to have.. but even if I had the money I would probably opt for a top of the line single video card solution from ATI.. __________________

Jun 2, 2005, 11:36 AM	#30
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,920 Rep Power: 336 System Specs	It's expensive, there's not much need for 1600*1200 AA4X on a 17 inch monitor, and it covers all expansion slots on the motherboard (there might be one left on the SLI boards, but I'm pretty sure all are unreachable on the CrossFire board after two cards are installed).