Do current Xfire motherboards support assymetrical physics?

[erotomaniac]

I've been hunting for info on this all over, but I haven't had any luck getting this particular question answered.

The specific scenario is this: I am buying a new conroe based PC asap, but I want to be able to play UT2k7 (no other games matter to me) on it without spending a huge amount of money on the current top-of-the-line GPUs. I have doubts that anything less than an X1900 will be able to run UT well or at all. I also don't want to wait 4-6 months to buy my computer.

If I buy a Xfire capable board and an X1600 at the end of this month, will I be able to add a DX10 card to the setup and use the X1600 for physics in the future?

I ask because although many places have said that assymetrical xfire will be available by the end of the year, they don't say whether they mean a 3 PCIe motherboard for a 2+1 setup, games that support hardware physics, or a hardware or software update to Xfire boards which makes assymetrical Xfire possible on them.

The other option would be to get a mobo with either integrated graphics or a cheap video card, which I would throw away later. The video card, not the motherboard.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I've been hunting for info on this all over, but I haven't had any luck getting this particular question answered.

Unfortunately no one knows yet, and likely we won't until more information comes out.

Really right now they are more proof of concepts than anything else.

IMO, asymetric physics will work on current Xfire mobos (and likely even SLi boards), and will likely even work with current nV cards (ie nV with nV not ATi+nV) once nVidia enables it.

However for now it's mainly a guessing game.

Best recent article that looks at the big picture IMO is;
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA5NywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

But it still leaves ALOT of unanswered questions, and IMO misses some basic important points (like level of game phsyics 'NEEDED').

 

[erotomaniac]

Thanks for the answer and the great link.

I found out that ATI says that current X1x00 cards will be usable as a physics processor with a driver upgrade. Here's the article. I would imagine that means that current Xfire mobos will work.

Who knows how it will all pan out, but the Cell Factor previews look amazing.