Crossfire questions!

[RulesofChaos07]

One Paragraph, so many questions: (feel free to pick out just one or two to answer)

Could someone explain to me exactly how Crossfire works? I'm considering doing some serious revamping of my system which might include a new motherboard, and definitely a new GPU. Right now I have a not-so-impressive Radeon X1300 PRO and I'm probably going to go with an X1950XT. If I get a crossfire motherboard would I be able to put that X1300 PRO to use? If so would it even be worth it? (I'll be getting a new PSU as well, so this all plays into it(The 1300 need no power supply, do I need a crossfire certified PSU in that case?)) I saw on ATI's site that they were using a GPU as a physics accelerator. Is it possible to tell my X1300 PRO it's a physics accelerator? I apologize for the ignorance, but then again I guess that's why forums were created; to share knowledge.
Thanks guys

P.S. one more thing, can a CPU be transfered from one motherboard to another, being that it's kinda glued there? I like my X2 5000 very much, and would much like to keep it if at all possible

 

[enforcerfx]

The crossfire of a X1300pro and a X1950XT is impossible, you need the same series to use crossfire. Ex: X1950XTX and X1950 Crossfire Master card. At this point with DX10 supported cards on the market now, and Ati's flagship model R600 due in a couple of weeks. With the physics accelerator, you can not use your X1300pro as a physics card either. Their is no software nor device that enables that kind of tech, or at least not on the market today. Their are Physics cards however on the market today from Ageia and Asus, but neither are worth buying yet have significantly dropped in pricing by more than 50 percent in the last months or so. No, you do not need a crossfire certified Powersupply whatsoever. And Yes, you do need a crossfire motherboard to use crossfire. Please list your current specs so we can also better determine a answer to your question, be specific as possible as well. In my opinion though on the whole crossfire thing, Don't go for it. Waste of money, and a Single 8800GTX will cost you less, outperform 2 X1950XTX in CF, and the 8800 series supports DX10 and so will Ati's new R600 series as well.

 

[RulesofChaos07]

thanks a lot for that information. I currently have a Dell C521 that I'm starting to dislike more and more. I don't want to start over from scratch, I want to use some of the components I have in here. the main thing I really want to do is a heavy upgrade on the graphics and perhaps a slight bit on overall speed as well. this will be my first "build" if I'm allowed to call it that. But I'm gonna get a new case (slim case design?? wtf?? sounded cool until I realized you can't buy shit to fit in them) If my radeon X1300 PRO is useless now I might consider the R600 if the price is right. Anyways here's the stats on my Dell (or at least what they will tell me, the bastards...)

POS Dell C521 case
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Motherboard is an AM2 with an NForce 430 chipset, single PCIe x16 (I really don't know who made it)
280 Watt shitbox PSU
2 GB dual channel DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
Dell's POS version of Radeon X1300 PRO
160 GB SATA 7200

I'd just like to apologize to the world for buying a Dell right now...

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Many answers can be found here;

http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/tutorials.html

You can't crossfire totally different architectures, only similar ones, and there is a list of compatible combos on that site, here's the direct link;

http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/charts.html

And yes according to the launch information you can EVENTUALLY use your other card for physics, but right now the VPU physics API is not in place. You have to wait either for M$ to bring out directPHysics, ATi/AMD to Bring out their own API to exploit it, or software (using either HavokFX physics or it's own version [like Crytek's Crysis]) to exploit that feature.

You can't just type in a code somewhere saying physics = yes , ppu = X1300 or something. You have to wait for it to be enabled, and right now there is now VPU/GPU based physics enabled by anyone outside of in-house tech demos from the above people.

BTW, here's the whitepaper on the physics portion;
http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/physics/Asymmetric_Physics_Processing_with_ATI_CrossFire.pdf

While it focuses on the X1900 + X1600 combo, ti was also demoed on an X1300 series card.

Also being a DELL it's probably not a shitbox PSU, they're usually under-rated and can handle the load better than most other PSUs with the same sticker, bu they are bullterprof like the highest end. However if you plan on a heft graphics card upgrade, then you will most definitely need a new PSU anyways, so look for people who carry DELL- friendly PSUs like the bulletproof PC Power & Cooling.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

With the physics accelerator, you can not use your X1300pro as a physics card either.

Only due to current software constraints, not hardware contraints. Once VPU physics is enabled it will be able to add physics acceleration to the equation.

Their is no software nor device that enables that kind of tech, or at least not on the market today.

Not on the market today, but soon enough. Crytek has their own version of VPU physics in Crysis and other titles will come, and M$ is bringing DirectPhysics to the equation soon enough too.

Their are Physics cards however on the market today from Ageia and Asus,

Same chip actually. Ageia makes the chip ASUS makes the card. ASUS & BFG are the board-partners.

I agree with your sentiments about Crossfire though, waste of money IMO.

 

[RulesofChaos07]

well if I end up getting an SLI board does that pretty much render my x1300 useless?? or can SLI work with ATIs, and eventually something will allow me to devote my 1300 to physics?

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Actually it's independent of the X1300 being useless.

Currently there is no Xfire on SLi MoBos, but who knows what the future holds (but I wouldn't hold my breath). However Xfire isn't really needed for physics, but it will depend alot on how the companies implement their graphics card accelerated physics and whether the graphics companies get in the way of that.

The way Havok, Crytek and to a lesser exten Microsoft have described their implementation it should work with different companies, as it would treat it like a PPU kinda like it just treats audio cards the same for many things.

That's not a guarantee, and it's more likely to be problematic than a nice homogeneous solution, but unless you can sell it, no point in just chucking it.

Also, like we mentioned above, SLi and Xfire aren't really worth the money in most cases, so a single R600 and the single X1300 means you can run that on the SLi board should a single mfr be prefered.

However at this point in time it's too early to be sure of anything because all the companies involved have been very vague sofar, and until at least direct physics comes out it's pretty much an unknown quantity.

BTW, why are you buying an SLi MoBo?

 

[RulesofChaos07]

well, just kinda from advice others told me on here. When first shopping for Mobos I came across the Asus m2n32-sli deluxe which I kinda liked, then someone on here told me the DFI Lanparty ut nf590 was basically the same thing but a dollar cheaper and with one more x16 PCIe slot. So that's pretty much how my decision went down, but I'm still open for suggestions. just needs to work with my 533 MHz RAM until I can buy faster