Dual GPU HD 2600XT - A desent card from ATI????

Is this product more than just speculation?

In any case, dont expect it to be more powerful than the X1950 Pro Dual.

If u want a powerful card, get the 8800 GTX.

I'm pretty sure an 8800GTS 320MB would walk all over it in lower resolutions, quite possibly in higher too. This card should be priced lower than $225, with the single-GPU variant below $180, to sell well.

If this card comes with 256bit memory bus and retails low enough, it may be able to pass as a mid-range gaming card too.

However due to ATI's and parteners resent releases I can see a 1 in a million chance of that actually happening.

Hmm, interesting, but the concept isn't new. Each chip will have a dedicated 128 to the VRAM, but as the chips are separate, and NOT on the same silicon, the buses will NOT be combined. That would require an overhaul of the architecture, and as its only just been released, I doubt this is the case.

I'd certainly put this card in the midrange area, but unless it runs crossfire natively (Which from the reviews, I conclude it DOESN'T) then I don't think its going to be a main contender in the gaming circles. I could be wrong however, we'll have to wait and see.

What IS nice is the option to use 4 screens from the one physical card, and I can see that being useful in a few environments. But ultimately, its just 2 cards one on board.

I see some of you guys commenting on weather or not games will use Crossfire or not........this shows a distinct lack of knowledge.

Crossfire if working in supertile mode will work on any application that is run with about a 80% speed increase

when the quad drivers come out it will make the sapphire 1950 pro dual crossfire setup close to an 8800GTX SLI setup.....even in dx10 apps. and probably faster than 8800GTX SLI for DX9 games.

Check out some comparisons.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35604
It's looking very good for those of us that plan on getting a quad x-fire.

B4 people start flaming compare the % of improvement between a single 1950 and the x-fire setup
and a single 8800 and the SLI setup
Yea....x-fire is that good.
next look at the cpu usage

And lastly...Developers do not have to do any additional optimizing for x-fire to work on their games....it just works...on all apps...all the time.

SLI has to be coded in the game for it to work for the APP. This puts Nvidia in quite a bind because they will need to develop new SLI technology to make Quad SLI viable.

As far as the 2600XT goes...if AMD/ATI make decent drivers and fix the AA problems I could see quad 2600's working out well if the price point puts the quad x-fire setup cheaper than 2 8800GTX's .

And the single 2600xt 3dmark06 score of 5700ish should put a quad 2600xt at about 16-19k in 3dmark06.....
which actually stomps 8800SLI.

These quad x-fire setups when they arrive will be no joke performance wise... mark my words. And I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts you won't see quadfire with intel chips. The only reason you see crossfire x16 with intel chips is because ATI and Intel were collaborating b4 AMD bought ATI. I'm pretty sure AMD and Intel won't be working together on anything until things get back to a level playing field after Barcelona comes out in Q4. Even then Intel has always touted it's own technology long after it should have been dust.

I hope you're just a troll

get the GTS

I'm still using it in my P4 2.8 Northwood system. It was an upgrade over a 6600GT

there is one problem, whilst technically crossfire should work with almost any game it doesn't always do so.

also, supertile is not the preferred method. it is one of the 4 that ATI offers but since the 6.7/8 cats ATI have made it so that if you enable catalyst A.I at the advanced notch it will force AFR or alternate frame rendering where even frames are done on one card and odd are done on the second. that should work with most games as well but not always.

also, how much of a benefit it is is debatable, unless you are speaking of minimum FPS a FPS increase has no meaning.

now remember i am a huge fan of crossfire due to the fact that it represents the difference between playable settigns and not playable settings but i am also a realist.

FPS mean nothing when compared to an actual game experience.