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SLI / CrossFire FAQs - Page 17

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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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January 19, 2011 5:56:45 PM

Longer than Is Intel Doomed. Well, considering he is a Mod, no other mod will touch it..it is also a good reference point. I would consider to Maziar to create a next gen thread for the upcoming APU chips form Intel and AMD
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
January 21, 2011 6:38:04 AM

Thanks amjay :) 
And good idea dogman,I'm waiting for APU's to be released and then I may be able to write about them as well.
January 24, 2011 6:07:15 AM

thanks ..real helpful ..I'm thinking it going cf with my Radeon 6950 ..
I'm a newcomer here ..so I guess anyone can find this post ..just as long as they look for it ..
Related resources
Can't find your answer ? Ask !
January 27, 2011 4:00:11 AM

i should never have bought a mb with igp; my thought was to go igp and later add only one card just to help improve upon the board graphics; The ad says:
"ATI Hybrid Graphics allows you to combine the performance of the HD4290 integrated GPU with an applicable ATI Radeon graphics card to bring enhanced gaming performance, productivity and power efficiency."
simply put, would one of you guys say which single and "applicable" card this would be? I play games like f.e.a.r, far cry and halo and i do some movie making and also watch movies.
thanks
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
January 27, 2011 5:15:43 AM

Like I've mentioned in the first page,Hybrid Crossfire isn't worth it for gaming because it won't give you a huge boost in performance;furthermore,you can only crossfire a low-end discrete card with the on-board GPU.So having a single fast card is a more wiser choice.
January 27, 2011 9:19:58 PM

Doesn't the IGP on the Fused chips actually deactivate when a direct card is applied?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
January 28, 2011 8:00:06 AM

Depends.
If you use Hybrid Crossfire,then no;otherwise,it will be deactivated when you use a discrete card.
January 28, 2011 8:21:00 AM

my asus mb specs say:

"ATI HYBRID GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
Based on ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU technology, ATI Hybrid Graphics allows you to combine the performance of the HD4290 integrated GPU with an applicable ATI Radeon graphics card to bring enhanced gaming performance, productivity and power efficiency."

What are my options for an "applicable ATI Radeon graphics card" to get the most out of this feature? i am hearing conflicting statements about this; please help.

thanks
January 28, 2011 8:25:40 AM

I know i'll get the best possible performance from one or two discrete cards but for now i'd just like to make do with the onboard and and an "applicable" card that will give my just the boost that the mb has made available.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
January 29, 2011 11:40:26 AM

Like I said you can use low-end discrete cards like 5450 in order to pair them with the on-board HD 4290
January 29, 2011 5:27:28 PM

Great; the 5450 it is! can you let me know if the clocks speeds have to be the same? can the ob memory be different? will ddr2 works as i have ddr3 x 8 on my pc. Or as long as it is a 5450? thank you much for the insight.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
January 29, 2011 8:07:51 PM

As long as you have a PCI-E slot,you can use HD 5450(no matter if it's DDR2 or DDR3)
January 29, 2011 8:14:27 PM

Or GDDR5.
January 30, 2011 12:46:43 AM

Thanks for the post, it was will written and thought out!
February 5, 2011 3:20:19 AM

Yay! The answer to all of my questions, together in one well written thread! Google just kept giving me "I think that'll work, but you should look it up" answers. From now on, Tom's hardware is definitely going to be my first stop for computer questions. Thanks, thanks and more thanks!!
February 5, 2011 4:36:12 AM

Glad you like it.

BTW:

Welcome to THG!
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
February 5, 2011 6:13:45 AM

douipastor said:
Yay! The answer to all of my questions, together in one well written thread! Google just kept giving me "I think that'll work, but you should look it up" answers. From now on, Tom's hardware is definitely going to be my first stop for computer questions. Thanks, thanks and more thanks!!

I'm happy it helped you :) 
Actually I remember the day when I started to write this topic.There were lots of questions in the forums about SLI/CF and lots of different answers;therefore,I decided to write something that helps everyone know SLI/CF better and answers their question.
February 5, 2011 6:15:53 AM

..and look how popular it is.

This is innovation to its finest.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
February 5, 2011 6:33:06 AM

Thank you :)  I'm really glad it's helping people.
February 5, 2011 6:34:50 AM

Now, all one needs to do is release the APU chips and have the Intel/AMD APU FAQ Thread.
February 5, 2011 6:52:02 AM

that was very informative... it would b btr if you add those boars also which support hybrid SLI.. i have Asus P7h55-v does it support hybrid sli?? i have i3 540 now dont have any GPU planing to buy gtx460 will my MB give any Hybrid sli advantage with that card gtx460??... and now without gpu?? ... and how can i enable this function ??? as i dont have GPU now so this will b helpfull if i3Gpu sli s with IGpu of MB
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
February 5, 2011 9:07:13 AM

I haven't included the boards that support Hybrid SLI/CF but I've mentioned that they're not worth it at all because the performance gain isn't much.
And your board doesn't support Hybrid SLI.
February 12, 2011 4:00:32 AM

Going to get Evga GTX 570 SLI <3

This was informative. Thank you
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
February 12, 2011 9:05:11 AM

No prob,enjoy your new cards :) 
a b U Graphics card
February 15, 2011 7:55:14 AM

Maziar, could we get a few quick fire FAQ's about the different configurations of SLI/Crossfire in terms of the PCI-E connections.

A lot of people ask about x4 x16 and if it's a good idea, it would be good if the answer and reason for that is here.

Could you also give some explanation that x8 x8 is only a 4% or so drop in performance compared to x16 x16 and so unless you're wanting to triple SLI or Crossfire then it doesn't make financial sense to get a x16 x16 capable setup based purely on this predication.

I think this would help a lot of people before they shoot off a post.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
February 15, 2011 1:13:43 PM

Yes,that's a very common question.I've talked about it in the first page
" note about Motherboards
Some Motherboards support Multi-GPU Technology at Dual x16 mode, some support it at Dual x8 mode and some support it at x16x4 mode Etc, what are the differences?
Well for getting the best performance out of Multi-GPU cards,you need a Motherboard that supports Multi-GPU at dual(Or more) 16x mode like Nvidia 790i ULTRA SLI, Nvidia790i SLI, Nvidia 780i SLI, Nvidia 680i( As i said, NVIDIA 790i ULTRA SLI ,790i SLI ,780i SLI and 680i SLI support 3-Way SLI too(Nvidia 680i LT SLI chipset has 2 PCI-E 16x slot which supports 2-way SLI only.),Nvidia 590i SLI, Nvidia nForce4 SLI 16x, ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200,Intel X38,X48 and X58.

Dual 8x is a very good configuration too,it doesn't have alot of difference(performance wise) with Dual 16x and its cheaper too.
Chipests like Intel P55*,Intel P45 Nvidia 750i SLI, Nvidia 650i SLI,NVIDIA 570i SLI, NVIDIA nForce4 SLI, ATI Radeon Xpress 200, Intel 975x and ONLY few Intel P35 boards(Like ASUS BLITZ FORMULA and ASUS BLITZ EXTREME) support Multi-GPU at dual x8 mode.

However,there are some expections too,for example EVGA has a 750i Motherboard(The model of it is
EVGA 750i SLI FTW)Which supports SLI at dual x16 mode unlike many 750i Motherboards which support SLI at dual x8 mode.

The last one is x16x4, this one is the weakest and doesn't perform very good compared to dual x8 or dual x16,so i won't recommend it for Multi-GPU configuration. Intel P35 and P965 chipsets support Multi-GPU at x16x4 mode.
However,the statement above is true with PCI-E 1.0 cards,because PCI-E 2.0 cards are different.And if you use 2(or more) PCI-E 2.0 cards in multiGPU mode and at x16x4 speed,they will perform close to dual x8/x16 mode.

Here is a good review which compares CrossFire performance between dual x16,dual x8 and x16x4
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-pci-expre... "
March 8, 2011 7:48:59 AM

I now have 2 HD4870: First is Palit 4870 512mb; Second is Mac 4870 512mb.
I can not make them work in CrossFire mode!
What I have already done:
Flashed BIOS of Mac 4870 on XFX 4870.
Flashed BIOS of MotherBoard (i10 and 9)
Installed NEW Second Windows- Win7 x86 (First one is Win7 x64)
Installed fresh drivers from ati.amd.com website
Connect them with ONE CrossFire bridge (do not have second one)
Connect Power cables to both videocards
In Catalyst Control Centre (CCC) I put check on "Enable CrossFire"
Tested in 3 different games (Counter Strike Source, Call of Duty Black Ops, Star Craft II) and in AMD monitor I saw only ONE videocard load (and heat up), second one was just working at 0% load...
Maybe Mac 4870 does not support CrossFire with Hardware limits rather than Software (BIOS)?
March 8, 2011 11:21:21 AM

Who knows... Probably, but why CCC turned on CrossFire? May be I need to install some "Profiles"? I heard about but do not know how they looks etc...
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
March 8, 2011 11:47:59 AM

Installing profiles mainly helps in changing your clocks,I don't think it's related to Crossfire or anything.
The best thing is to ask Apple about this.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
March 11, 2011 5:25:05 AM

Thank you :)  edited and replaced the old one.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
March 20, 2011 7:39:35 AM

Thank you for your suggestion :) 
I talked about the importance of the resolution in "Is it really necessary to use SLI or CrossFire ?"
a b U Graphics card
April 6, 2011 9:19:28 AM

I think it would be good to state, that SLI and Crossfire configurations suffer from micro shuttering (or something like that), wich is higher in AMD systems, giving crossfire more chance of a sudden FPS drop. It does happen with both SLI and Crossfire, its just better in SLI, and as far as i know, its due to drivers.

Wich can be a good reason to go a single card. It seems its less common nowdays thou (nvidia 400 generation and ati 5000 and up.).



April 6, 2011 1:37:09 PM

Seems like engineers have fixed that.

There will always be issues with multi-card configurations.
April 6, 2011 7:32:36 PM

What happens if the cards have different amount of memory?
For ATI cards;
One of the cards will raise/lower its clock speeds to reach the other card's speeds.

Could somebody change amount into speed!!!

Now my question: what if you are Crossfire a 1Gb HD4890 and a 2Gb HD4890, what Vram will be available 2Gb or just 1Gb.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
April 7, 2011 11:56:30 AM

Done,thanks for the tip,I don't know why I wrote "memory" there
As for your question,It's already been answered in the FAQ :) 
"Do SLI or CrossFire double the memory ?
This is one the questions that many people make mistake understanding it .
The answer is NO , SLI or CrossFire doesnt double the memory , You have a 512MB card , adding another card wont make your memory 1GB, it still will be 512MB,so both cards will use 512MB of RAMs but the memory won't double.
Another example :
A game needs 512MB card to run at maximum settings , and you have a 256MB card , and you think if you add another 256MB card , your memory will be 512MB and thats not true.


You may see this mistake in many sites."
April 9, 2011 5:29:07 AM

No, I will explain it on a another way!

Main ATI card is containing 2Gb
Secondary ATI do have 1Gb

What will be the available Video-Ram?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 119 U Graphics card
April 9, 2011 1:11:53 PM

1gb. It always is limited to the lowest card. This assumes you have 2 cards that can work together.
April 9, 2011 3:43:36 PM

Those are the VRAM.

The BIOS on the Motherboard and the GPU Breadboards will drop both cards to 1 GB.
April 13, 2011 11:10:25 AM

i installed new 2 hd6870 cards and a 750 w psu and connected these with bridge and in most games it runs slower then with one card .. how can that be? what is wrong with my setup and do you have any ideas?
also my psu has plugs for pci express 3 and 4 and i do not know what it means and how to connect using those plugs.. i connect using normal plugsa

this is my motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

i tried the game metro and it dos not improve much in that game
but in stalker clear sky and stalker prypriat it goes slightly slower with two cards then one and i actually red somewhere those games do support crossfire

what is wrong w my setup? do i need to do something in bios? should i reinstall drivers?
i red that two 6870 should kick ass compared to only one .. i had a site showing its spremacy over most ocnfigurations before it but yet i do not get any significant boost?
April 13, 2011 1:37:48 PM

Some games do not do well with multi-card setup. I do not know why, but it must be due to the rendering.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
April 13, 2011 3:33:23 PM

Some games run better with CF turned off.
But games like Metro and Stalker should run well with CF enabled.Re-install the drivers and also download the latest crossfire profiles and see if it helps.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
April 13, 2011 3:54:43 PM

Edited.
Added more cards in the GPU list.
April 13, 2011 6:03:30 PM

Hey Maziar.

If I were to setup a multi-card setup for FSX, and disable CF, would there be an significant difference?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
April 14, 2011 4:36:01 PM

AFAIK, FSX doesn't benefit from either SLI or CF so disabling CF may even give you a more stable gameplay(with no possible graphic glitch)
April 14, 2011 10:11:18 PM

Would I see any improvements?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
April 15, 2011 7:08:52 AM

No(unless they released a patch for it which I don't think they did)
April 15, 2011 1:33:52 PM

Thanks.
April 20, 2011 3:29:24 PM

dogman_1234 said:
Thanks.


The profile applicatoin helped alot .. the one on atis site.

i widh ati would release a driver that made it possible to play without vsync because of hte tearing
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