Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
sticky

SLI / CrossFire FAQs - Page 6

Tags:
  • Product
  • Nvidia
  • Crossfire
  • SLI
  • Graphics
  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share
October 25, 2008 9:17:37 AM

Holy crap that answered all my questions! Im glad that I decided to look in the forums before I put up a thread "whats the difference between SLI and Crossfire ". Thank you
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
October 25, 2008 10:21:44 AM

to djthewizz:
hope u haven't lost lots of money on it :) 

to jay:
no problems mate :)  glad you found it useful :) 
October 25, 2008 1:55:31 PM

thank 4 the post i lurn a lot of new stuff thankz again
Related resources
Can't find your answer ? Ask !
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
October 25, 2008 7:10:06 PM

Glad you found it useful :) 
October 26, 2008 12:06:54 AM

Quote:
to djthewizz:
hope u haven't lost lots of money on it


Not at all , i got it at Tigerdirect.ca for 250$ CND with tax and shipping :D 
maybe some peoples will say it's expensive but for me, it's not ;) 
Thanks for ur help.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
October 26, 2008 8:20:23 AM

no problems mate :)  actually you answered one of my questions too,:)  now i know its not possible to sli 8800GTX and 8800 ULTRA :) .
with 2x8800ULTRAs enjoy gaming :) 
October 31, 2008 10:19:43 AM

I have a simple question. Will crossfire work with XP pro? My local I.T. guys told me it would...thx
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 1, 2008 8:36:54 AM

Yes it will work :) 
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 6, 2008 12:26:50 PM

Edited.
November 12, 2008 11:29:05 PM

Sorry if this has been posted already, or if it should have been obvious, but I want to be absolutely sure.
I have a Radeon HD 4850 from VisionTech. Based on what the FAQ says, I could get another 4850 from another maker, so long as they have the same memory and clock speed.
Is there anything else I should keep an eye out for? Is it preferable to buy two of the exact same card?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 13, 2008 5:19:32 AM

Yes you can use those cards in CrossFire :) 
Its preferable to buy two cards from exact brand because you have the support of 1 company rather than two but aside from that,there isn't any technical differences between same cards from 2 brands.
November 14, 2008 5:15:48 AM

Hi Maziar,

I am going to upgrade one of my computer system to X58 and Core i7 and I would also like to have 4GPUat same time. I would like to confirm if Crossfire X can support 2x 4870X2 for 4GPU as somebody told me that Crossfire X is maximum 3 GPU.

Thanks,
Andy
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 14, 2008 5:59:09 AM

Hello mate :) 
X58 supports CrossFire X,it means you can use 2 HD 4870X2s on it.
November 14, 2008 10:55:56 AM

Maziar said:
Hello mate :) 
X58 supports CrossFire X,it means you can use 2 HD 4870X2s on it.


Thanks Maziar
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 14, 2008 12:49:46 PM

No problem mate :)  glad i could help u :) 
Anonymous
a b U Graphics card
November 25, 2008 2:09:08 PM

I am looking at building a new system would 2x 8800gt 512mb or 1x9800gt 1gb be better. on a gigabyte board
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 25, 2008 4:37:28 PM

What resolution do you play at ?
November 25, 2008 10:19:30 PM

Maziar,
Awesome post, I thank you. It is great when those that know share with those of us that do not.

I am going to be building a new system, basically just upgrading MOBO/CPU, PSU and GPU.
It seems the links to the comparisons are for games that are the DoOM, Metal Gear, etc type of games.

Do you know if I would need to go to either Xfire or SLI on a MMORPG game like Everquest or WOW?

I really don't know how to compare that with the others.

From what I have read, since I normally play at about 1280 x 1024, my guess is that I really would not need that technology yet.

Thank you again.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 26, 2008 7:43:57 AM

thanks you mate :)  glad you find it useful.
Well for 1280x1024,you really won't need either SLI/CrossFire,a good single card will be good for you.

Also about your question with MMORPG games,well games like WOW aren't very demanding,but games like Oblivion benefit from SLI/CrossFire.
November 26, 2008 2:07:32 PM

Maxiar,

Would one of these cards be good?

VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
BFG Tech BFGE98512GTXOCE GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

I know they are xfire and SLI ready, which I do not need right now for MMORPG but I was thinking that if in the future the games evolve?? Or is this just plain overkill and if so could you recommend a couple of decent cards? Right now I use a NVIDIA GeForce M440.

Again thanks.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 26, 2008 3:45:10 PM

HD 4850 and 9800GTX doesnt have alof of difference with each other,but i recommend HD 4850 because it has a slight edge over its Nvidia's rival.

Don't get me wrong,i didn't say SLI/CrossFire is completely useless for resolutions like 1280x1024,i said they are more useful for higher resolutions.
And as i said some MMORPG games aren't much demanding like WOW,but other games like Oblivion are more demanding and take advantage of MultiGPU(But again for your resolution a good single card is fine :)  )
November 29, 2008 10:46:51 AM

hey! nice thread!
im lookin 2 upgrade my MoBo and Graphic card. i only want one card for now but wen i get the money ill buy a second! :D 

im torn between CF with an ATI HD 4850 and SLI with a 9800gtx. any advice? (mobo choices is asus p5q pro CF or the cheapest SLI mobo with pc-8500 and fsb1333mhz lol)
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
November 30, 2008 3:23:19 PM

Thank you ;) 
Well between those i would choose 2xATI HD 4850 but,your motherboard is P5Q which supports CrossFire at dual 8x,which may hurt performance.
December 2, 2008 11:25:10 AM

Hi,
Pls look into this...
I have MSI HD4850 512MB on ASUS M3N H/HDMI motherboard.
The M3N H/HDMI supports Hybrid SLi(IGP- Nvidia 8300). Can i enable CROSSFIRE or HYBRID SLI....
Pls give me required advice so as to fully make use the situation..
December 2, 2008 7:21:10 PM

Maziar said:
Hello and welcome to the forums mate :) 
Your motherboard is this :
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=218...
It has only one PCI-E 2.0 slot,so it supports only one ATI card and supports Nvidi Hybrid SLI.


Ya... its my motherboard... And i'm using ATi GPU on Nvidia chipset board(which support Hybrid SLi).
Is it possible for me to use Hybrid SLI or Crossfire with the IGP Nvidia 8300....
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 2, 2008 8:24:08 PM

Hybrid SLI will only work with select Nvidia cards. It will not work with your ATI card
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 3, 2008 6:29:00 AM

Hey nuke,long time noe see mate :) 
Well i have a question here,i know this board has only 1 PCI-E 2.0 slot so how it supports HybridSLI ?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 3, 2008 8:18:22 PM

Hybrid SLI uses the onboard GPU to assist the dedicated one(or the other way around :p ).

It works the same as AMD's Hybrid Crossfire that allows the integrated HD3200 on 780G boards to run with another card like the 3450 and give a decent performance boost.

Nvidia's biggest advantage is with the right hardware and software the system can shut off the dedicated video card when not in use and rely only on the power saving onboard video card. Onboard is more then enough to surf around the net and stuff.

Nvidia
http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli_desktop.html

Toms test when the 780G was released
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,17...
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 4, 2008 7:30:06 AM

thanks for the information mate :) 
December 5, 2008 6:46:43 PM

Check this image:

a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 6, 2008 7:27:27 AM

So ?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 6, 2008 10:18:36 AM

You can not run Nvidia and ATI drivers together on Vista. MS was sick of driver conflicts with one to another,. Disable the onboard in the bios.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 6, 2008 11:38:27 AM

Ow i didnt notice the mark on the nvidia one :D 

So nuke,he can only run one in VISTA?
How about XP ?
December 6, 2008 12:49:04 PM

:ange:  Thats the problem.... 8300 can't be disabled while in Vista... in XP it does'nt appear...... I tried to disable it in BIOS.... Primary Video Adapter set to PCIE.... Onboard video adapter has two Options, Auto and Enable... so set to Auto.. Hybrid SLI also have Auto and Enable.... It also set to Auto...
I've 4GB RAM... but in Vista it shows only 3.5GB... When Hybrid SLI enabled, RAM again reduces to 2.75GB.. :sweat: 
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 6, 2008 9:56:19 PM

Just leave it as it is, You only get 3.5 gigs of memory because your 48XX card is taking 512 megabytes of address space. XP 64(or Vista 64) would have solved that issue, but there is no problem with 3.5 gigs of ram.

You can disable the Nvidia one(in vista), but it should not make a difference.

Maziar - Under XP, at least if the board supports it(some do disable cards when another is inserted, but i doubt its the case here) you can use both, I have used ATI and NV cards together(XT1900 and 8800GTX on a 430 watt psu :)  I am brave) before and it worked. There is a hack to make both cards run under Vista, but i am not sure how stable it is.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 7, 2008 7:12:25 AM

thanks alot for the tip mate :) 
December 7, 2008 6:44:09 PM

nukemaster said:
Just leave it as it is, You only get 3.5 gigs of memory because your 48XX card is taking 512 megabytes of address space. XP 64 would have solved that issue, but there is not problem with 3.5 gigs of ram.

You can disable the Nvidia one(in vista), but it should not make a difference.

Maziar - Under XP, at least if the board supports it(some do disable cards when another is inserted, but i doubt its the case here) you can use both, I have used ATI and NV cards together(XT1900 and 8800GTX on a 430 watt psu :)  I am brave) before and it worked. There is a hack to make both cards run under Vista, but i am not sure how stable it is.


Both the cards work together..??? THats COOL..
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 7, 2008 9:03:22 PM

The do not help each other. they can just drive 2 screens each.

But yes they did both work at the same time.
December 8, 2008 3:30:43 PM

I tried XP64... now it shows 4GB exactly.... thanks..
December 11, 2008 4:07:43 PM

i have a question for you guys i have good amount of cash to buy 2 4870 1gb or 2 Gtx 260 core 216 i want your honest opinion of which of these cards should i buy cause i've been going back and forth for about 3 days now about which of these cards to go with. thank you
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 12, 2008 1:12:17 AM

Check the benchmarks for the games you play. Some games favor ATI others Nvidia. I personally fine ATI's Vista drivers to be more stable, but it was a 8800GTX and they have worked out many bugs.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 12, 2008 7:04:37 AM

I would get HD 4870 over GTX 260 Core 216 they both perform near each other but the ATI card has a lead over its Nvida's rival.
December 12, 2008 7:42:45 PM

nukemaster said:
Check the benchmarks for the games you play. Some games favor ATI others Nvidia. I personally fine ATI's Vista drivers to be more stable, but it was a 8800GTX and they have worked out many bugs.


Could you quote some games which are good at Ati and not good at nVidia...???
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 12, 2008 8:38:38 PM

The source engine used in HL 2 ran far better on ATI hardware at the time it is still slightly better on Ati hardware but the fps are pretty much cpu limited now anyway.

Assassins Creed used to run faster on ATI hardware until it was patched to remove the DX 10.1 advantage ATI had in that title.

Serious Sam 2 seemed to favor ATI hardware of its time.

Nvidia owns the performance crown for Crysis, ET: Quake wars as well as many OpenGL based games.

There are some times where Nvidia is the only way to go (Crysis) and others where ATI is better.

Both companies also leap frog in performance anyway.

But if you main game will be Crysis and games based on its engine, then you are better off getting Nvidia now.

There are some questionable things Nvidia has done too

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3320&p=6

On top of that daily crashes/poor performance on some games under Vista64 that I would have blamed on MS if I had not tossed in an old ATI card to test.

I am no fanboy here, I like my 8800GTX allot(on hell of a card and way ahead of its time), but under Vista64 its a lost cause with even the latest driver still crashing some games to a black screen.
December 15, 2008 8:55:34 PM

I have a Windows XP/Pro system, eVGA 780i motherboard, Q6600 processor, and 4GB RAM. In this is a nVidia GeForce 8800GT, 512MB, SLI display, driving a pair of 19" panels (1280x1024). 750W power supply.

Saturday I added a 22"W panel (1680x1050) and am driving it with an DVGA UV Plus UV16 USB display port adapter.

From the motherboard specs, it appears to have 1 x PCIe and 2 x PCI slots. It also says that all three PCIE GPU slots are 16x.

http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/132-CK-NF78-A1.pdf

Performance with the USB port thing sucks.

For the record, I don't do games. So a high frame rate is not an issue.

Can I add a non-SLI display adapter? Will the RAM in the new card reduce the amount of available RAM to my XP (32-bit environment) applications?

I'd like to minimize my cash outlay. Any suggestions?
a b Î Nvidia
a c 118 U Graphics card
December 15, 2008 11:38:42 PM

I see no reason why you can not just add some low end video card to the mix.

XP 32-bit can only address 4 gigs of total memory including your video memory and other devices with onboard memory.

So if you have 4 gigs(you do :p ) your 8800 would already bring you to ~3.5 add another card to the mix and your down to ~3.0-3.25. Since you do not game, get something with lower VRAM.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 16, 2008 4:57:05 AM

nuke is right,when you dont game then get a lower end card,by saying non-SLI display adapter you mean a non-SLI ready card? if so then yes but its not really important because most of the cards are SLI-ready.
a b Î Nvidia
a c 169 U Graphics card
December 22, 2008 4:36:32 AM

No,the 9600 card is used as a PhysX card.
    • First
    • Previous
    • 6 / 24
    • 7
    • 8
    • 9
    • 10
    • More pages
    • Next
    • Newest
      • 1
      • 2
      • 3
      • 4
      • 5
      • 6 / 24
      • 7
      • 8
      • 9
      • 10
      • 20
!