The Dual Graphics Platform Battle, Part 1

Dual Graphics Comparison Table

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Feature ATI MVP Crossfire NVIDIA SLI
Motherboard Requirements ATI Radeon Xpress Crossfire Edition chipset or compatible (Intel 975X). NVIDIA SLI certified chipset. Currently nForce4 SLI family only.
Motherboard Availability Still limited. Plenty of models around.
Graphics Cards Requirement One MVP/Crossfire-compatible Master card and a second one that is at least equally good Two equal SLI-compatible graphics cards
Dual Graphics Facts Best performing scenario uses MVP/Crossfire Master graphics cards. These come with an additional chip that composes the imaged rendered by the two graphics chips. SLI has some more overhead due to image composition that is done by the GPUs. In exchange, the GeForce 7 series top model is slightly faster today.
Dual Graphics Modes SuperTilingScissorAlternate Frame RenderingSuper AA Alternate Frame RenderingSplit Frame RenderingSuper AA
Graphics Card Interlink DVI-type interlink cable SLI bridge connector
Graphics Card Flexibility Using ATI's 5.11 Catalyst driver (and up) eliminates the need for a Crossfire Master graphics card and allows running entry-level MVP setups without the interlink cable.Highest end models still in short supply. Using ForceWare driver versions 80 and up eliminates the need for identical graphics cards and allows running entry-level SLI setups without the SLI bridge connector.
Driver Requirements and Details ATI graphics driver with Crossfire/MVP mode enabled. Dual core CPU support to be added with release 5.12 NVIDIA graphics driver with SLI mode enabled. Dual core CPUs supported.
Price range for two entry level graphics cards $95 each (Radeon X1300) $90 each (GeForce 6600LE)
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.