Crossfire vs SLI Performance Comparison Review

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Crossfire vs SLI Performance Comparison Review

By admin | October 9, 2010

Introduction:

As single GPU video cards continue to get quicker and deliver even more performance, are dual video card setups still a viable option for those looking for more performance? If one is excellent, two or more have to be better, right? In most cases two is better than one, and four is better than two; in most cases, not all. It would be nice to slap in another video card and see double the performance, but again that’s not always the case. The cards will scale, and in some games you will see tremendous scaling, but in others you will wonder why you even bothered with the additional buy. So what does it take to run a two, three, or even four GPU system? First off, you need to choose your video card and manufacturer, and then choose the motherboard that will allow you to run a multi-GPU setup. Sometimes that choice is made for you, if you just have to have a specific motherboard. But systems that were set up for Nvidia’s multi-GPU solution SLI, or Scalable Link Interface, you needed a motherboard with an Nvidia chipset that supports the technology. For CrossFire based systems, you had to have a chipset that supports CrossFire technology. Simple enough! What if you already owned a motherboard that only featured a CrossFire capable chipset, and wanted to use Nvidia’s multi-GPU solution? Well my friend, you were stuck buying a new motherboard. The solution was much the same for someone who wanted to run CrossFire and had a motherboard that only supported SLI. You get the drift. With the advent of the X58 chipset from Intel, you can have your cake and eat it too, since both technologies are supported.

There are two current technologies in use today. Nvidia’s Scalable Link Interface, and ATI’s CrossFireX technology. Both have their advantages, but the ultimate choice on which to buy and use is made by you, the consumer.

Both technologies offer improved performance, and will increase the cost of your system build. As part of that build, consider a monitor that is capable of running resolutions that can take advantage of the graphics horsepower delivered by these solutions. A 24 inch monitor capable of 1920×1200, or even a 30 inch monitor capable of resolutions up to 2560×1600, should be considered one of the minimum requirements when running a multi-GPU setup. If you are going to spend $1000 or more on video cards, another grand for a 30 inch monitor should be part of your build’s budget. Enough chit-chat, let’s see what kind of performance these kinds of setups can deliver. This comparison is not so much about the technology, but the performance you can expect for a system built with a multi-GPU solution.

Closer Look:

To run this sort of comparison, you have to have the video cards to do the testing. While there are only 11 different combinations being tested, it does not hit you until you sit down and unpack them all for a class photo as to how many there really are. A total of 16 cards all at once is a pretty huge stack in my book. They range from the HD 4850 and GTX 260, all the way up to the GTX 295 and HD 4870×2. The only one left out was the GTX 275, as they just did not make it in time for the testing. So take a minute to bask in the ambiance of some high-end video horsepower. I had to sit back and just look for a while myself.

Enough looking, let’s see what they can do! I want to see just how well the huge boys perform without all the benchmark guru OS tweaking and extreme cooling, to see what the average guy or gal can come up with just by slapping a few cards into his or her pride and joy!

Testing:

Setup and Configuration:

The testing setup used in this comparison will be a Corei7 based system. Rather than run at the i7 965′s stock 3.2Ghz, I will overclock it to nearly 3.9GHz to try and eliminate a CPU bottleneck from being a concern. Each set of cards will be run with the latest drivers, ATI Cards using the Catalyst 9.3 driver – and the 9.4 version used only for the HD 4890 – as all of the ATI testing was completed before the HD 4890 was released. On the Nvidia side, the driver used is the latest 185 series driver, which fixes the Dead Space issue with the Gateway XHD 3000 monitor. Each respective control panel will be left at factory default settings, with the exception being that PhysX will be turned off in the 3DMark Vantage test, since the Orb will not publish any scores with PhysX enabled. PhysX will be enabled in the Nvidia Control panel and in games at all other times. There will be 3 separate classes in this testing. The dual GPU cards in a quad GPU setup, the same cards individually, and the single GPU cards in a multi-GPU setup.

Power consumption is something that is starting to creep into everyone’s choice making process when making a buy. Of course the driving force here is just how much are you going to pay the electric company at the end of the month? Increased heat output from dual cards and the increased power consumption with dual cards are just two things that we are now thinking about when it comes down to the moment we spend our hard earned money on that high-end video card. Idle testing was not done, as the largest power draw is going to be when the cards are under a load. The test setup used is a system honestly typical of that seen in the enthusiast class, with a well overclocked, water cooled CPU, one HDD, an optical drive and not a whole lot else. The system idles right around 200 watts with a low-end video card installed as a baseline measurement. Testing will be done using 3DMark06 to place a load on the GPU’s. I will loop “Canyon Flight” four times, noting the highest power consumption through each run, and average the four runs to reach the final power consumption numbers.

If you do any cruising through the video card threads on any number of web sites, the controversy is always price versus performance. Some people will always pay for higher performing cards, while you have the rest of the world who look for the balance and try to get the most bang for their buck. People buying the top-end cards with their top-end prices is always going to happen. But, when it comes to multi-GPU systems, the thought is usually on performance and not so much on cost. I remember my first multi-GPU system was with two ATI 1900XT’s; the total cost was nearly $1200 when the cards first came out. As an early adopter, I paid a premium for these cards – but at the time, this combination was pretty much top of the heap, until the Nvidia G80 cards came out and just cleaned house. Thinking about that $1200+ price tag and the level of performance delivered, the highest price combo in this comparison comes in at just over 1100 bucks, more than $100 less than my 1900XT combo from just a few years back. Just thinking of how far performance has come, and the costs associated with that performance, over the last few years is astounding.

Cost will always be a concern, so along that line I chose to see what the cost per FPS would be for each combo. To do this, I will add up the total FPS per card at each resolution and divide that total by 18, the amount of tests run where a result was given in FPS. The cost for the combo will then be divided by the average FPS to give a cost per FPS – effectively giving us a price versus performance comparison. Pricing will be the cards’ current cost from Newegg. The measurement used will be dollars and cents.

The most power consumed by any combination in this test is hands down the HD 4870×2 CrossFireX combo, weighing in at 936 watts. This is nearly 200 watts higher than the GTX295 in Quad SLI. The 4850×2, of course, had the lowest power consumed in the quad GPU category. When the x2 cards were run in single card mode, power consumption dropped as expected, with the GTX 295 still outperforming the HD 4870×2 – and nearly using less power than the 4850×2. In the two GPU category, the GTX 285 SLI combo used the most power – but also delivered the highest performance. When it comes to pricing, the least expensive quad GPU setup is the HD 4850×2 CrossFireX combination, coming in at 520 bones. The GTX 295 is far and away the most expensive setup, but does prove its worth throughout the testing. Usually you get what you pay for. The least expensive dual GPU setup in this comparison is the Toxic HD 4850 setup at $260, and performance-wise the adage holds right – as this combo delivered the lowest performance of the group. When it came time to figure out which combo offered the most bang for your dollar, the GTX 295 Quad SLI setup is just about out of the running at $9.10 per FPS at 2560×1600. Even with the exceptional performance, the price tag is a bit steep at $1120 for the pair of cards. The HD 4870×2 setup is $320 less expensive, and starts to compete with the other combinations. The hands down best bang for your buck based on the testing I have done here is the GTX 260-216 SLI setup, which costs less than any other combination based on total cost versus performance delivered.

Hello all
I have seen many users making mistakes about multiGPU technology or have problems understanding it,therefore i chose to write a guide that helps you know this technology better , so lets start.

What is SLI ?
NVIDIA SLI is a platform that allows you to scale graphics performance by combining multiple NVIDIA graphics solutions in a single system.

What is Nvidia Hybrid SLI?
I found a very excellent information from Hothardware.com :
NVIDIA’s Hybrid SLI technology gives users the ability to pair an IGP, or mGPU (motherboard GPU), with a discreet graphics card, or cards, for two new modes of operation. NVIDIA calls these new modes Hybrid Power and GeForce Boost.
GeForce Boost does what its name suggests. By coupling the motherboard’s integrated GPU with a discreet graphics card, the 3D rendering workload is shared between the two GPUs for a boost in performance. Currently, GeForce Boost is only supported by GeForce 8400 GS and 8500 GT discreet cards, as for the IGP, only the next-gen nForce 700a series of chipsets due to arrive this quarter will be supported initially.

What is CrossFire ?
CrossFire is a high-performance PC Gaming Platform technology that enables multiple ATI Radeon graphics cards and a CrossFire-ready motherboard in a single computer to increase graphics quality and performance.

What is CrossFireX(Quad CrossFire)?
I found a very excellent definition for it in techreport.com:
CrossFireX is, quite simply, an extension of the CrossFire dual-GPU feature to three and four GPUs.

What is AMD Hybrid CrossFire?
Its a technology from AMD which allows an integrated graphics and low-end discrete graphics in CrossFire mode.
You are basically taking two very slow GPUs and making one not-so-slow GPU.
This can only be done with AMD chipsets and AMD/ATI Graphics.

Lets simply say that both Hybrid CrossFire and Hybrid SLI are mainly for power savings and won’t give users a fantastic performance boost games or intensive 3D applications.
Can you use SLI on a CrossFire board or can you use CrossFire on a SLI board ?
Well , in general , the answer is NO. But it’s said that if you hack the drivers , you can use SLI on a CrossFire board or CrossFire on a SLI board.
Caution:There is no guarantee that if you hack the drivers then you use SLI on a CrossFire Motherboard or CrossFire on a SLI board, so do it at your own risk!

But,with the release of i7/i5,Intel announced two chipsets which are X58 and P55 that allow users to use CrossFire and SLI on the same motherbard.(But X58/P55 boards support only CrossFire,some only support SLI and some support both,so if you wanted to buy a new motherboard,make sure you check this first.

Do the cards have to be same model?
For “Most” Nvidia cards the answer is yes,but there are some exceptions too like pairing a GTS 250 with a 9800GTX+,which can be done if both cards have the same amount of memory since the GTS 250 is really a re-badged 9800GTX+ but again there are some cards like 9800GT and 8800GT which have the same specifications but in general you can’t pair them in SLI,some users have reported that by flashing a 8800GT’s BIOS to a 9800GT’s BIOS,you can do it,but its risky and not recommended.
I wrote about the cards which have different names but can be used in SLI mode in the “Model’s section” down this post,other than those all other cards must be same model in order to run in SLI mode.
but about AMD/ATI models,for models like X1900 series and lower you have to use the same/master card to use CrossFire but for HD 2xxx series and up,check the compatibility chart on top of this post.
For Nvidia cards,here is an example:
You have a NVIDIA Geforce 7800GTX 256, and you want to add another card , the second card has to be 7800GTX exactly.

But what about the memory? Can you add a 7800GTX 512 and use that with 7800GTX 256?
It’s recommended to use a 7800GTX 256 with a 7800GTX 256 and 7800GTX 512 with 7800GTX 512.
But you can use a 7800GTX 256 with 7800GTX 512 , BUT the 7800GTX 512 will lower its RAM to 256MB to operate with the other card, so it wont have its right power. (This option isn’t recommended. )
What about brands ?
Well the brand doesn’t matter , again for example , you can use a XFX card with a EVGA card , or a SAPPHIRE card with a DIAMOND card , just make sure they have the same memory and same clocks.

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.
For Nvidia cards;
Well it “was” like ATI with older drivers, but with new drivers its quite different.If you use 2(or more) Nvidia cards with different clock speeds in SLI mode,none of them will change their clocks and they will perform at their default clock speed.
A Very vital note about CrossFire:
Many users question to use 1 brige or 2 briges when they want to use 2 cards in CrossFire mode.
The answer is it will work with 1 bridge without any problems but i recommend using both bridges because:
1_You will never lose either of these bridges.
2_Some users have reported a minimal(Not noticeable) performance increase.

Do SLI or CrossFire always improve performance ?
Not Always , there are some games that dont take advantage of SLI or CrossFire , so you wont see a difference between 2 cards and 1 card in those games , but in games that take advantage of SLI or CrossFire , 2 cards will perform better than one.

What are SLI and CrossFire certified Motherboards?
For SLI certified Motherboards ,go here :http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_mobo.html
For CrossFire certified Motherboards check here:
http://ati.amd.com/technology/cros [...] rown1.html

WARNING;Some RAMs have SLI or CrossFire logo on them. Many people question if they are the only RAMs which support SLI or Crossfire.
Well thats incorrect,there are many RAMs which dont have SLI or CrossFire logo but you can use SLI or CrossFire with them without any problem.

What are the power requirements for SLI or CrossFire ?
For each card , the Power requirement is different , if you want to know if your Power Supply can handle SLI or CrossFire , check here
For NVIDIA cards, go here:
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html
WARNING;There are some Power Supplies which aren’t in the List , but they are compatible , you have to check the manufactures sites too.
And for CrossFire, check here :
http://ati.amd.com/technology/cros [...] rown2.html
Is it really necessary to use SLI or CrossFire ?
Well , it really depends mostly on the resolutions and games you play , resolutions like 1920×1200 and higher benefit more from SLI or CrossFire than resolutions like 1600×1200 or lower (I don’t mean SLI or CrossFire wont be excellent for resolutions like 1600×1200 or lower , i am just saying that SLI or CrossFire shines in higher resolutions.)
This(MultiGPU technology) has been more optimized though and has become more mature than before, i mean in the first years of MiltiGPU technology the drivers werent as excellent as they are now and also not all games took advantage from MultiGPU, but things have gotten better(but not the best, because there are still games that don’t take advantage MultiGPU like Flight Simluator X and there are still lots of driver problems too.)So in some of today games that really drain a lot of power from GPU, MultiGPU performs excellent at low resolutions (again in some games).
Also as i said , it depends on what games (with what settings) you play , for example if you just want to play games at excellent settings (with not everything at maximum settings) then MultiGPU technology isn’t needed , but if you want to play with every option at maximum settings with a high resolution, then either SLI or CrossFire would help.
Caution: Due to some problems (like Drivers and etc) in some games, a single card (like X1900XT) may beat 2 1900XT in CrossFire mode! so don’t always reckon that 2 cards will beat one card.

Some games like FLIGHT SIMULATOR X are mostly CPU-limited rather than GPU-limited:
8800GTX VS 8800GTX in SLI :

8800GTX:
1920×1200 : 22.6
1600×1200 : 22.4
1280×1024 : 23.0

8800GTX in SLI:
1920×1200 : 22.6
1600×1200 : 22.4
1280×1024 : 23.0

But here is an example of a game which benefits from SLI like OBLIVION:

8800GTX VS 8800GTX in SLI :

8800GTX:
1920×1200 : 28.7
1600×1200 : 32.5
1280×1024 : 43.6

8800GTX in SLI:
1920×1200 : 53.8
1600×1200 : 61.2
1280×1024 : 77.1
So is it better to get 2 mid-range cards or 1 high-end card?
I answer this with an example,lets say we want to compare 2 AMD/ATI HD 4770′s with 1 AMD/ATI HD 4870,well in games that benefit from MultiGPU,2 HD 4770′s would win but there are some exceptions too,for example some games doesn’t benefit from MultiGPU(Which i talked about this)and in those situations the quicker card takes the lead.
Also many question that whether to get 2 HD 4870′s in CrossFire or 1 HD 4870X2(I mean getting 2 cards and use them in CrossFire/SLI or get a single card which has the power of 2 cards)
Well by looking at the benchmarks you will find out that really 1 HD 4870X2 is quicker than 2 HD 4870′s by 0-15% in “MOST” games(there are some exceptions too that 2 HD 4870′s take the lead)also 1 HD 4870X2 doesn’t need a MultiGPU Capable motherboard and it produces less heat and has lower power consumption too.

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 reckon if you add another 256MB card , your memory will be 512MB and thats not right.

You may see this mistake in many sites.

Which is better , SLI or CrossFire ?
Well , you cant say exactly which is better , in some games SLI does better than CrossFire and in some games CorssFire does better than SLI, for benchmarks and tests,check Tom’shardware VGA charts

A 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 excellent 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.

But,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 excellent 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.
But,the statement above is right 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 excellent review which compares CrossFire performance between dual x16,dual x8 and x16x4

List of NVIDIA and AMD/ATI MultiGPU compatible Graphic Cards: (All of them are PCI-EXPRESS cards,MutliGPU technology is for PCI-EXPRESS cards not for APG cards.)

NVIDIA cards(Desktop models)
Geforce 400 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 480(Supports 3-Way and 4-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 470(Supports 3-Way and 4-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 465
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 460
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 450

Geforce 200 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 295
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 285(Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 280 (Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 275(Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 260 Core 216(Supports 3-Way SLI too and also you can pair this card with a NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 260 Core 192 in SLI configuration.)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 260 Core 192 (Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 250(Supports 3-Way SLI too and also you can pair this card with a 9800GTX+ in SLI configuration,but make sure that both cards have the same amount of memory)

Geforce 9 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GX2(Read the note about the 7950GX2,its the same for 9800GX2)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GTX+(Supports 3-Way SLI too and also you can pair this card with a Nvidia 9800GTX in SLI configuration,but its recommended to use the 9800GTX+ card in the first PCI-E 16x slot.)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GTX(Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600GSO
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9500GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9400GT

Geforce 8 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800ULTRA (Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GTX (Supports 3-Way SLI too)
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GTS 512
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GTS 640
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GTS 320
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600GTS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8500GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8400GS

Geforce 7 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7950GX2(Remember, you may reckon that because 7950GX2 is really “2 cards attached to one” then you need a SLI motherboard to use it, but you dont, for single 7950GX2, u will need just one PCI-E 16x slot.
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7900GTX
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7950GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7900GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7900GS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800GTX 512
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800GTX 256
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7600GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7600GS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7300GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7300GS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7300LE

Geforce 6 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800ULTRA
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800GS
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800LE
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600GT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600
NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600LE

NVIDIA cards(Notebook models)

Geforce 400M Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 480M

Geforce 200M Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 280M
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 260M

Geforce 100M series:
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 160M
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 150M
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS 130M

Geforce 9 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800MGTX
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800MGT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800MGTS

Geforce 8 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800MGTX
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8700MGT
NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600MGT

Geforce 7 Family:
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7950GTX
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7900GTX
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800GTX
AMD/ATI cards(Desktop models)

AMD/ATI HD 5xxx Family:
AMD/ATI HD 5970(Warning:The HD 5970 is NOT 2 cards (like Nvidia 9800GX2).Its really 2 GPUs on one card and it has 1 PCB** compared to 2 PCBs of 9800GX2,so you “Don’t” need a CrossFire board to use this card,it requires only one slot.)
AMD/ATI HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 edition(Can be used in CrossFire with the non-Eyefinity 6 version)
AMD/ATI HD 5870
AMD/ATI HD 5850
AMD/ATI HD 5830
AMD/ATI HD 5770
AMD/ATI HD 5750
AMD/ATI HD 5670
AMD/ATI HD 5570
AMD/ATI HD 5550
AMD/ATI HD 5450

AMD/ATI HD 4xxx Family:
AMD/ATI HD 4890
AMD/ATI HD 4870X2(Read the extra information about HD 5970,its the same for HD 4870X2)
AMD/ATI HD 4870
AMD/ATI HD 4850
AMD/ATI HD 4830
AMD/ATI HD 4770
AMD/ATI HD 4750
AMD/ATI HD 4670
AMD/ATI HD 4650
AMD/ATI HD 4550
AMD/ATI HD 4350

AMD/ATI HD 3xxx Family:
AMD/ATI HD 3870X2(Read the extra information about HD 5970,its the same for HD 3870X2)
AMD/ATI HD3870
AMD/ATI HD 3850
AMD/ATI HD 3830
AMD/ATI HD 3650
AMD/ATI HD 3470
AMD/AT HD 3450

AMD/ATI HD 2xxx Family:
AMD/ATI HD 2900XT
AMD/ATI HD 2900PRO
AMD/ATI HD 2900GT
AMD/ATI HD 2600XT
AMD/ATI HD 2600 PRO
AMD/ATI HD 2400XT
AMD/ATI HD 2400 PRO

AMD/ATI X19xx Family:
AMD/ATI X1950XTX
AMD/ATI X1950PRO
AMD/ATI X1900XTX
AMD/ATI X1900XT
AMD/ATI X1900GT(Unlike X1900XT and 1900XTX which require a Master card to run in CrossFire,this card can be paired with another X1900GT)

AMD/ATI X1xxx Family:
AMD/ATI X1800XT
AMD/ATI X1800GTO
AMD/ATI X1800XL
AMD/ATI X1650 PRO
AMD/ATI X1650XT
AMD/ATI X1600XT
AMD/ATI X1600PRO
AMD/ATI X1550
AMD/ATI X1300XT
AMD/ATI X1300PRO
AMD/ATI X1300

AMD/ATI X850 Family:
AMD/ATI X850XT-PE
AMD/ATI X850XT
AMD/ATI X850 PRO

AMD/ATI Cards(Notebook models)

AMD/ATI HD Family:
AMD/ATI HD 4870
AMD/ATI HD 4850
AMD/ATI HD 3870
AMD/ATI HD 3850

*:Most of Intel P55 chipset motherboards support CrossFire at dual x8 mode but there are some exceptions too which support CrossFire at x16x4 mode.
http://www.intel.com/products/desk [...] erview.htm

PCI Express 2.0 interface :
Offers up to 2.5GT/s for quick access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 8 PCI Express* 2.0 x1 ports, configurable as x2 and x4 depending on motherboard designs.

**: emp and 4745454b (They are excellent friends of mine in this forum who help me very much and i thank them for their help)gave me a excellent definiton and explanation of PCB to me: PCB stands for Printed Circuit Board, its the hard “plastic-like” colored part in a graphics card/motherboard.

9800GX2 has 2 PCBs so its really 2 cards attached to one.But HD 3870X2 has 1 PCB and its really 2 GPUs on card which has the power of 2 HD 3870s.

Warning; AMD/ATI X1800/X1900/X1950 cards need a CrossFire-Edition of them to run in CrossFire mode.But for HD Family its different, they don’t need CrossFire-Edition, they just cant work with each other for example a HD 2600 works with another HD 2600 just fine.
Also please read the note about CrossFireX at the first parts of this guide.
If you found something incorrect in this guide please tell me to fix it,also i thank all who helped me in this topic.
Also if you have seen that i have place a link from other site,its because that it had a very excellent information about MULTI-GPU technology.

So i hope reading this guide will help you understanding MultiGPU technology better , if you have any question, simply question and i am glad to answer

Conclusion:

So what did we learn from this small exercise? I learned that SLI is the more mature multi-GPU solution currently. In each of the three classes, the Nvidia technology and their video cards lost no more than four times out of 40 tests, with all things being equal – this being in the quad GPU class. Each of the other classes delivered a 37 to 3 margin of victory for team Green. Each set of cards was run at the default factory settings in the control panel to show what Joe Average will get out of a plug and play system. Could performance be improved upon by manipulating the settings in the control panel? Sure it could – on both counts, but this was about running what the system defaults to. The only deviation from this is in 3DMark Vantage, as the Nvidia cards share a distinct advantage in the PhsyX tests. The reasoning is that Futuremark does not allow the scores when the GPU does the PhysX calculations, because ATI does not have an equivalent technology to compete right now. Right now, SLI is the way to go for multi-GPU performance in the games tested in this comparison. The downside to this is that it will cost you a small bit more to get this performance, as ATI seems to have the pricing game down pat at the performance levels I looked at here. With just raw cost as a factor the GTX 295 quad GPU setup will set you back just over $1100, while the HD 4870×2 combo will only (insert sarcasm here) set you back $800-$1000 depending on the cards you buy. The Sapphire cards will only set you back 400 bucks each, instead of the more well loved pricing of 500 bucks. In the single GPU card class, the GTX 285 combo will cost you nearly $700 – at a cozy $680 – while the HD 4890 combo only goes for $530, with prices scaling downward based on the video card’s capabilities. That being said, the best value per frame per second delivered is the GTX 260 SLI combination at $3.44 per FPS at 1920×1200, and $4.59 per frame at 2560×1600. In most of the games tested, the GTX 260 SLI combo did not deliver the best performance, but it was able to hold its own. Raw performance goes to the Quad SLI GTX 295 combo.

For most of us, at some point the power bill gets to be a concern – especially when you run a distributed computing project on both your CPU and GPUs. The power company wants their piece of the pie just like everyone else. While our test systems are not the most power hungry, it pulls a decent amount of power under load. The loser in the power consumption testing has to be the HD 4870×2 CrossFireX setup. With our systems and these two cards under load, the system pulled a total of 936 watts from the outlet. As a comparison, the Quad SLI setup used 757 watts from the mains. This scenario continued when the dual GPU cards were pulled out of multi-GPU mode, with the 4870×2 pulling 656 watts, and the GTX 295 pulling 471 watts under load. In the third class, the GTX 285 SLI combo did pull more current than the HD 4890 combo, with the GTX 260 setup falling between the HD 4870 and HD 4850 CrossFire setups.

When you look at the scaling in performance you get from going to a quad GPU setup, it is not going to be anywhere near 100% in most cases. There were a few instances where the scaling on the HD 4850×2 and HD 4870×2 scaled close to 100% – which was a real surprise. This was the exception, and not the rule. In turn, there were games where there was no scaling whatsoever with cards in CrossFireX, while the SLI combo scaled well. That’s something that could be a driver fix, to enable better CrossFire support in games. To use all this video horsepower, you will need a monitor that runs no less than a 1920×1200 resolution, as anything else means you are just throwing money away. The ideal solution is to go with that 30+ inch monitor you have been lusting over to take advantage of the firepower. Currently, Nvidia and its SLI technology is the performance winner here, on this system, with the drivers and video cards tested. The numbers are the numbers, and this is what they show. ATI has fantastic price points, but they just can’t deliver overpowering performance for that price. On the other hand, Nvidia delivers the performance but at a steeper price. The ancient adage “you have to pay to play” comes to mind here. By paying, you have a GPU that is capable of doing much more than just making pretty pictures for us to look at on that magic screen. With Nvidia’s CUDA technology, you have a wide array of applications ready to take advantage of the parallel computing capabilities of its architecture, such as vReveal from Motion DSP which allows you to clean up poorly shot video, Badaboom for converting video to most well loved mobile formats, where performance is just incredible, with more coming each week, it seems. You have GeForce 3D Vision to immerse you in the game. GPU Acceleration in Photoshop! What more do you need? Drivers? Why yes indeed, Johnny. Nvidia seems to be more committed to delivering drivers nearly as quick as I change my underwear (yes, it’s a daily occurrence), while ATI is still stuck on a once a month schedule, and you need to hope and pray they work. One thing that could overcome the performance problems is having user adjustable CrossFire profiles so the performance is there. When there is no scaling or negative scaling, a profile for that game may be all that’s needed to excel, but currently that’s not the case. Price is a point of difference, but there is more to it than a GPU that costs less but offers less. You don’t pay Hyundai dollars and expect Corvette performance. Sometimes you get a surprise, but now its ATI’s turn to swing for the fences. The potential is there on the CrossFire side of the fence.

Nvidia has been very aggressive with getting their drivers to perform, either before a game is launched or on the launch date of the game. They have strived to be very aggressive, and it shows in our testing. When we all talk about multi-GPU performance, opinions vary on which company is better, and with ATI’s driver issues it’s kind of hard not to get frustrated. I have been very vocal about this in the past, and during our testing I was burning the phone lines up with again complaining.

As said, pricing is a huge thing here, especially with it comes to running GTX 295s in Quad SLI, but really, if you are going to spend over $1000 on a 30″ LCD, what’s another $1000+ on video cards…seriously. If the situation were reversed, nobody could sit here and tell me that ATI would not charge $1100 for their cards. The reason is simple, they are cheaper because they offer inconsistent performance – pretty basic concept. Personally, I would not spend $800+ on ATI when I don’t get the performance return out of it. What’s the point? I might as well spend the extra $300 since I like, and I play a lot of games that scale well on Nvidia cards, like Dead Space for example. So why would I buy ATI? The answer is I wouldn’t. I want a GPU that I can do more with than just gaming, and Nvidia has proven to have a ton more uses for their GPUs than ATI, as said above. Sure ATI can fold, but nowhere near the level that Nvidia can, so it’s a pretty cut and dried choice for me. I want the company that busts their asses to give you maximum performance without having to wait a month or two at a time for a driver update, if not longer, to add support for the game that you want to play now. To me, that is completely unacceptable, and this has been a complaint for a very, very long time from communities all over the Internet when it comes to CrossFire scaling. Who knows the reason for this, but they need to start working on their drivers to be more efficient, because in some games it’s just embarrassing, and it has to be frustrating to owners.

If you are running a CrossFire motherboard, what do you do? Simple – either buy a high-end Nvidia card such as the GTX 295, or run CrossFire. You may not get the same performance that you would with SLI, but you will still get an upgrade nonetheless. ATI cards are decent in certain games, no doubt about that, they are just not consistent across the board like I said earlier. My suggestion is, if you plot on doing a multi-GPU setup, do your research. Look at the games you want to play, and see how they scale. See where Nvidia and ATI are performance-wise, and make your buy based on what you learn from reading and asking questions.

The thought of this article was to give people an thought as to where everything stands with different GPU setups. At the end of the day, you the user will have to choose exactly where your hard earned money is going to go. Our goal is to try and keep these types of articles coming for you as newer cards come out, so you can make excellent choices – because you can bet there are going to be more games like Crysis coming.

I know people will call me a fanboy, but it’s my money. My Nvidia rigs are way more consistent than people’s CrossFire rigs, and I get a lot more work units completed than the majority of people – and that’s what matters to me.

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