Crossfire Radeon HD 2900 XT

[AD-15]

hello,

I am purchasing a system from SCAN, and I originally decided to have a 8800 Ultra. But, due mainly to the selection of motherboards available, and the fact that I'd rather go with the graphic quality than pure performance (frame-rates), I decided to go with 2x 2900 XT in crossfire. I wanted to order an Asus card, but they are out of stock and so I may have to go with Sapphire.

So, two questions. What do you think of my overall decision? And what do you think of going with Sapphire over Asus?

Thanks!

[NightshadowUK]

I hope you have one hell of a big display!

As for Sapphire over Asus, in this case it's all the same bar a sticker with their logo on it.

[DratUK]

I hope you have one hell of a big display!

As for Sapphire over Asus, in this case it's all the same bar a sticker with their logo on it.

As well as a damn decent PSU, jeeze that is gonna run hot.

[AD-15]

Dude...

Thanks for the reply.

I've tried comparing their speeds, but Scan seem to have omitted the clock speeds on their website of the Sapphire card?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=595228

[DratUK]

Some helpful threads if you run into problems.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=228675

Question raised on PSU for crossfire

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=228795

I was serious about the PSU it is going to draw a lot of amps in crossfire.

The way the bar is being raised by the new ATI drivers it is turning into a decent option now. Pity the poor press write ups at the beginning.

In terms of quality I often think that is in the eye of the beholder. Unless you have two rigs together running the same game at the same point in time how easy it is to tell the difference is difficult.
Sure you can look at two still images and with a bit of study see the differences.

The ATI card atm does seem to suffer with lower frame rates the higher the quality but that will also depend on your monitor size and resolution.

I personally dont think you are making a bad choice.

[NightshadowUK]

I've tried comparing their speeds, but Scan seem to have omitted the clock speeds on their website of the Sapphire card?

Sapphire's spec sheet says it uses exactly the same clock speeds as the Asus:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/produ...trix-vga-1.xls

[Blitzen]

Strange choice that.
1 x 8800 Ultra has everything going for it and you will gain very little by going CrossFire. (Except extreme heat issues prolly).
SLi & XFire are a waste of cash tbh. By the time games come out that it will make a good difference on over the 8800Ultra they will be out of date anyway.

The others are also right. AT LEAST a 700W Know brand is in order here imho.

[NightshadowUK]

I second that, SLi and Crossfire will always be a waste unless you can afford to constantly update to two of whatever the best card is that week / month.

[eddta]

Which would actually be faster? Would it be the single 8800 ultra atm then?

[AD-15]

hello,

I was thinking about going with ATi crossfire as it has a small performance gain over the Ultra, and that the ATi cards, as I have heard, give better image quality?

[staffsMike]

The last dx10 test i read (how reliable it was I can't remember) the 2900xt murdered the GTX..double the frame rates as I remember..

Could be bull though..we need something like crysis to come out.

[OV3RCLOCK3R]

2900 is better in DX10, 8800 is better in DX9

[Blitzen]

The last dx10 test i read (how reliable it was I can't remember) the 2900xt murdered the GTX..double the frame rates as I remember..

Could be bull though..we need something like crysis to come out.

All conjecture atm. SOme of the reviews are completely the opposite.

[DataMatrix]

Graphics Quality... HD 2900 XT...

Does not compute

[AD-15]

So a single 2900 can actually beat an 8800 Ultra in DX10?

[Templar87]

In fairness to the 2900XT, it's priced to compete with the 8800GTS which it does beat in the majority of tests. The 8800 Ultra is bound to beat the 2900XT, seeing as it's so much more expensive!