Video cards?

Question

I am thinking of buying 2 x HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo 512MB video cards. Will ATI CrossFire work with both PCI Express and AGP, or just PCI Express?

And does anyone know where I can get the ATI CrossFire Chip?

Answer 1

crossfire is only designed for pci-express type interface as is s.l.i(scalable link interface)from nvidia
you have to use a crossfire enabled motherboard such as the Asrock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard(http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-016-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=808),this is a excellent board for just £37.99..£44.64 inc VAT
,and has some great specifications including ....
AMD 480X CrossFire™ + ATI™ SB600 Chipsets
- FSB 1000 MHz (2.0 GT/s), Hyper-Transport Technology and AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- AMD LIVE!™ Ready
- Supports ATI™ CrossFire™
- Untied Overclocking : During Overclocking, FSB enjoys better margin due to fixed PCIE/ PCI Buses
- Supports Dual Channel DDRII800/667/533 , 4 x DIMM slots, with max. capacity up to 8GB
combining your 2 x HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo 512MB on this board will be 100% possible and having used just one of these cards the performance will be amazing,and also as the IceQ3 cooling is very good you wont need to worry about keeping the p.c,s temperture down,these cards will look after themselves
the only matter you may have to look at is your power supply(psu) as one of these cards need at least a 450watt power supply sp 2 of these will require at least a 600watt psu,it may run both on a 500watt psu but this is cutting it fine ,go for a 600watt or more
a.g.p cards were never designed for crossfire or sli,however around 6 years ago 3dfx who made the voodoo series of graphic cards designed a dual agp graphic card however this was really two 3dfx voodoo chips on one agp graphics board,but it was the first ever dual graphic card until crossfire and s.l.i arrived
any problems let me know
good luck mate!

Answer 2

Just to clarify some of the comments already in here, the X1950 Pro IS Xfire compatible, (if you are looking at the PCI-e version, as Xfire is not AGP enabled) and there will be a performance hike if you link 2 together into a system. It is true that some games are not SLi or Xfire enabled, but which means they will not take full advantage of the system capability, but this will be the same regardless of the cards you use, be they X1950 or 8800 Ultras.

More important is the introduction of DirectX 10. This will have a fundamental difference in the quality of the visuals that games can use. There are a whole host of new features which just cannot be done without DX10, and these are now just coming out in games such as Bioshock (just out) and Crysis (due Nov).

Critical point is that DX10 only works in Vista, and you have to have a DX10 enabled card. None of the older card are, including the X1950.

This is prob. the worst time you could have chosen to upgrade your gfx card, as DX10 is still new enough to attract a premium for compatible cards, whilst non-compliant cards are still going for near retail price. If you are building a new system I would recommend having a look at the ATi or Nvidia cards which are compatible, as buying 2 cards is quite a financial commitment, and you should be looking to future proof your system.

Nvidia have the 8600 and 8800 models, and ATi have the X2600 and X2900. There is also the X2400, but although this is DX10 compatible, it is not clear if it has sufficient poke to run the games at an acceptable level.

Final point: Ignoring DX10 and future developments the X1950 Pro is a superb card, without doubt the best AGP card ever produced, and the one I have in the PC I am writing this on at the moment!!

Answer 3

I just bought an X1950 Pro IceQ3. The best bang for the buck card i have ever bought. And thats coming from a die hard Nvidia gamer.
To answer your question, once you go PCI Express you cant go back. The card wont even fit in the same slot as AGP.

Answer 4

Hold onto your wallet.

Two use two x1950's you need a motherboard with 2 x PCI-e x16 slots that supports CrossFire.

But buying a dual card setup is only usefull when buying two of the best cards on the market, the 8800-series Nvidia or the x2900-series ATi.

A single 8800-series Nvidia will outperform two x1950pro's, for a similar cost but you don't have to mess with two cards (which will also use more power and produce more heat than a single card).

Answer 5

You need 2 PCIe graphics slots to run Crossfire. On some motherboards where there is an 8x AGP slot and a 16x PCIe slot, only ONE slot works at a time. And there are no motherboards with dual AGP ports.

Answer 6

Only with PCI-express