ATi Quad GPU CrossFire

[FraGTastiK]

I think I've read about Dual X1600 cards somewhere before but now there's a picture of the DualX1600 and further confirmation of Quad GPU CrossFire
with upcoming RD580 chipset.The article says X1800 and 1900 Dual GPU cards are in works also,probably from ASUS and GIGABYTE.

Currently it seems that it will be similar to the way ASUS Dual EN7800GT did the Quad GPU rendering, two cards with dual GPUs on each not like DELL(or nVIDIA's) quad SLI wich has four PCBs and four GPUs.

rough translation of Hradspell's page (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=zh_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardspell.com%2Fnews%2Fshowco nt.asp%3Fnews_id%3D21351)


http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=15783&stc=1&d=1137876664

EDIT:Maybe I should have titled it "Quad GPU rendering using ATi Cards".this may be how ASUS or GIGIABYTE are planning to go Quad GPU.ATi's method may differ from ASUS and GIGABYTE like nV's did .

[Dazz]

Technically CrossFire can support ulimited GPU's it was orginally designed for simulators. And was ported to users. I noticed the new GPU is ASUS with another new cooling system.
Also it states thats 1600XT x2, but 2 of thoses cards would be X4

[retsam]

Technically CrossFire can support ulimited GPU's it was orginally designed for simulators. And was ported to users. I noticed the new GPU is ASUS with another new cooling system.
Also it states thats 1600XT x2, but 2 of thoses cards would be X4
ya but that is a very specialized system. that isnt a pc by any stretch of the imagination. you make it sound like its just a matter of porting the boards over to the pc. you have to remember that those simulation systems have dedicated line cards to control the gpu and cpu communications. ATI has to take all those line card functions and intagrate them into an single asic.

[FraGTastiK]

yep ATi and NVIDIA both had their multi (more than two) GPU renderings up and running before.nVIDIA had it way back to GeForce4 but those were not for consumer PC market.

Ever since the release of the GeForce 4 Ti, NVIDIA’s GPU’s can be used in multi-chip configurations, which is what Quantum 3D base their visual simulation products on. This feature is not very helpful to the average user, as buying a multi-GPU rendering board from Quantum 3D is really not an option (unlike the old days with the Obsidian brands). So to make multi-GPU setups affordable for the consumer market, NVIDIA had to architect a new strategy. (http://www.penstarsys.com/archive/2004_11_16.htm)

[FraGTastiK]

ATi's 3D Architect and Hardware Design Manager on Quad GPU XFire:

PH!: Are there any plans for a motherboard like the Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Quad that can run four ATI cards working in CrossFire? NVIDIA has quite a few dual GPU products – will we see a similar solution (or a dual-core GPU) from ATI? It would be great to see a dual X1800 XT pushing Adaptive AA for HDTV 1080i :)

ED: Our designs were made to be very scalable. Evans and Sutherland ships a 16 chip version of our chips using super tiling as their default rendering mode. We designed to scale up to 256 chips. So, there's nothing that would prevent it from working technically, but power, heat and cost are the core issues.

Full interview here. (http://prohardver.hu/c.php?mod=20&id=996&p=1)

Lots of info there.again it confirms that ATi believes: "today, applications don't use fix function pipelines anymore, but create powerful shader programs to execute on the HW. It's not “how many pixels can you pop out per second?”, it's “what is the throughput of your shader”?. Our R5xx architecture has moved away from simply scaling of pipelines."

EDIT:I have not seen any benchmarks of Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Quad running in quad sli anywhere (wich PH mentiones as a QuadSLI Mainboard)THG's review did not include any Qual SLI benchmarks so I'm not sure if Gigabyte's mainboard is ever going to do quad sli.

[Medion]

I still don't see a point in an SLI system, so quad-SLI does not interest me.

[FraGTastiK]

I dont think Quad GPU solutions for gaming either from nV or ATi is the most cost effective way to part with your hard earned(unless you are Mr. money bag) neither SLI is going to give you double the performance in every single game but it really helps if you want to game at 16x12 and above with filters on.(not to mention games like CoD2 that can enjoy SLI even at 1280x1024.)

[Dazz]

I might be intrested but i don't like extrenal power although heard if you got a good PSU you can use the 6 pin PCI-E power connector. For dual X1600 cards i am sure most power supplies can handle it.

[Kerion]

I still don't see a point in an SLI system, so quad-SLI does not interest me.

Its supposed to make you feel cool :)

Seriously though, I am with you. SLI is a neat buzz thing, but just like 3dfx SLI died away, so will this new incarnation. Dual-core GPU's will kill SLI, and I would imagine those aren't terribly far off now that dual-core CPU's are becoming more prevelant.

[retsam]

Dual-core GPU's will kill SLI, and I would imagine those aren't terribly far off now that dual-core CPU's are becoming more prevelant.oh boy..you must be new ....here let me clue you in ...gpu's are already in a sence dual core.and have been for years. due to there ability todo parallel computation (ie quads).you cant really compare cpu's to gpu's

[FraGTastiK]

Actually I think Quad SLI will have a totally different value if it could use all or at least half of the total mem chips capacity as one big frame buffer like other members have stated/wished before(restam I think) , that way it would be more cost effective and more appealing to true knowledgeable enthusiasts and will have less wasted Vram.

Still have to wait and see what nV's Quad SLI is truely capable of , I hope they surprise us!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This may be somehow related to what I was talking about.

Rumorhouse.com says nVIDIA is ready to make 1GB Quadros using G71 core that means G71 design can handle 1GB memory so eventually we may see an expensive 1GB gaming card but will it be on G71 core or G80?that remains to be seen.(TS said UT2k7/UE3 can use up to 1GB Memory if it feels like it.)

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29469

[jAkUp]

In my opinion external power is better, more stable power that doesn't leach off other components.

[FearMeAll]

Its supposed to make you feel cool :)

Seriously though, I am with you. SLI is a neat buzz thing, but just like 3dfx SLI died away, so will this new incarnation. Dual-core GPU's will kill SLI, and I would imagine those aren't terribly far off now that dual-core CPU's are becoming more prevelant.
nah because when dual gpu cards are out like I want them then I will get 2 of those and run them in SLI so I can have 4. :D

[FraGTastiK]

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/update.gif



http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=17080&stc=1&d=1143750603

The Dual X1600 card is also refered to as Gemini.RV570 and RV560 will support ATi Crossfire including Gemini GPU (Quad Crossfire).

Looks like ATi is also toying with the Quad GPU idea.

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=3433

[superklye]

Shouldn't ATI worry about getting two-card Xfire to work before worrying about throwing more cards into the mix?

[pkirby11]

Shouldn't ATI worry about getting two-card Xfire to work before worrying about throwing more cards into the mix?

You know I remember when SLI first sucked, like serious driver issues in a lot of games, I should know I had SLI from the very beginning. Give ATI some time and you'll see XFire mature. NVIDIA and SLI did, same thing will happen with ATI. Unfourtanetly they can't afford to screw around, since SLI is now more mature and been out on the market longer.

[superklye]

You know I remember when SLI first sucked, like serious driver issues in a lot of games, I should know I had SLI from the very beginning. Give ATI some time and you'll see XFire mature. NVIDIA and SLI did, same thing will happen with ATI. Unfourtanetly they can't afford to screw around, since SLI is now more mature and been out on the market longer.
That's exactly what I'm saying. Get two cards working before worrying about four.

[Dazz]

God i remember when SLi first came out too, i had the dual 6800 cards performed great but the support was so limited it was almost useless.

[pkirby11]

God i remember when SLi first came out too, i had the dual 6800 cards performed great but the support was so limited it was almost useless.

LOL, yeah it was great. I was like look everyone I bet your jealous of my L33T gaming rig, but hardly any games worked well so people all laughed. Now who's laughing!!!! Ohh, wait I have XFire now DOH!!!!!!! :D No seriously XFire is nice IMHO, but it does need its work. I want the new 6.4's to come out for Oblivion. :(