Depends, with crossfire you can combine two different cards. So lets say you have an Ati Radeon 9600XT and decide to buy a x8100xl you can combine the two. With SLI you can only combine two of the same cards (2x 6600GT, 2x 6800Ultra or whatever). I heard SLI is slightly faster though, and with that I mean it can send more data in the same amount of time. Ofcourse how better the card, how more data there is to send. I'm not 100% sure though, I just heard about it... I'd probably pick SLI though, as I already have a GF card EDIT: Spelling
Well, this is what crossfire means huh? Sweet...I'll go with the crossfire since thats how my system is and its something I may use in the future rather than SLI...
I would choose SLi because I read that it could run Oblivion and make it like REAL LIFE. Well thats just me I am only choosing it cause I heard it could run Oblivion good.
id just neither for now, its just a waste of money older cards like x700's can still run all current games at max fps so whats the point of wasting money on sli or crossfire and 2 cards, unless you just want to waste money, personnally id buy a really sweet asus motherboard and get a x1800 xt that will last you for at least 5 or 6 years.
I'm going for Crossfire simply because its easier to upgrade than SLi. I like the idea you can use 2 cards from different manufacturers making it easy to upgrade at your own pace. The speed difference aint going to be much and ATI are reporting that its faster than SLi (This has to be confirmed by independent reviews yet) As for the X1800, it can be Crossfired too so yep get one and then another when the prices start dropping
Meh, I my oppinion there's no point in getting duel graphics cards because they dont offer double the performance, like you only get a few extra frames that 1000$ can better spent elseware :lol: Seriously the only viable reason to get SLI/Crossfire is to show off to your mates... One problem with Crossfire is if you do mix and match say you put a X1800 and pair it with a X800 the performance if the X1800 will be scaled down with is lame so you have to buy two identical cards also the motherboard must support Crossfire, while most motherboards these days already support SLI. SLI you have to buy two identical cards too so you cant mix and match different brands they must be the same make and model :| Personally if I was to buy a duel graphics solution I'd go SLI since it's neater no big-ass connecting cable at the back) and the heat sinks on most of the newest generation nVidia cards are single slot (ATI heat sinks double slot arrggg the horror), and SLI these days yeald better results than the old versions (early adopters eat your heart out) since SLI is more refined ^_^ Hate to burst you bubble but you can only push a game so far you can get it anymore detailed as it is it all in the textures mate ^_^
Crossfire is actually better than SLI. It actually has a better percent of increase from going to one to two cards. Also it ROCKS on high res.
sounds like crossfire is a better deal than sli cuz u can mix and match so the upgrading is ezer on the wallet. and if the two dont have much difference performance-wise, then thats all you have to think about.
get neither, its only about e-penis size. At the moment lots of these setups are bottlenecked by cpu. There is absolutly no point in SLIing 7800's and x1800s as you will see max 10% performance increase due to cpu bottleneck.
whats your budget. High Class: 512mb 7800GTX if too pricey an x1800XT Mid Class: 6800GS if too pricey Connect3d x800GTO
You can't mix x800 with x1800 on Crossfire but with the new 5.11 cat you don't need a mastercard. You can mix brands but the best thing to do is make sure they are equally matched, ie same number of pipeline. Crossfire supports all current games SLi does'nt. Got to agree with you here but I'm building a new rig and want to make it as future proof as possible and that means choosing between Crossfire or SLi even thou I'll only get 1 GFX card until software begins requiring more. One think i'd like to note is that non of this is new, I had 2 Voodoo 2's link years ago to save money on buying a Voodoo 3 and they kicked arse all over my m8's Voodoo 3 for less than half the price Edit:- Just found out that with the new ForceWare driver versions 80 and up you don't need identical SLi cards, this defiantly puts a plus side on SLi, check this out http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/11/29/ati_and_nvidia/
SLi is better atm, as the cards available for the dual card settup are better than the ATi x1xx series of cards. (Sli is also cheaper) However, CF has alot more potential and is technically better in terms of how it works. With SLi, every game you have has to have special settings set up for it, whereas CF is basically plug and play, you dont have to download the settings stuff. atm I would go SLi. In the future, if the Ati cards get better, then CF.