Xfire 1900 w/o dongle : Any updates?

[menlatin]

Was there any thing else said about dongle-less crossfire with the 1900's? I remember hearing that it worked with the 1800's and down, but not the 1900s'. This was with the xpress 3200 chipset only.

I've been seeing some really great prices on the 1900xt's and wish i could just grab another one for $380 (refurb) and go crossfire, but currently i guess i need the $530 master card.

[\Karting_freak]

you still need the master card (

[ahmad]

Soon ATi will release a patch for cf3200 boards. Although I doubt it would be better than using a mastercard. Even though having similar cards is easier and cheaper, having a dedicated mastercard allows you to do things like use high AA modes with very little performance hit (in comparison to nvidia).

[menlatin]

Well hell, now i found master cards on ebay for $390!! So i guess its not that bad then.

Another question though. There isn't much difference as far as 3d performance between xpress 3200 and xpress 200 (1600) chipsets is there? I mean considering that my 1900xt shows ZERO performance loss when going from a 16x pci-e slot to an 8x pci-e (on the evga nf41). I found a dfi rdx-200 for $116 refurb on newegg, and thats looking very nice right now. I dont care about the usb slow downs, just want something that will clock up my opty 144 and g.skill hz

[b1lk1]

Don't do it! RDX200 boards are buggy and lots of people having lots of issues. Plus, the Xpress 3200 boards are nice overclockers and the chipset is far better than the eariler attempts. I also believe that getting a Master is better for all the above mentioned reasons.

[uwackme]

In other words, ATI will patch the prohibition OUT of thier drivers, to allow 2 normal X1900's to perform CFire, using the PCIe bus to transfer data.

A) Overclocking the PCIe bus to 150Mhz would finally have something to show a use for.

B) Proves the fact that CFire's requirement for Mastercard or even an ATI platform (aka NF4 SLI) was always a crock coded into the drivers to prohibit consumers from making the most of thier product.

Word to the wise for ATI, just fix the drivers so CFire works between 2 X1900 (or 1800 or 850 etc) cards, on any x16/x16 socketed platform, and drop all the rest of the BS. It's insulting to your customers and the claims about requiring this or that is insulting to those with engineering expertise. Just makes you look ridiculous.

Yes, dongle-free CFire will work less effectively than using a dongle, but it'll still be a solid performance boost over single card. Further, the PCIe bus is very overclockable, and can easily get the job done in the future.

Concentrate less on artificially "protecting" your chipset marketshare (you DONT have any, duh) and spend more time getting application partners to make thier 3D applications more compatible and aware of CFire in the firstplace.

Stop making the same pathetic marketing driven product decisions that kept ATI a 2nd class company and NVidia's toady for years. You had a sea change with the 9700pro and the new driver development process, and have remade the company. Dont blow it falling back into the old ways.

[C3]

Any news regarding the ATI patch? I mean Overclocking without a Mastercard has benefits,too.
You haven't the bottleneck that Mastercards mostly use 1.2ns ram and are often coldbug affected. I think 2x X1900XTX with 1.1ns is the best option.

[G H Z]

RDX200 is a good board imo but not quite as fast without the 3200's dual 16X lanes.

[k0nsl]

I have not head a single major issue with mine yet. It has been running 100% from the get-go - incredibly stable, and I can only recommend it, particularly since the latest bios. Great board.

-k0nsl

Don't do it! RDX200 boards are buggy and lots of people having lots of issues. Plus, the Xpress 3200 boards are nice overclockers and the chipset is far better than the eariler attempts. I also believe that getting a Master is better for all the above mentioned reasons.

[C3]

Updates?

[Marioace]

talking with ATI people, they told me that X1900 will need the Dongle, the others cards wont need anymore the Dongle.

About the new GPU they told me "maybe yes or maybe not"

[Blacklash]

The composite chip on the master card and the work it does is not a myth.

[menlatin]

Sorry to bring back a seemingly dead thread, but has anyone heard news of an AM2 xpress board that may allow this? Possible hacked drivers?

[einCe]

Sorry to bring back a seemingly dead thread, but has anyone heard news of an AM2 xpress board that may allow this? Possible hacked drivers?
the r570 and r560 will do this as of yet no news on existing cards