crossfire mod driver on nvidia chipset

[orchid]

Hi all ,
Is there any crossfire_mod driver for ati 1950 on nvidia chipset like 84.56_mod for SLi on any chipset.I wanna run asus striker extreme MB with 2x EAX1950PRO CrossFire/HTDP/256M.It's possiple?

[Brother Esau]

In short NO! Don't know about that board but to the best of my Knowledge it wont go down with Nvidea chipsets.

[freecableguy]

Crossfire would run on Nvidia if it wasn't that they (Nvidia) disable PCI-e peer-to-peer writes if two non-Nvidia cards are detected at boot...

[ownage]

Crossfire would run on Nvidia if it wasn't that they (Nvidia) disable PCI-e peer-to-peer writes if two non-Nvidia cards are detected at boot...

And how did they managed that?, is it on hardware- or software level??

[cadaveca]

Software. Chipset driver, AFAIK. Crossfire WAS DEVELOPED on NF4...so you bet it works, and works jsut fine.

Remember ULi? RD600 was supposed to use Uli southbridge...that's why it seems like such a poor performer...because it was delayed after nV bought Uli and then shut thier doors, after ULi released mobos that supported both crossfire and SLi, against nVidia's wishes.

This was back when DFI NF4 first came out, adn all the board were basically the same...and you could mod nV NF4 chipsets that did not support SLi to support SLi. Pretty sure that that bridge that we closed on the chipset PCB was to enable peer-peer writes, or an SPI link.

[freecableguy]

And how did they managed that?, is it on hardware- or software level??

Chipset specific boot code routines do this. I suppose it is possible to mod a BIOS to prevent the lockout but the first problem is finding the undocument register...

[cadaveca]

which should be the same register that prevents SLi from working on "non-SLi approved" NF4 chipsets...whether it's the bios OR the driver. Or maybe it's both...

[macci]

1) CF was developed on ATI chipset
2) ULI SB had absolutetly nothing to do with RD600 at any point (SB600 has been out for quite a while)
3) I dont think there is any ULI board that would run CF (there was ULI DRIVER patch that would allow SLI on ULI board, there was also a rumor it would allow SLI on CrossFire board)

also nV BIOS preventing CrossFire from working on nV board has nothing to do with SLI DRIVER preventing SLI from working on CF board (or other non-SLI dual slot board).

[cadaveca]

Dave Beaumann said NF4 was part of development boards when RD480 was not available, when he still ran Beyond3D. Crossfire was ready before RD480...I bought first boards and cards too. In fact, I had 5 sets of x850XT crossfire. I'm one of many peopel ripped off in buying cards early when there was a coupon for buying all three and getting a rebate...but then the boards never came out, and the rebate expired.I remember these things Feel free to look back and see Dave's comments that NF4 was part of the development as they had designed Crosfsire as an open platform, but nVidia's tactics changed all that. This is part of the reason Crossfire works both through peer-peer PCI-E writes, but also though a SPI link(P965, anyone?). As this was BEFORE you offically worked for ATI, I think Dave might have a one-up on ya.

But you are in the lab, he's in the office, so I'll take your word for it. But then again, Eric posted pics of you first entering the lab long after this, so then again, I dunno.

RD600..lol...how long was SB600 delayed again? SB600 is intelR580...according to early roadmaps, 8x8 due to memcontroller size on die, instead of 16x16. But whateva.



Uli 1697, but it never came out, thanks to nV.

BTW, nice to see ya posting again.

also nV BIOS preventing CrossFire from working on nV board has nothing to do with SLI DRIVER preventing SLI from working on CF board (or other non-SLI dual slot board).

yeah you got me there.

[macci]

yes, we can agree that NF4 was PART of the CF testing / development - still I wouldnt go and say CF was developed using NF4.

again, ULI SB (the southbridge) had nothing to do with RD600 launch timing or any other part of the development. SB600 was up and running in the early steps of RD600 already

As far as ULI 1697 goes - it actually has been released. AsROCK 939SLI-eSATA2 was the ULI 1697 board which included the famous SLI Patch which hacked nV SLI driver and enabled SLI GFX on that ULI 1697 board.

[cadaveca]

when that board was released(1697) who owned ULi? Epox GLi as well, BTW. I meant the support for Crossfire never came out. I used to have a vid of Crossfire running on that board...but lost it ages ago, like your pics of the X850 mods that disappeared from this very site...

Dave said explicitly that they used NF4 to make sure Crossfire worked on the chipset. Back then there was no bios lock for SLi, if you remember. As this functionality was ensured, but yes, not completely developed on that board. First DFI/ASUS boards did not need anything special....my A8N Sli used to run crossfire, with a hacked driver. Bioses were changed becasue of the same chipset being used, and DFI's stand on that..remember?

So why the news that SB600 was delayed? Very many users were wanting this board...or... I get ya. RD600 was ready with R580/R480, but they waited for release, rumoured to be southbridge. But it was something else, I guess.


Thanks Macci. Always good to get some REAL info. You actually triggered my memory on the bios thing for SLi boards!

[STEvil]

any chance xfire will ever work on i5000xt?

[cadaveca]

Would Intel pay AMD to certify chipset for Crossfire, or would AMD pay Intel to ENSURE it works? 'Cause from what Macci says, AMD and thier "open platform" marketing crap is just that...crap! Either it works, or Henri and Hector are liars!

[STEvil]

I dont really care, I just wish it worked so I didnt have a bunch of cards sitting here doing nothing.

[AzraelDarkangel]

I'll look it up because I know I've seen Crossfire on Nvidia boards and vice versa, alot of the overclocking masters on this board have had rigs setup like that with modified drivers on fairly recent mobos. I'll post links here to what I find.

Argh...archives only go back so far. If you know someplace with lots of posts by "coolaler" he's had lots of rigs like that with competing graphics cards/chipsets working together with modded drivers in SLI/Crossfire. I know there are others too, I'll keep looking.

[AzraelDarkangel]

Apparently I missed the big fiasco about whether or not OPB and coolaler were cheating or not in Superpi and because of that (from a discussion I found in the archives here):
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...light=coolaler

coolaler won't post on here anymore, and I can't read his forum well since I only speak english so it's hard to find posts by him anymore.

Here's a link for Nvidia SLI to work on any chipset:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ia+motherboard

Looking for links on getting Crossfire to work on non-supporting chipsets now.

Link to post just like this one:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ia+motherboard

another one:
http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43689

According to what I can find there is alot of info on running SLI on Crossfire motherboards with hacked drivers. Urban legend has it that some ATI cards in Crossfire will work on some Nvidia SLI boards but I'm having trouble finding any. This may also be due to the compication of ATI cards going from needing a master card for Crossfire to not needing it on some newer cards. I suspect it will work if the drivers are available but Nvidia has usually been more poular so more work has gone into modded drivers for them and not so much for ATI cards.

[orchid]

when that board was released(1697) who owned ULi? Epox GLi as well, BTW. I meant the support for Crossfire never came out. I used to have a vid of Crossfire running on that board...but lost it ages ago, like your pics of the X850 mods that disappeared from this very site...

Dave said explicitly that they used NF4 to make sure Crossfire worked on the chipset. Back then there was no bios lock for SLi, if you remember. As this functionality was ensured, but yes, not completely developed on that board. First DFI/ASUS boards did not need anything special....my A8N Sli used to run crossfire, with a hacked driver. Bioses were changed becasue of the same chipset being used, and DFI's stand on that..remember?

So why the news that SB600 was delayed? Very many users were wanting this board...or... I get ya. RD600 was ready with R580/R480, but they waited for release, rumoured to be southbridge. But it was something else, I guess.


Thanks Macci. Always good to get some REAL info. You actually triggered my memory on the bios thing for SLi boards!

Where can I download a hacked CF driver.

[cadaveca]

Might be able to find one if you look back ot when DFI was getting flak from nV for not bios-licking the first string of NF4-based boards fom being SLi(not that a bios flash would not have righted the problem.) this is non-SLi boards getting modded for SLi.


So you get it? As Macci stated, bios lock. But early NF4 DFI bioses did not have this lock.. I cannot be more direct than that.

[Brother Esau]

So did you get it to go down for you?