"S. Robert said:
I have a new machine that I am building. Intel 775 board with PCI express
approved for ATI Crossfire. I got an ATI crossfire 1800. Can I set up the
machine with just the one card or do I need a second card for the other PCI
express slot?
In this article, they show a "Crossfire Edition" card and a standard
card. The Crossfire Edition card has a different connector on the
faceplate, and the box comes with the special cable used to connect
the two cards. (Be sure, if buying a refurbished card, that the
special cable is present.)
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/26/nvidia_is_in_the_crossfire/page4.html
The "Crossfire Edition" or the "Standard" Radeon, can both function
by themselves, without needing Crossfire.
The "Crossfire Edition" cards are usually more expensive than their
"Standard" counterparts.
Crossfire edition X1900 (note special dual-connector). Second
picture shows the special cable, used to hook a Crossfire edition
to another card. (Can two Crossfire Editions be connected
to one another ? I don't know.)
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-102-676-02.JPG
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-102-676-08.JPG
This is an example of the "standard" form card, with two ordinary
DVI connectors on it.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-102-003-02.JPG
As for the motherboard/chipset contribution to Crossfire, in my
eyes it seems to be a big zero. Any motherboard with a couple
PCI Express video card slots should be able to work. But ATI
can always restrict, by means of their drivers, what chipsets
will be "supported"/"restricted" to Crossfire use. In the
same way that Nvidia restricts where and when SLI can work.
Paul
