AMD CrossFire: Difference between revisions
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{{redirect|CrossFire|other uses|crossfire (disambiguation)}} |
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{{Infobox computer hardware |
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|name = AMD CrossFireX |
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|image = AMD CrossFireX Logo.svg |
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|caption = The AMD CrossFireX™ Logo |
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|type = Multi-[[Graphics processing unit|GPU]] |
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|manufacturer = [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]] |
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|connection = * [[PCI Express]] |
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* AMD Chipset Series ([[ATI Hybrid Graphics#Hybrid CrossFire / Hybrid CrossFireX|Hybrid CrossFireX]]) |
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**[[AMD 700 chipset series#790GX|790GX]] |
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**[[AMD 700 chipset series#780G/780V|780G]] |
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**[[AMD 700 chipset series#760G|760G]] |
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**[[AMD 700 chipset series#785G|785G]] |
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**[[AMD 800 chipset series#880G|880G]] |
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**[[AMD 800 chipset series#890GX|890GX]] |
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}} |
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'''AMD CrossFireX''' (previously known as '''CrossFire''') is a brand name for the multi-[[Graphics processing unit|GPU]] solution by [[Advanced Micro Devices]], originally developed by [[ATI Technologies]]. The technology allows up to four [[GPU]]s to be used in a single computer to improve graphics performance. |
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==Configurations== |
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===First-generation=== |
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September 27, 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1310207&tid=152&tid=137|title=ATI Launches Crossfire... Finally|work=Slashdot|date=26 September 2005|accessdate=28 December 2009}}</ref> The system required a CrossFire-compliant [[motherboard]] with a pair of ATI [[Radeon]] [[PCI Express]] (PCIe) graphics cards. Radeon [[Radeon R420|x800s]], x850s, x1800s and x1900s came in a regular edition, and a 'CrossFire Edition' which has 'master' capability built into the hardware. 'Master' capability is a term used for 5 extra image compositing chips, which combine the output of both cards.<ref>[http://techreport.com/articles.x/8826/1 Tech Report] article on CrossFire</ref> One had to buy a Master card, and pair it with a regular card from the same series. The Master card shipped with a proprietary [[Digital Visual Interface|DVI]] Y-dongle, which plugged into the primary DVI ports on both cards, and into the [[Computer display|monitor]] cable. This dongle serves as the main link between both cards, sending incomplete images between them, and complete images to the monitor. Low-end Radeon [[Radeon R520|x1300]] and x1600 cards have no 'CrossFire Edition' but are enabled via software, with communication forwarded via the standard [[PCI Express]] slots on the motherboard. ATI currently has not created the infrastructure to allow [[ATI FireGL|FireGL]] cards to be set up in a CrossFire configuration. The 'slave' graphics card needed to be from the same family as the 'master'. |
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An example of a limitation in regard to a Master-card configuration would be the first-generation CrossFire implementation in the Radeon X850 XT {{Not a typo|Master Card}}. Because it used a compositing chip from [[Silicon Image Inc.|Silicon Image]] (SiI 163B TMDS), the maximum resolution on an X850 CrossFire setup was limited to 1600×1200 at 60 Hz, or 1920×1440 at 52 Hz. This was considered a problem for [[Cathode ray tube|CRT]] owners wishing to use CrossFire to play games at high resolutions, or owners of Widescreen [[Thin film transistor liquid crystal display|LCD]] monitors. As many people found a 60 Hz refresh rate with a CRT to strain one's eyes, the practical resolution limit became 1280×1024, which did not push CrossFire enough to justify the cost.<ref>[http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODE1LDUsLA== HardOCP] article on CrossFire</ref> The next generation of CrossFire, as employed by the X1800 Master cards, used two sets of compositing chips and a custom double density dual-link DVI Y-dongle to double the bandwidth between cards, raising the maximum resolution and refresh rate to far higher levels. |
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===Second-generation (Software CrossFire)=== |
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When used with ATI's "CrossFire [[Xpress 3200]]" motherboard chipset, the 'master' card is no longer required for every "CrossFire Ready" card (with the exception of the Radeon X1900 series). With the CrossFire Xpress 3200, two normal cards can be run in a Crossfire setup, using the [[PCI Express|PCI-E]] bus for communications. This is similar to X1300 CrossFire, which also uses PCI Express, except that the Xpress 3200 had been built for low-latency and high-speed communication between graphics cards.<ref>[http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2767 Anandtech] article on the Xpress 3200</ref> While performance was impacted, this move was viewed as an overall improvement in market strategy, because Crossfire Master cards were expensive, in very high demand, and largely unavailable at the retail level. |
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Although the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset is indeed capable of CrossFire through the PCI-e bus for every Radeon series below the X1900s, the driver accommodations for this CrossFire method has not yet materialized for the X1800 series. ATI has said that future revisions of the Catalyst driver suite will contain what is required for X1800 [[dongle]]less CrossFire, but has not yet mentioned a specific date. |
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=== Current generation (CrossFireX) === |
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[[File:Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 – 2 CrossFire connections PNr°0311.jpg|thumb|A CrossFireX connection on a graphics card]] |
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[[File:AMD CrossFireX – bridge connector-top oblique PNr°0372.jpg|thumb|left|Top view...]] |
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[[File:AMD CrossFireX – bridge connector-bottom oblique PNr°0369.jpg|thumb|left|...and bottom view of a CrossFireX bridge connection]] |
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[[File:Computer system with 3,16Ghz Core 2 Duo, 6GB RAM and 2x Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire.jpg|thumb|right|An example of CrossFire usage – with two Radeon HD 4850 cards ([[Radeon R700|RV770]] GPU)]] |
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With the release of the [[Radeon]] X1950 Pro ([[Radeon R520|RV570]] GPU), ATI has completely revised CrossFire's connection infrastructure to further eliminate the need for past Y-[[dongle]]/Master card and slave card configurations for CrossFire to operate. ATI's CrossFire connector is now a ribbon-like connector attached to the top of each graphics adapter, similar to nVidia's [[Scalable Link Interface|SLI]] bridges, but different in physical and logical natures.<ref name="AnandTech">{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2858&p=3|title=AnandTech}}</ref> As such, Master Cards no longer exist, and are not required for maximum performance. Two dongles can be used per card; these were put to full use with the release of CrossFireX. Radeon HD 2900 and HD 3000 series cards use the same ribbon connectors, but the HD 3800 series of cards only require one ribbon connector, to facilitate CrossFireX.<ref>[http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/11/30/rv670_amd_ati_radeon_hd_3870/6 bit-tech review of the HD 3870], retrieved January 25, 2008</ref> Unlike older series of Radeon cards, different HD 3800 series cards can be combined in CrossFire, each with separate clock control. |
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Since the release of the codenamed ''Spider'' desktop platform from AMD on November 19, 2007, the CrossFire setup has been updated with support for a maximum of four video cards with the [[AMD 700 chipset series#Multi-graphics|790FX chipset]]; the CrossFire branding was then changed to "'''ATI CrossFireX'''". The setup, which, according to internal testing by AMD, will bring at least 3.2x performance {{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} increase in several games and applications which required massive graphics capabilities of the computer system, is targeted to the enthusiast market. |
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A later development to the CrossFire infrastructure includes a dual GPU solution with on-board PCI-E bridge that was released in early 2008, the Radeon HD 3870 X2 and later in Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards, featuring only one CrossFire connector for dual card, four GPU scalability. |
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An earlier CrossFireX and chipset compatibility chart is shown here:<ref>[http://game.amd.com/us-en/content/images/crossfirex/CF_combo_chart.jpg Earlier AMD CrossFireX and Chipset Compatibility Chart]</ref> |
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The latest compatibility chart, as of March 2012, shows AMD 890, 990 and A75 chipsets — and many Intel chipsets including Z68 and X79 chipsets — as being compatible with CrossFireX; it also shows which GPU cards (in the HD 5750 / 6750 / 7750, HD 5770 / 6770 / 7770, and HD 58 / 59 / 68 / 69 / 78 / 79 series) may be paired with an external bridge (the new HD 7750 and HD 7770 cards may be paired without an external bridge).<ref>[http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg Latest AMD CrossFireX and Chipset Compatibility Chart]</ref> |
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=== The next generation === |
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It appears that the upcoming Radeon R9-290X graphics card (based on [[Volcanic Islands (GPU family)|Volcanic Islands]] GPUs) would not need CrossFire bridges, and that it does not even have the ports. PCI Express ports alone might provide enough bandwidth, rendering the use of a CrossFire bridge unnecessary.<ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-radeon-r9-290x-crossfire,24479.html |
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| title = Report: Radeon R9-290X Won't Need CFX Bridge, to be $600 |
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| date = 2013-10-01 | accessdate = 2013-10-07 |
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| publisher = Tom's Hardware |
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.dailytech.com/AMD+Soft+Launches+Volcanic+Islands+GPUs+With+Programmable+Audio+in+Hawaii/article33449.htm |
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| title = AMD Soft Launches "Volcanic Islands" GPUs With Programmable Audio in Hawaii |
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| date = 2013-09-25 | accessdate = 2013-10-07 |
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| publisher = Daily Tech |
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}}</ref> |
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==Hybrid CrossFireX / Dual Graphics== |
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{{seealso|ATI Hybrid Graphics}} |
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There is also a “hybrid” mode of CrossFireX which combines on-board graphics using the AMD [[Northbridge (computing)|northbridge]] architecture with selected<ref name="AMD CF Chart"/> graphic cards. The current generation<ref>{{cite web|title=ATI CrossFireX™ {{!}} GAME.AMD.COM |url=http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_hybrid.aspx|publisher=AMD|accessdate=23 September 2010}}</ref> is called Hybrid CrossFireX and is available for motherboards with integrated AMD chipsets in the [[AMD 700 chipset series|7]] and [[AMD 800 chipset series|8]] series [[Graphics_processing_unit#Integrated_graphics_solutions|IGPs]], referred to as [[ATI_Hybrid_Graphics#Hybrid_CrossFire_.2F_Hybrid_CrossFireX_.2F_Dual_Graphics|Hybrid CrossFireX]]. It allows combining discrete video cards (<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ATI_Hybrid_Graphics&oldid=381519533#Hybrid_CrossFire.2FHybrid_CrossFireX Wikipedia's page on ATI Hybrid Graphics] As of 23 September 2010 Wiki link refers to two discreet cards+IGP, but unable to verify this on AMD website and it still seems unsubstantiated after reading a [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.hkepc.com/484 Google translation] of the article</ref> <ref>[http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=262&threadid=102306 Triple Hybrid CrossfireX working] AMD forums, retrieved 23 September 2010</ref>) and the IGP for increased performance.<ref name="AMD CF Chart">{{cite web|title=Combination Options Chart|url=http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_ChartsDiagrams/HighResolutionJPEG/CF_combo_chart.jpg|accessdate=22 September 2010}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|title=AMD 790GX Chipset|url=http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/chipsets/7-series-integrated/Pages/amd-790gx-chipset.aspx|publisher=AMD|accessdate=22 September 2010}}</ref> This combination results in power-savings when simple or 2D graphics are used and performance increases of 25% to over 200% in 3D graphics over using a non CrossFire option.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bell |first=Brandon |title=AMD CrossFireX and Hybrid Graphics Performance Preview|url=http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_crossfire_x_hybrid_graphics_performance/page17.asp|accessdate=23 September 2010|date=4 March 2008}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|last= Toepelt|first=Bert |title= Benchmark Analysis - 65% More Performance Through Hybrid-Crossfire |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-780g-chipset,1785-13.html|publisher=Tom's Hardware|accessdate=23 September 2010|date=4 March 2008 }}</ref> As of March 2012, it appears that this is now called "[[ATI_Hybrid_Graphics#Hybrid_CrossFire_.2F_Hybrid_CrossFireX_.2F_Dual_Graphics|AMD Radeon Dual Graphics]]" and means using A-series [[AMD_Fusion|Fusion APUs]] together with video cards.<ref>http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/Pages/dual-graphics.aspx#3</ref><ref>http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/Pages/dual-graphics.aspx#2</ref> |
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==Comparisons to Nvidia SLI== |
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===Advantages=== |
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* CrossFire can be implemented with varying-GPU cards of the same generation (this is in contrast to Nvidia's SLI, which generally only works if all cards have the same GPU). This allows buyers who have varying budgets over time to purchase different cards and still get the benefits of increased performance. With the latest generation cards, they will only crossfire with other cards in their sub series. For example, GPU in the same series can be crossfired with each other. So a 5800 series GPU (e.g. a 5830) can run together with another 5800 series GPU (e.g. 5870). However GPUs not in the same hundred series cannot be crossfired successfully (e.g. a 5770 cannot run with a 5870). |
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* ATI CrossFire configurations can run many monitors of varying size and resolution, while SLI only allows three monitors. The exception being Nvidia Surround which enables connection of up to four 2D displays and three 3D displays, although all displays must be the same resolution for this to work.<ref>http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/3dvision-surround/system-requirements</ref> |
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===Disadvantages=== |
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* The first generation CrossFire implementations (the Radeon X800 to X1900 series) require an external y-cable/[[dongle]] to operate in CrossFire mode due to the PCI-e bus not being able to provide enough bandwidth to run CrossFire without losing a significant amount of performance. |
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* In some cases CrossFire doesn't improve 3D performance – in some extreme cases, it can lower the framerate due to the particulars of an application's coding. This is also true for Nvidia's SLI, as the problem is inherent in multi-GPU systems. This is often witnessed when running an application at low resolutions. {{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} |
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* When using CrossFire with [[Alternate Frame Rendering|AFR]], the subjective framerate can often be lower than the framerate reported by benchmarking applications, and may even be poorer than the frame rate of its single-GPU equivalent. This phenomenon is known as [[micro stuttering]] and also applies to SLI since it's inherent to multi-GPU configurations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,631668 |title=Video proof: Micro stuttering may destroy the performance gains from current multi GPU technologies |author=Raffael Vötter |date=2008-02-08 |publisher=PC Games Hardware Online |accessdate=2009-11-03 }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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* [[Scalable Link Interface]] |
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* [[MultiChrome]] |
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* [[Comparison of ATI chipsets]] |
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* [[Comparison of AMD chipsets]] |
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* [[Micro stuttering]] |
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* [[ATI Hybrid Graphics#Hybrid CrossFire / Hybrid CrossFireX|Hybrid CrossFireX]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://sites.amd.com/us/game/technology/Pages/crossfirex.aspx ATI's CrossFire official site] |
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* [http://www.hardocp.com/article/2005/05/30/ati_crossfire_preview Hardocp.com's CrossFire preview] |
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* [http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1310207&tid=152&tid=137 Slashdot coverage on the release of the system] |
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{{ATI}} |
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[[Category:ATI Technologies]] |
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