“CrossFire is more than just a case of matching NV
checkbox for checkbox.”
“..there are a number of areas where it seems sure to
put SLI in the shade. The first is ease of use. Unlike SLI,
there’s no need to reboot swap between dual and single
card rendering modes. Similarly, there’s no need for
the motherboard selector cards or jumpers as seen on NV’s
nForce 4 for SLI. Just flick a software switch in the video
driver and off you go."
Alberto Falchi – Giochi Per Il Mio Computer
"The Crossfire technology has tremendous potential… using
the super tiling technology the load balancing should
be very efficient and compatible with every game in the
market. In addition to pure speed, the image quality
should be assured thanks to super AA. If Crossfire would
maintain its promises, it will be a pleasant surprise
for enthusiast gamers."
Andreas Schilling, Hardwareluxx, Germany
"
...a well
thought out and elegant solution..."
Nico Ernst, Golem.de Germany
"
Altogether, ATIs solution
looks on paper much more flexible than SLI..."
Manfred Bertuch, Heise.de, Germany
"
...promises
a series of advantages compared with SLI..."
"An advantage compared with Nvidias SLI-concept…absolutely
every game is compatible with CrossFire while SLI only
works with around 100 games. And you do not have to work
with two identical ATI graphics cards."
Dario Zini, CHIP Italy
"Compared to the
competitor’s solution the CrossFire platform offers
the great advantages of an almost complete compatibility
with DirectX and OpenGL games and a better balance of the
load on each Vpu. Not less important is the fact that the
two boards don’t need to be exactly the same, as
required in the SLI solution: if promises are respected,
CrossFire will be, without any dubts, the most advanced
consumer graphic platform ever produced. We have to see
if, in the near future, the Dual Vpu solutions like CrossFire
and SLI, clearly oriented to a videogame user, will be
successful or will have to indirectly compete against the
new generation of game consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation
3, Revolution) as their technical specifications, and graphic
potentials too, are really impressive."
Marton Erdös, CHIP, Hungary
"Ati CrossFire
is a very good and wise way to dramatically improve
your 3D performance. You can keep your older
X800 or X850 card and you just need an other master
card to enjoy it. Pared with a CrossFire ready motherboard
it could be a very strong and fast gaming machine for
a reasonable price."
Danilo Loda, PC World Italy
"
Crossfire is surely
the right alternative to NVIDIA SLI. The Super AA technology
can truly change
the game experience leading it to a new standard of gaming
reality. In the end, the compatibility with all videogames
can become the real ace for winning the battle of dual
GPU solutions against NVIDIA."
Paolo Besser – The Game Machine (Italia)
"ATI’s
response to current dual GPU technologies seems very
convincing."
"Crossfire shows a certain attention towards end
users who want to apply the brute force of a dual GPU
rig towards image quality and lays down excellent promises
for the building of powerful workstations at a low price."
Damien Triolet, Hardware.fr
"… overall, ATI’s
CrossFire technology seems to us a more advanced technology
than Nvidia’s
SLI…CrossFire as presented by ATI should make it
possible to get more from a dual GPU solution, at the
very least having FSAA of very high quality…"
Michael Santorum, Meristation, Spain
"
..amazing improvements including Antialising
16x, new architecthure of sahders and three new render
modes…."
"Supertiling, Scissor andAlternate Frame Rendering
are the new features that will give us an incredible
new platform for gamers."
"In the next days we will have a complete Crossfire
article on Mersitation.com…"
Overclockers.ru
"
ATI graphics boards also have a
smaller load on +12V line and run cooler than the NV40/45
family"
HardOCP.com
" In my opinion, three
features really make ATI’s
CrossFire solution appealing versus the competition at
this point. The first is the obvious non-reliance on
any kind of gaming profile system…. The second
advantage is the ability to pair up different brands
of video cards…. The third advantage we see is
the Super Anti-Aliasing feature."
AnandTech.com
" Looking at all the
features, if performance ends up equal or in ATI's favor,
we have
to consider CrossFire
the more interesting solution. The flexibility of easily
using multiple displays along side multi-GPU performance
combined with the option of enabling higher quality AA
(including rotated grid SSAA) is impossible to ignore.
Add to that the ability to upgrade existing hardware
without needing an exact match and we are sold."
Will Harrris, Bit-Tech UK
"ATI, whilst later to
market than its rival, appears to have put some
serious thought into remedying the deficiencies
within SLI."
"Undoubtedly the biggest selling point for Crossfire
is the universal game support offered by super-tiling,
which could prove outrageously popular with a wide range
of gamers."
Anton Shilov, X-Bit Labs
"ATI CrossFire presents everything needed for
a premium class graphics solution: stunning image quality,
broad compatibility and high performance, three things
that gamers not constrained by budgets would pay attention
to. Probably, ATI’s finest 14x antialiasing, which
is only available on the company’s multi-GPU solutions,
is a thing that should be worth additional money spent
on an extra graphics card, as blazing image quality may
be even more important than extreme performance in currently
available games."
Lars Weinand, Toms Hardware Guide
"ATI did…a
lot of things better: A choice of card configurations,
the ability to use existing X800
or X850 cards, more dual-rendering modes and Super AA
to improve picture quality. Furthermore CrossFire supports
all DirectX and OpenGL games."
Hielko van der Hoorn, Tweakers Netherlands
"ATI’s
Crossfire technology looks promising."
"It is more flexible than nVidia's SLI, offers
more features and has the potential to offer higher performance."
Dave Ross, Hexus, UK
"If they (deliver on time),
then without doubt the Crossfire will be the fastest
gaming platform at
launch. NVIDIA have done well, really well with the deployment
of 6800SLi, but what compelling message do they have
if ATI's CrossFire solution is indeed 60% faster in TWIMTBP
titles? We look forward to evaluating these impressive
claims when we get the kit in our labs"
Allan Campbell, DriverHeaven, UK
"It's safe to say ATI have hit the nail on
the head again with their dual card solution. Removing
the
driver application specific limitations imposed by nVidia’s
SLI design and combined with the raw horsepower of the
X8xx series core, Crossfire is guaranteed to be driving
force behind every enthusiasts’ gaming experience."
James Morris, PC Plus UK
"CrossFire certainly looks like it could
give SLI a good run for its money. The flexibility of graphics
card choice could well convince those who thought SLI
was too picky to try out multi-GPU. I can’t wait
to give it a try!"
Fuad Abazovic, Theinquirer.net, UK
" Compared with
two 6800 Ultra SLI, ATI's Crossfire should end up about
10 per cent faster in 3Dmark05 benchmark,
about 30 percent in Splinter Cell C.T and more than 60
percent in Need For Speed Underground 2."
Antal Tungler, PC World, Hungary
"ATI's CrossFire
system has all the specs that could get their nose in
front of NVIDIA's SLI. We have
seen the system only partially in action, but should
it stand up to what Richard told us about it. CrossFire
could well shoot itself right into first place of choices
for gaming enthusiasts! - We're really eager to get one
into our test lab at any rate!"
Paolo Corsini, Hardwareupgrade Italy
"ATI CrossFire
when compared with NVIDIA SLI is surely more flexible
thanks to a lot of performance modalities,
not demanding two perfectly identical cards."
"The customer will have the opportunity to add
a second graphic board in order to not only go in search
of greater performances, but also in order to obtain
a better image thanks to the never seen before Super
AA modality."
"The choice to not to use an internal connector
between the two boards, is very smart and clever and
will make happy all the end users owners of a Radeon
X800 and X850 PCI Express that we can actually consider
as CrossFire ready end users."
Carsten Spille, Computerbase.de Germany
"CrossFire can and will be positioned as
a serious competitor and even in many situations a superior
solution
to Nvidias SLI. Advantages are: more flexibility when
choosing cards and most importantly the offered "superior-IQ" modes.
Also, we need to mention the gaming compatibility. CrossFire
has the advantage that under Direct3D, there is a fall
back to the SuperTiling-Mode."
Oliver Haake, PC Games Hardware Germany
"ATI is
fighting back."
"(CrossFire has) some very interesting ideas.
There are two of the three rendering processes at least
on the paper more flexible than Nvidia’s SLI. Furthermore,
the picture quality is improved through Super Anti Aliasing
as well as the upgrade idea which was created from necessity.
If the by ATI promised availability of CrossFire cards
of the current generations stays for longer, you can
look into a secure future in regards to the upgrades.
You can buy now one CrossFire mainboard with only one
Radeon card and add in one or two years a CrossFire graphics
card."
Antonino Tumeo, Nextgame Italy
"It’s clear that ATI is really serious about
CrossFire: a valid, flexible, feature rich and future
proof solution that on paper seems to put much pressure
on NVIDIA’s latest and much emphasized dual VPU
technology, the now well-known SLI."
Levent Pekcan, Darkhardware
"It is very clear that
ATI's CrossFire solution is offering more flexibility
and ease of use to the users
and from a technical viewpoint, it is a pathway to Multi-GPU
graphic cards. The ability of using CrossFire to increase
the image quality is also an important aspect of this
new technology."
George Dragon, GameStar Hungary
" ATI proved that
it was worth the extra wait - Crossfire delivers more
speed and reliability, and not
only broadens, but speeds up the expectations and sets
a new graphics horizon..."
Xander Hoose, PCM, Netherlands
" ...the red guys
have done it again. CrossFire seems to make more sense
than SLI does as it's support
for games isn't limited to the driver.
The four different rendering modes allow for more flexibility
and quality. If ATI manages to convince the customer
of the superiority of its product than nVidia might be
in for some trouble..."
Pierfrancesco Costantini, 3D Italia
"ATI Crossfire
technology represents the currently best solution in
the market for enthusiast gamers and
protects the end user investment since it will be not
necessary to change the own graphic board."
Lambros Georgogalas, PC World Greece
"if half the
features of Crossfire work (and I have no reason to believe
that the rest won't!) NVIDIA
is in real trouble in the department of multiple VPUs!
The stability of the platform and the performance advantage
is something that remains to be tested when the first
samples arrive, but the flexibility seems definitely
better and the overall solution more practical and appealing
to the gamers. Considering the special quality enhancing
mode, the ability to drive up to 5 displays and to accelerate
virtually every 3D game, Crossfire can adapt to serve
different needs."
Nusret Erturan, PCNET.com.tr - Turkey
"Crossfire: ATI’s
courage under fire."