Crossfire VS Sli Questions

Hi,

So I've been looking at the idea of multiple GPU's. And it seems ATI crossfire can use different GPUs. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1107/1/ But nvidia cards can't. Is this true?

Why would you ever use 2 different GPUs in Xfire/SLI? You would just get double the performance of the lower card, so some of your faster card is essentially wasted. However you can use one nvidia card for graphics processing with a different one for phyx...

I'm not quite sure. I was wondering why one would support this and the other wouldn't. Also was curious about performance with different GPUs and such.

To be honest it's always better to get a more powerful single card than two half as powerful ones - sometimes with new games the dual-GPU driver support will be crap. There's no real need for anybody to have two 5850's or 5870's in CF, unless you game on six 30in screens or something.

SLI requires that the cards are of the same GPU series 8600,8800,9800, etc and the same model GT,GTS,GTX. The cards can be from different manufacturers, BIOS revisions or run at different clock speeds. but the SLI setup will run at the speed of the slowest card.

not entirely true, there are a few games that running all the detail on high on one 30" monitor will give a pair of 5850's/5870's a run for its money like Crysis,and Stalker

the drivers aren't really the problem, it's the question of really needing all of that graphics power. identical adapters is always best even if two different cards are proven to work together.

Well thanks for everyones input. Also I'm finalizing an upgrade plan.Anyone wanna tell me what they think of it? No Case or HDD ect just whats listed(I have the rest)

Intel Core i5-750
Nvidia GTX 470
MSI P55-GD65
G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
Logitech G500
Logitech G15
ASUS VH232H 23" Monitor

I know GTX 470 isnt out yet. But any suggestions? AMD CPUs and ATI GPUs are out of the question. It'll be for gaming

kind of difficult to access with the GTX 4xx being an unknown. If DX11 isnt a big deal to you, GTX 260's SLI nicely.

Ok heres the deal. I'll be selling the GTX 260 to my 10 year old brother for $200. So according to my budget I'll have around 550 to spend on a GPU. And if the GTX 470 or 480 is higher then I'll cave and buy a 5870. But does GTX 260 sli beat hd 5870?

a 5870 will beat out two 260's usually, and its gotten better with 10.2 drivers, reviewed 10.3 drivers are supposed to improve performance further.
i think you will be able to get your 470 for $550 though.

Also its 550 canadian...**** CANADIAN MONEY!!! Also how much do you think the GTX 470 will cost and what will it compete with in terms of price/performance? I know this will be just speculation but I would like to know what people think about it.

well..there has never been a GPU that has been subject of more speculation, so here's mine I am not expecting the $/performance ratio to be good at all on the new Nvidia cards. Nvidia has obviously had some problems with them, otherwise they would not have let ATI have a six month lead,been so secretive with specs or benches, or delayed the launch date, I think its four times now. Ole Charlie Demerjian is like the national enquirer of technology and appears to have it in for Nvidia since they hurt his feelings, however I am starting to see articles by more trustworthy sources that are echoing the problems he has been writing about. 'that they run hot,are power hungry, and for problems with the architecture, can only support low clock speeds, and are very pricey. I am waiting to build until the GF100 are launched , but it appears that they may not be the knockout that many thought they would be. i hope that's not the case but it kinda looks that way. and again, this is merely my observations and opinions.
BTW, whats the Can/USD exchange rate these days?

Last I checked 1.39CAD=1USD.... Also semiaccurate charlie is a biased amd/ati fanboy who should dig a big pit and throw himself down it.Why do people not realize the site is littered with ati ads? And there is a reason its called semi accurate.
RANT OVER
Im also wondered whether this mobo and cpu, or my I5 one. What do you think?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130236
This would be for gaming performance with stock cooling overclocked. And although cpu wont make a difference much at 1920x1080 but in games like crysis with alot of physics would the amd or intel triumph?

you would have no shortage of volunteers to do that. unfortunately this may be a case of 'even a blind squirrel occasionally gets a nut. I hope not, but others with better credibility have joined in with the same woes. if true, not good for those of us who would rather not spend $1200 on GPU for a crossfire/SLI setup.

well the 965 will make a great gaming machine, but i5 750 beats up on it in just about every other category. but looking at strictly gaming, the difference would be negligible.

Well since my I5 build is like 20 bucks more ill stick with the I5. Is socket LGA 1156 dead like some say?

no, niether is 775, a lot of people scream foul whenever a new socket is intro'd. you have many options.

Well my core 2 duo E7500 will definity bottleneck an hd 5870 or a gtx 470. And why does the phenom X4 965 compete with the i7-920 if the i5 can match it or beat it?

in short, because its the fastest CPU that AMD has right now. nothing wrong with AMD cpu's but to be viable to the enthusiasts, they really need a new architecture that can compete with the i7,i5.

How would you presume the LGA 1156 socket is "dead", it was only released pretty much the day before yesterday.

Because Charlie Demerjian keeps screaming NVIDIA AND INTEL ARE THE END OF THE WORLD.THEY ARE DEAD AMD LIVES!!!