Crossfire VS SLi. And are either really worth the extra cash?

[GRunyon]

I'm building a computer and I want to build it so its dual graphics card ready so when I start feeling some lag in games I can either put another card in or use the SLi/Crossfire as a selling feature and eBay it. The thing is, I cant decide between SLi or Crossfire. My processor will probably be a E6600 Core 2 Duo (even though I'm an AMD fan). My buddy keeps insisting that ATI makes the fastest cards and Crossfire is the future... but right now SLi is the most advanced and its right now that I'm buying the motherboard technology. So who is right... should I do Crossfire or SLi?

Also, is the extra money spent making the system SLi/Crossfire ready worth it? I mean, for example, reading reviews and charts having two 7950GT's only seems to have a 30% performance advantage over having a single 7950GT. Not worth spending another 200 dollars in the build for a better PSU and motherboard plus the extra 300 dollars for the card... in my opinion. Or am I wrong?

 

[wolfram]

It depends on you. If you game at extremely high resolution, with lots of AA & AF, and all the game's settings maxed out, then you'll really appreciate dual cards.

But if you're like me, and don't care about AA and gaming at 1600x1200, then save a lot of money, and buy a single, fast videocard, like a 7900GTX or a X1950XTX.

And I think that SLI is better than Crossfire. I think SLI is a more mature technology than Crossfire. Better game developers suppot.

 

[GRunyon]

95% of the time this system will be used for MMORPG gaming. Perhaps I should just go with a single, fast card. The MAX resolution that I'll ever play at is 1440 by 900 because thats the optimal resolution for my 19" LCD Widescreen monitor...

I just dont want to be left behind in the future, though, when developers quickly start developing for the power of two cards and I'm still running one...

PS Wolfram.... I always see you on and posting on my threads! Thanks for being so helpful.

 

[wolfram]

Well, you can get a SLI mobo, and just get one card, like a 7900GTX, and then in the future, you can add another 7900 and SLI 'em

And I'm glad to help, that's why I love this place

 

[F1N3ST]

Crossfire is equal to SLI, the new Catalyst uses AFR, just like SLI, but crossfire dosnt require a bridge, like SLI does.

 

[wolfram]

But Crossfire still requires this (I think so, maybe not):

And SLI requires this:

Tha's why I say that SLI is still a better technology

 

[Tedster]

looks like the crossfire is bridged in the back via cables.

 

[F1N3ST]

No, the bridge is completely optional.

 

[F1N3ST]

That picture, is the old split frame rendering, it joins the two images at the junction, the new alternate frame rendering dosnt require that, or any bridge of any sort. It is all done on the MoBo chipset. 965P chipsets are now crossfire compatible

 

[wolfram]

I heard somewhere (can't remember ), that you need to have the Crossfire bridge in order to have good performance, otherwise, they'll comunicate using the PCI-E bus or lanes, and of course the chipset, but this method reduces performance.

Who knows if that's true...

 

[F1N3ST]

No, there is a 1-3FPS sway, positive or negative with or without the bridge, so there is no impact.