AMD CrossFireX is due next month, but already, AMD has sent out systems for testing. The only drawback is that you have to test it as it comes and with the games supplied. CrossFireX was suppose to be one of the big attractions of the AMD platform, but the drivers weren’t ready when AMD launched Phenom and the Radeon HD 3000 series in November last year. Not even when AMD launched Radeon HD 3870X2 we had working CrossFireX drivers. We’re getting closer to CrossFireX though, and the previews posted do show promise.
A sort of disclaimer:
“We’ve chosen some apps that demonstrate the performance that these new configurations afford gamers, and the scalability that can be seen when moving from a single GPU to four GPUs. While these apps show good scaling, we haven’t selected these because they represent the “best-case scenario” – in fact, there are other games that exhibit better scaling, as your testing down the road will show. The five apps we’ve chosen are intended to be a fair representation of the CrossFireX experience in general.”
The above statement proves to be true as the games supplied show a variety of scaling. The scaling is there though and it does look promising before the launch. There is especially one thing worth mentioning, and it is that DirectX 10 games are not scaling to the same degree as DirectX 9 games. Simply because of how the two works.
The platform consists of an AMD Phenom 9900 (2.6GHz), 790FX-based motherboard and a blend of Radeon HD 3870X2, 3870 and 3850 cards. You can mix and match any way you want with these. All tests were done in Vista x64, because CrossFireX is Vista-exclusive, and with a beta Catalyst 8.1 driver modded with CrossFireX support. All in all, it looks good, but you shouldn’t expect a perfect solution in March. The upcoming months will probably bring better and better performance with CrossFireX, but until then you can check out the previews that have appeared around the web;
:: Anandtech :: Hexus :: PCPerspective :: PCGamesHardware :: CPU3D ::
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