TechBits 5 - Comparing SLI and CrossFire

[PhillyKid07]

explained properly thanks!

[kt19961996]

We need more of these techbits !!!

[faostube]

Hey awesome review.

[sutzu]

SLI was first developed by 3dfx. And stood for Scan-Line Interleave. 3dfx was the top video card producer in 90-2000, when they went bankrupt, and bought by Nvidia, nvidia used the SLI (now stands for Scalable link Interface) technology in their 6th generation, 6 years after Voodoo 2 was came out from 3dfx. I still think that gave he edge to nvidia, 3dfx was ahead of their time, they made a lot of mistakes and Nvidia profited. Ati of course continued to do their thing meanwhile.

[b0ss6769]

Affirm.

i was abt to say the same thing.

Maybe SLi came out from 3DFX man ;)

[thirsokewl]

What about Eyefinity

[alextheromanian]

eyefinity is where you hook up multiple screens to a computer...more than 2.

thats an ATI feature ...the same way physx is an nvidia feature

[smartguy9765]

you can hook some nvidia card up to 3 monitors actually, using tripplehead2go i think. but eyefinity will soon be able to hook up to 6 monitors. so yeh...

[primagen77]

I could be mistaken, however I do believe you can crossfire a 4850 with 4870 where as you cannot use sli with a gtx 260 and a gtx 275.

[thelonewayfarer]

SLI works by making one card render the bottom half of the display while another renders the top half, drastically reducing the workload

does crossfire work in the same or similar way too?

[sciguy14]

That's not the only way SLI splits the work up, but uyes Crossfire is somewhat similar.

[concujak]

Can you enable vsync in crossfire or Sli ?

[sciguy14]

yes

[concujak]

I saw alot of comments online/google about vsync and sli will never work together. Was it a problem in the past and now is fixed? Is that it?

[sciguy14]

I depends on the game, some support it, some don't

[MasterSighlis555]

I'm not too clear on the hybrid crossfire thing. Is it when onboard graphics on your motherboard is crossfired with another graphics card in a PCIe slot?

[sciguy14]

basically

[2uneek]

i have 2 question

can you sli gtx 275 896mb and gtx 275 dual gpu 1792mb

can you sli 2 gtx 275 but different brand? or same brand at different clock speed

[edgars911]

on both questions yes

[crapkillerz]

can an ATI card use SLI, or is it restricted to crossfire?

and vice versa.

[sciguy14]

crossfire and SLI are basically the same thing. The nvidia technology is called SLI and the ATI one is crossfire.

[otherwisesaid]

Dude, you're at Stony Brook?

I recognize the dorm style.

[sciguy14]

Nope, Cornell

[Flight522]

how do i set up 4 screen

[sciguy14]

2 video cards, not in crossfire or sli.

[sephiroth0op]

cant you run 2 cards in cf or sli but run the other 3 screens of usbs?

[sciguy14]

you could, but that would place a lot of strain on your CPU

[SoldierDood]

My ati 4870 is enough power I dont need 2 or more cards. Im 15 maybe when Im a little older and I can buy my own parts.

[foxracer927]

the upside to Crossfire is that you can put any ati card of the same series (ex: radeon hd 4830 and an hd 4890), when nvidia needs a same-second-card.

[naguto]

u forgot to say that while sli averages like 20-40% scaling, crossfirex has like 40-60% scaling.

[smartwarlord]

You have no idea what you are saying. Nvidia did not create SLI, they released their "nvidia sli" in 2004, but Voodoo created SLI and the technology to be grouped with a P3 processor... Nvidia DID not create SLI, they bought out 3DFX because Nvidia was going to die, but Nvidia had more money and took down 3DFX, destroyed their projects and "made" nvidia sli...

Otherwise good vid.

[sciguy14]

I don't think it's fair to say that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Yes, SDFX originally owned SLI technology, but it stood for Scan-Line Interleave. I'm talking about Scalable link interface, the modern version of the technology that competes with ATI's crossfire technology.

[smartwarlord]

fair enough...

[zubatzu]

u got told

[ferret6677]

Be nice or Chuck Norris is will kick your tail.

[enyceckk101]

opps , U said it at the end.

my bad

just a little tip for some people

[enyceckk101]

There's also a software crossfire

which uses no bridge or y cable

It uses software ( ATI driver software )

u must need 2 video cards ( same chip ) with Ati chipset onboard

then go into your Ati control panel and enable crossfire.

The bad thing about this is u will get 1-3fps less than the hardware crossfire

very good video btw

[JizzFTW]

Another awesome video dude, always look forward to them.

[sciguy14]

thanks, If you keep watching, I'll keep makin' em.

[Leetard179]

I looooove techbits!

keep it up dude :)

[sciguy14]

thanks :)

[TheAssailant6661]

tell me, what is the best configuration for CrossfireX between an ASUS EAH3450/HTP/256M and a SAPPHIRE HD 4830? Where would I get the CrossfireX cables (either internal or external)?

[TheAssailant6661]

Wait, nvm it doesn't support it :(

Where can I get the ribbon cable for CrosfireX?

[sciguy14]

those two cards cannot be put in an crossfire configuration together. The 4830 is compatible with the 4870X2, the 4850X2, the 4870, the 4850, and the 4830. The 3450 is compatible with the 3470 and the 3450.

[sciguy14]

you can get it at any online computer retailer. Try newegg

[LotusPiano]

Okay thanks for the vid!

[lil0egy0kid]

please do a video on the following topics

what to do when you first boot up a computer when you build it like what to do in bios as some people dont know what to do.

overclocking

idk anything else for now

thanks and awesome video dude

[sciguy14]

I have plans to cover both of those topics in the future.

[lil0egy0kid]

alright cool dude oh and a video on how to set up a physics card with the new 180 drivers because i jsut got a 9800gt and i was wondering if i want to sell my 8600gt or use it as a physics card and i dont know what to do what do you suggest?

[sciguy14]

I've never done it personally, but you probably change some settings in the nvidia control panel.

[castroman099]

You just need to enter into Start/Programs/NVIDIA CORPORATION/ NVIDIA PhysX Properties, and it will appear a window with 3 Options (Only after you installed your 8600GT) One of the opsiotns will say something like "One GPU or SLI render / One Nvidia GPU PhysX" you have to choose that one, and then select the Videocard you want for physX to the PhysX.. and the other ones or one will be on rendering... and you are set...

[lil0egy0kid]

umm do i need a sli bridge?

and i need the new 180 drivers right?

[castroman099]

You dont need the Bridge, and yes you need the 180.48 or better driver to do that

[lil0egy0kid]

ah ok thanks because i saw some people useing the bridge i makes you look 1337 XD

[Evolution8MR17]

Oh one thing Jeremy, the new nVidia drivers (180.48) allows different GPUs to be SLi-ed. One for graphics and the other for physics (only 8 series and up. The drivers also allow multi monitor SLi.

[sciguy14]

When you say multimonitor, do you mean up to 4 monitors for two cards? 2 monitors for two cards was already allowed. When you use one card for graphics processing and one for physics, its not really multi-card rendering anymore-it's just using one card for the physX calculations.

[castroman099]

He means, that you can run SLI, and run the game on two screens, now the second monitor wont go black, instead it will have the game there too running if you use clone mode, or it will run like one LCD if you have it on extended on the Nvidia control panel..

[sciguy14]

Oh I see. That kind of functionality has been available from certain games though. Supreme Commander can be played on two screens.

[KandAshow]

I believe SLI (Scalable Link Interface) was first created by 3dfx.

[sciguy14]

SLI was originally a 3dfx technology, but they called it "Scan-Line Interleave"

[runie360]

my next build im doing a hybrid sli setup with an 8200 onboard and an 8400gs. i hope i will get better framerates!!

[milk4]

Nice vid!

You should to hardware/software reviews too!:)