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    What does crossfire and SLI mean

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Muscle Master, Jan 12, 2009.

  1. Muscle Master

    Muscle Master Notebook Consultant

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    Hi

    I know nothing :mad: about GPU's, I think I wanna be a supporter of ATI

    what the hell does SLI and crossfire mean, does it mean you could combine 2graphics cards together to form 1 card?

    what the heck is FPM- I think....... lol I know nothing and wanna be an expert, can someone show me the ropes
     
    Muscle Master, Jan 12, 2009
    #1
  2. mr__bean

    mr__bean Notebook Evangelist

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    It means that you have 2 sepporate graphics chips running in synch. So basically "form one card" like you say.
     
    mr__bean, Jan 12, 2009
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  3. Muscle Master

    Muscle Master Notebook Consultant

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    Bump......
     
    Muscle Master, Jan 12, 2009
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  4. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    Yeah SLI is Nvidia's equivalent to ATI's Crossfire(and vice versa). It means you hook up two(or more) Graphics cards(GPUs in a laptop's case) in sync to increase performance. Sometimes, this can be more advantageous(price wise) than upgrading your graphics cards(or if you already have the top of the line, it helps you get a better performance ;)).

    SLI/Crossfire also needs to be configured, it's not as simple as plugging in two graphics cards(in the case of a desktop).

    Note that not all games or so support SLI/Crosffire properly, but who do will show a significant increase in performance.

    Oh and if you want to know more, there is a difference between SLI/Crossfire and x2 type graphics cards.
     
    Melody, Jan 12, 2009
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  5. Muscle Master

    Muscle Master Notebook Consultant

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    Yes I want to learn more.....

    Teach me everything........
     
    Muscle Master, Jan 12, 2009
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  6. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    David, Jan 12, 2009
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  7. vinceboiii

    vinceboiii Animals are friends, not food.

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    someone teach him about x2 ATI cards =P
     
    vinceboiii, Jan 12, 2009
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  8. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    Well it's not that hard. In a nutshell, an x2 card is a single graphics card with 2 GPUs(graphic processing unit) on it, making it more powerful than a regular graphics card with a single GPU on it.
     
    Melody, Jan 12, 2009
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  9. bhattsan

    bhattsan Notebook Deity

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    It (x2 setups from Ati) is more powerful than some crossfire setups of the same cards (4870 crossfire vs 4870x2) as well because the cards have to "talk" to each other while processing graphics so the cards in crossfire setup have a cable called the crossfire cable which they use to communicate with each other. The 4870x2 on the other hand has the two gpus on the same board, so communication between the two gpu's becomes much much faster.
     
    bhattsan, Jan 12, 2009
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