ATI crossfire and 5870/Eyefinity, or CF question in general

[geniv2]

[quote]ATI choose to hide things from us thinking we are all a bunch of incompetent crap and that their software/hardware don't need to be fully exposed
(in short, they hide the fact that a 5870X2 IS actually using CF to work which means what was quoted : one can't disable CF on a 5870X2...)

Man I didn't know that, that sucks. Buying a 5870x2 seemed a good idea, but if I can't disable CF, that sucks LOADS. Can you do it with something like RivaTuner?

I agree not being to disable CF is stupid.

One thing I like about my Nvidia 9800 GX2 card is you can enable and disable SLI. (some older games I have outrun 2, Clive Undying runs too fast with SLI enabled, when I disabled SLI it runs at normal speed)

Also with Nvidia software I can have separate setting for AA,AF,SLI,Vsync etc..
for each programs I want.

last time I have an ATI card you an only set the AA,AF,VSync once and all applications use that setting :(

I think I will get the single GPU card then but I hope by now ATI will have support for separate AA,AF,Vsync etc.. profiles for separate applications :x

[whismerhill]

Man I didn't know that, that sucks. Buying a 5870x2 seemed a good idea, but if I can't disable CF, that sucks LOADS. Can you do it with something like RivaTuner?

ATI Tray Tools can disable CF from what I quickly read, no guarantees though ;)

yeah well ATI's position is that CF on X2 cards should be "transparent" to users, they shouldn't even know the fact they are working in CF but the problem is they can't resolve all CF issues as soon as they appear unlike what they think of it ....

and this leads to X2 card users not knowing that they are in CF and thinking they got twice the memory amount than is really available as a framebuffer ... :roll: (disinformation anyone ?)

edit: it's also the same reason why profiles as nvidia allows them are not implemented, despite the fact that catalyst AI supports executable detection for ATI own internal needs!

[Paradigm Shifter]

and this leads to X2 card users not knowing that they are in CF and thinking they got twice the memory amount than is really available as a framebuffer ... :roll: (disinformation anyone ?)

No. It's people not using their brains for three seconds.

nVidia markets their dual-GPU cards as "1792MB" cards, not "896MBx2" so they're just as much to blame as ATi.

I don't like the fact that the ATi CCC won't let me disable CrossFire on my 4870X2, but equally I've not played any games where I experience issues with CrossFire (or at least issues serious enough that I feel the need to disable it...)

[whismerhill]

[quote]and this leads to X2 card users not knowing that they are in CF and thinking they got twice the memory amount than is really available as a framebuffer ... :roll: (disinformation anyone ?)

No. It's people not using their brains for three seconds.

nVidia markets their dual-GPU cards as "1792MB" cards, not "896MBx2" so they're just as much to blame as ATi.

I don't like the fact that the ATi CCC won't let me disable CrossFire on my 4870X2, but equally I've not played any games where I experience issues with CrossFire (or at least issues serious enough that I feel the need to disable it...)
Not knowing is not a crime AFAIK ;)

yes nvidia & ATI market their cards with twice the available framebuffer since physically it's true.

though Nvidia shows that an X2 is just SLI

whereas ATI hides that an X2 is just CF, there's people out there who won't believe that their X2 is CF ...
"they bought one card, CF is multi-card" ... this is their logic, and not all X2 owners are technically knowledgeable... and sorry but I don't blame people for not being IT professionals... :D

ATI brought CF to the masses, that's the problem

the fact that YOU didn't have any CF problem is your experience, and as such means nothing on a global scale except for the fact that a majority of people like you won't have any problem with CF.But this doesn't alter the fact that people out there have problems with CF sometimes(like rushing to buy some games, and the driver isn't updated for CF for that game yet. or even alternative games)

[Paradigm Shifter]

ATi do not "hide" the fact that the 4870X2 uses an internal CrossFire setup. Nor do they advertise it, however.

About all I can think is that you have a problem with the way that ATi aren't making things explicit by plastering it on every box. Well, nVidia doesn't make stuff explicit either. I've just found some box shots of the GTX295 and the box makes no mention of SLI, except to say that two GTX295's can be SLI'd together for "even greater performance". No mention of the 'internal' SLI on the card. In fact, on the 'users aren't technical' front, ATi has some method in their madness of hiding CrossFire - it decreases the possibility that users will "break" their card by disabling CrossFire then blame it on ATi when they forget to re-enable it. Only enthuiasts want to tweak - the normal people you mention just want stuff to work without them having to fiddle constantly. ;) You appear to have issues with the fact that people buy something that if they'd read even one review, they'd know was a dual-GPU card, and then seem to think they have more VRAM than they actually do available. I've seen on Anandtech GTX295 owners saying "Why won't this card do 'blah' (usually in GTXIV)? I've got 1792MB of VRAM!" so nVidia are 'disinforming' on this front just as much as ATi.

It's called marketing. It isn't exactly honest. But equally it's not lying - it's just not mentioning it. In a court of law, you have "lying by omission"... in marketing you just have "not mentioning the negative possibilities". :lol:

Both sides do it - particularly on the dual-GPU card front.

...

Read the Bit-Tech review of the Asus Mars dual-GTX285 card. Now that is a case of the marketing being a lie, because it's got driver issues beyond belief. ;)

[whismerhill]

ATi do not "hide" the fact that the 4870X2 uses an internal CrossFire setup. Nor do they advertise it, however.

it's hidden in the CCC & not possible to unhide, that's enough for me
it shouldn't be.

that is exactly as you said, it's not there so that noobs don't break it ...

"I think resolution control in games should be disabled with automatic detection of maximum resolution only so that noobs don't break it."
see what I mean ?


since I want control, I prefer Nvidia. that is all there is to it.

I've seen on Anandtech GTX295 owners saying "Why won't this card do 'blah' (usually in GTXIV)? I've got 1792MB of VRAM!" so nVidia are 'disinforming' on this front just as much as ATi.

yes that's true, however when you explain that their card is just SLI and thus have half that amount of available framebuffer, you got the proof : go in the nvidia control panel and see for yourself ...

[OzHuski]

5870 2GB versión is confirmed and named 5870 Six (for their six miniDP outputs). 5870x2 4GB are not confirmed, and It´s not sure they can be released in a relative long term, because high output for 5870x2 2GB version.

I knew the 2gig was confirmed - and its a no brainer- I still think there is a good chance of the 4gig if they are going to release 5850/70 with that amount.. I doubt it will be this year - maybe mid next year but im hopeful ;)

it's hidden in the CCC & not possible to unhide, that's enough for me
it shouldn't be.

-------

yes that's true, however when you explain that their card is just SLI and thus have half that amount of available framebuffer, you got the proof : go in the nvidia control panel and see for yourself ...

Ummmm what? You do realize CCC under the graphics hardware tab actually does list the "Primary" adapter and "linked" adapter showing that it is actually running in crossfire mode?? And that both GPUs displayed in there respective heading actually only have access to 1gig of memory each?

You might want to go back and have a look at that ...