Beyond3D takes a look at the ATI Radeon X1800 Crossfire

ATI's first attempt at the Crossfire platform was a somewhat abortive. The dual graphics solution was beset with delays which, upon its eventual testing, only lent to further highlight it shortcomings, such as being based on a Shader Model 2 platform (when their Shader Model 3.0 solution where expected to be just around the corner) and having a resolution limit of 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. The reality of the launch of the initial Crossfire solution, although it was missed by many, was not really about the graphics solutions, but the platform. However, despite the issues one thing did come out of it - the performance gains for Crossfire were tangible.

Now that ATI have fully released the X1000 series they are taking a second stab at the dual graphics Crossfire solution, with the aim to resolving some of the previous implementation's issues. With the X1000 series ATI are taking a dual pronged approach; at the high end they are maintaining the specialised "master card" solution that can be mated with an existing board, while at the lower segments they are relying on two standard boards with inter-board communication occurring via the PCI Express interface with the host platform.

ATI Radeon X1800 Crossfire Review