SLI or CrossFire

[TmGolfx360]

Alright, I first had my eyes set on an SLI setup of 2 7900gt's or 7900gtx's. I do not know much about Crossfire but it seems it may be more versitle. So could you just give me your opinion and reasons why one is better than the other.

Thx a lot guys and girls.

[jlreich]

I think biggest thing with ATI is that the needed Crossfire edition (the one with the chip to enable crossfire) is much more expensive than the regular Crossfire ready cards. With SLI you just need two like cards and the SLI bridge (provide with the mobo).

SLI is more established. Crossfire is just now really becoming widely available.

That's my thoughts anyway. :rolleyes:

[i an not a nerd]

Well I prefer ATI because of the ability for HDR and AA at the same time.

Unless you want to get this system right now, I would wait a bit. ATI is going to be releasing their new cards with Unified Shader Architecture. They are also releasing a new chipset for motherboards soon (I believe...)

I think biggest thing with ATI is that the needed Crossfire edition (the one with the chip to enable crossfire) is much more expensive than the regular Crossfire ready cards.

Well actually, the crossfire edition of the x1900 is cheaper than the x1900xtx... But what you say is true for the lower end cards.

However, in the latest drivers you can hook up a couple of x1600 series cards and do crossfire without needing a crossfire master card.

Like I said though, if you can't wait, go with SLI. It just works :) .

[saphalline]

the crossfire edition of the x1900 is cheaper than the x1900xtxThat's because the X1900 CrossFire version has slightly slower clock speeds than the X1900 XTX. 625/1450 vs 650/1550.

[PatioFurniture]

SLI is way more mainstream right now, so in my opinion it would be a better option at least right now.