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HEXUS.beans :: Radeon X1800 + Xpress 3200 drops big dong

by Willy Deeplung on 7 March 2006, 12:32

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A certain UK print publication has been whining about a "Radeon rip-off", but it seems they were well out if the loop (again) on ATi's future plans, and what it's about to show behind closed doors, at CeBIT...

There seems to be a strategy to extend the value to those people that have shelled out for X1800 parts, by allowing Crossfire to work without master hardware, but only on Radeon Xpress 3200 -based mainboards.

It's set to be announced after CeBit, and looks like being workable with the entire X1800 range, from XL to XT and possibly All-In-Wonder to boot. With X1800 XL at Ā£170 just now, which seems to be price competitive with GeForce 7600 GT, X1800 XL Crossfire without master hardware suddenly looks mightily attractive.

You'll just need a supporting driver and two of the boards you want to run, with no consideration to a master board, providing you have a Radeon Xpress 3200 mainboard. Xpress 3200 offers enough lanes in its northbridge to let you run a pair of x16 PCI Express slots concurrently, with the bus traffic not having to walk any other interlink or bus connection.

It's up and running right now, seemingly without issue, so expect ATI to announce something soon. More on this bean as it sprouts at Europe's premier IT tradeshow in the next couple of days....


HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Any news on this issue?
good news for us x1800 owners but shame you have to shell out on a new motherboard just to do it :(
copycatuk
good news for us x1800 owners but shame you have to shell out on a new motherboard just to do it :(
Too bad it hasn't made it into an official driver release, yet.

Then again, I don't think I'd be investing in a new S939 board (or another X1800XT) anyways, so it's a rather moot point. Next stop: i975/P965 & Conroe.
Hope this comes off. Been trying to find an X1800 CF Master card and in most cases what I can find are more expensive than a X1900XTX!!!

If I could add another X1800XT for £230+mobo price I will be very happy. Cheaper than some £400+mobo price to have a CF master card. Especially as I will soon have a new mobo with the Xpress 3200 chipset.

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Bump: Cat 6.5 is out and nothing has been mentioned yet. Is it gonna happen at all?
hatsumi
Bump: Cat 6.5 is out and nothing has been mentioned yet. Is it gonna happen at all?
At this point, I don't think so. Probably just a stall tactic. :stop: