#4 WAY SLI CROSSFIREX SERIES#

So what’s the main difference? Well, in the end SLI is a little more consistent and powerful, however Crossfire is more flexible, allowing for different setups. Still, Crossfire is compatible with more motherboards, and it’s generally available on cheaper motherboards - which helps if you’re on a budget. Like SLI, Crossfire can either use split frame rendering or alternate frame rendering, however one disadvantage is that Crossfire only works in full-screen mode - not in windowed mode. The two graphics cards you use do, however, have to be built by AMD, and they have to be of the same generation. Unlike SLI, Crossfire allows for you to use different graphics card models, although you should really use very similar models if you can at all help it. The most recent version, called Crossfire XDMA, doesn’t even need a bridging port - instead it uses XDMA to open a direct channel between the two GPUs in a Crossfire system, which all works through PCI Express 3.0. While Crossfire has historically needed both a master card and a slave card, the most recent versions eliminate the need for this.

Alternate frame rendering is the most common example of how both SLI and Crossfire work.Ĭrossfire is essentially AMD’s answer to SLI, and it works slightly differently. For example, card 1 might be given frames 1, 3, and 5, while card 2 is given frames 2, 4, and 6. So, if there’s almost nothing to render at the top of the frame, but a lot that needs rendering towards the bottom, there might be more of the actual frame sent to one card, but only 50 percent of the work load.Īlternate frame rendering, on the other hand, essentially means that the two graphics cards are given alternate frames to render. It’s important to note that frames aren’t split based on pixels - they’re split based on workload. The first way that SLI works is called Split frame rendering, and it basically means that each frame is split in half horizontally, and one half is sent to each of the cards. As the names suggest, the slave card sends all of its information to the master card through the SLI bridge, and the master card consolidates all the information, including the information that it processed, and sends it all to your display. SLI always uses a slave card and a master card - with the master card being the first processor and the slave being the second.

#4 WAY SLI CROSSFIREX SERIES#

The recent launch of AMDs Radeon HD 6990 ( AMD Radeon HD 6990 4 GB. Our guide below covers those interested in setting up Nvidia SLI or AMD CrossFireX on an Intel Z77 motherboard such as the ROG Maximus V series (we've used the Maximus V Formula), equipped with a 3rd Generation Intel Core CPU with PCI-Express Gen 3.0 capable CPU (such as the Core i5-3570K or Core i7-3770K). The battle for GPU supremacy is a bit of a waiting game. SLI basically works in one of two different ways, giving different information to the two graphics cards. Part 1, The Cards: Triple-GPU Scaling: AMD CrossFire Vs.

4 way sli crossfirex