Its finally done! Pics and Benchmarks soon to come.

[Waco]

First off, congrats on your build

 

Second, if you are talking about the normal black edition then no, you can not crossfire it. If you are talking about the 900mhz xfx black edition, then it could be done, but it is a hit or miss. In theory as long as all the specs are the same, people have been able to do it before. However, I SERIOUSLY doubt you can pull it off. Especially since we are talking about two totally different cards rather than say 2 different reference cards.

WTF are you talking about? You can Crossfire pretty much anything with the same architecture (yes, even a 7970 and a 7950). The manufacturer does not matter. If one card clocks lower than the other, both will run as if they were at the lower clock speeds. That's it.

[Tjj226_Angel]

WTF are you talking about? You can Crossfire pretty much anything with the same architecture (yes, even a 7970 and a 7950). The manufacturer does not matter. If one card clocks lower than the other, both will run as if they were at the lower clock speeds. That's it.

 

Yes, but as it has been shown time and again it is very unstable. I know of two people locally the blew out their mobo trying to crossfire two totally different cards. One was using a 6970 and a 6950, the other I am unsure. Another guy a bit further down the road got corrupted drivers and had to format his whole drive to reinstal the drives before his single video card even functioned properly again.

 

Yes, you are right in that you can do it. However, it is such a strange sort of alchemy with too many hazards (mostly driver related). I only recommend to play buy Nvidia rules when it comes to AMD cards. You will find the best driver support in operating in such a fashion. Yeah it sucks, but at least you won't up like my friend who now has to go buy a new mobo because MSI won't protect it under warranty and AMD quite honestly doesn't care.

 

Plain and simple version, you can mix and match ram modules, you can mix and match drives for a raid 0 configuration, and you can mix and match video cards (primarily AMD/ATI cards) for a multi GPU setup. But you aren't supposed to because you will end up with nothing but problems. You don't mix and match ram because that could lead to voltage issues on the CPU and cause instability (this is coming from VERY personal experience ), you don't mix and match drives for a raid 0 because it can cause instability, so why on earth would you take already instable drives for a single GPU, and make the problem worse by mixing and matching the cards? I say do yourself a favor, and make sure the cards as a dead set close to each other as possible and THEN crossfire them together.

 

To me, until AMD can make drivers that are as dependable as then sun, then I am going to say that it should be something to avoid at all cost.

[Waco]

Yes, but as it has been shown time and again it is very unstable. I know of two people locally the blew out their mobo trying to crossfire two totally different cards. One was using a 6970 and a 6950, the other I am unsure. Another guy a bit further down the road got corrupted drivers and had to format his whole drive to reinstal the drives before his single video card even functioned properly again.

 

Yes, you are right in that you can do it. However, it is such a strange sort of alchemy with too many hazards (mostly driver related). I only recommend to play buy Nvidia rules when it comes to AMD cards. You will find the best driver support in operating in such a fashion. Yeah it sucks, but at least you won't up like my friend who now has to go buy a new mobo because MSI won't protect it under warranty and AMD quite honestly doesn't care.

 

Plain and simple version, you can mix and match ram modules, you can mix and match drives for a raid 0 configuration, and you can mix and match video cards (primarily AMD/ATI cards) for a multi GPU setup. But you aren't supposed to because you will end up with nothing but problems. You don't mix and match ram because that could lead to voltage issues on the CPU and cause instability (this is coming from VERY personal experience ), you don't mix and match drives for a raid 0 because it can cause instability, so why on earth would you take already instable drives for a single GPU, and make the problem worse by mixing and matching the cards? I say do yourself a favor, and make sure the cards as a dead set close to each other as possible and THEN crossfire them together.

 

To me, until AMD can make drivers that are as dependable as then sun, then I am going to say that it should be something to avoid at all cost.

I have nothing to say except that this is completely false in every way. There are NO issues with running multiple cards from different vendors (you do realize they all run the same drivers...right?).

 

 

There's no way running two cards in Crossfire killed his mobo. That may be what he told you, but he's just feeding you a line of crap.

 

Mixing and matching parts is one thing (though with careful settings even doing that with ram is 99% okay these days), but to say that you can't do something that's clearly defined as "perfectly okay" by AMD and all of the vendors that certify their products for Crossfire is another.

 

If it's so unstable - can you name one credible source to back that up? I've seen so many mixed configurations over the years that if there were such a glaring issue like you say then I would have run into it by now.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Waco

[Tjj226_Angel]

I have nothing to say except that this is completely false in every way. There are NO issues with running multiple cards from different vendors (you do realize they all run the same drivers...right?).

 

 

There's no way running two cards in Crossfire killed his mobo. That may be what he told you, but he's just feeding you a line of crap.

 

Mixing and matching parts is one thing (though with careful settings even doing that with ram is 99% okay these days), but to say that you can't do something that's clearly defined as "perfectly okay" by AMD and all of the vendors that certify their products for Crossfire is another.

 

If it's so unstable - can you name one credible source to back that up? I've seen so many mixed configurations over the years that if there were such a glaring issue like you say then I would have run into it by now.

 

Dude, then what do you call taking a perfectly running machine running a 6970, then adding a 6950, and then having the system post and go into windows and then having what I like to call windows denim. I call it this because the screen literally looks like denim. We take the 6950 out, and boot up again. Same thing. We put the 6950 in and take the 6970 out and boot. Same thing. We test both cards in my system. Everything works fine.

 

I tested his PSU with a PSU tester. Everything is working just fine. I tested the ram-fine. I tested literally everything and it was at 100%.

 

We called up MSI (for the GPU) and they said it was the mobo because we put two mix and match cards in the same system. (So if you really want to go bark at someone, go bark at MSI). So they transfered us to mobo support and the mobo support said that it was customer damage and that he is SOL.

 

I honestly have no idea what you would say the problem was, but all I know is everything was working fine before the two cards, then there were two cards, and everything went to hell. Everything else works, even the cards themselves, everything except the motherboard which doesn't even post. In fact I can almost smell and extremely faint burn smell around the PCI x16 sockets. However, that could very well be my brain playing tricks on me.

 

It is a weird thing, and I don't blame you for being skeptic. However, it is true.

 

Now I do not know about the 7xxx cards because no one has really tested this in my local area to see first hand, but with the 6xxx the crap happened right in front of me. So please interject with possibilities because I would love for you to come up with some sort of magic to save my friends PC.

 

Literally, my credible source is my friend has a giant paper weight. I don't go around the internet finding this crap. I do it all in real life.

 

Lastly, why would you trust AMD to say something is Okay? . Three companies I never believe when they say something is okay to do is AMD, MSI, and Antec. To them, they will always say something is Ok to do, but it is always a risk. Quite literally....................always.

[jlqrb]

I have to agree with Waco. I am a reviewer and during our testing I ran three HD 7950s in TriFire that were from three separate companies, Sapphire, XFX and PowerColor. I didn't have any issues, and the results were phenomenal. The only issue I ran into was some games didn't support CrossFire such as Batman AC or Skyrim, but that is a drivers issue.

[Tjj226_Angel]

I have to agree with Waco. I am a reviewer and during our testing I ran three HD 7950s in TriFire that were from three separate companies, Sapphire, XFX and PowerColor. I didn't have any issues, and the results were phenomenal. The only issue I ran into was some games didn't support CrossFire such as Batman AC or Skyrim, but that is a drivers issue.

 

Are they reference cards?

[bp9801]

Are they reference cards?

 

These are the cards and this is the Crossfire and TriFire review. None of them are reference cards and all have different clocks. No issue there, like jlqrb and Waco said, so I don't see why you constantly need to say the vendor matters.

 

Hell, I could pair an HD 6770 with one of my HD 5770s even.

[Stonerboy779]

Hell, I could pair an HD 6770 with one of my HD 5770s even.

Please do

 

Also want you to bench it and compare 5770 cf with 5770+6770cf

[Lord_Guy]

Ya, I'm running my Reference 5750 with my stock overclocked Vapor-X 5750 and I've never had a problem. My Vapor-X doesn't even clock itself down to my other cards speeds. My buddy has his 6970/6970/6950 setup and it's fine. GPUs causing problems like that seems very unlikly.

[ccokeman]

First off, congrats on your build

 

Second, if you are talking about the normal black edition then no, you can not crossfire it. If you are talking about the 900mhz xfx black edition, then it could be done, but it is a hit or miss. In theory as long as all the specs are the same, people have been able to do it before. However, I SERIOUSLY doubt you can pull it off. Especially since we are talking about two totally different cards rather than say 2 different reference cards.

 

You can run Crossfire with any two AMD radeon cards that have the same GPU and specs regardless of clock speed with full stability, regardless of the manufacturer. ie gigabyte and XFX or sapphire and ASUS custom or reference designs. I do it all the time. With dissimilar clock speeds the cards will run at the lower of the two clock speeds. For instance I have run the 7970 BEDD with the Sapphire OC 7970 with no ill effects and see the appropriate scaling where scaling exists due to the absolute fail by AMD on the drivers for the Southern Islands launch. To date they still do not have a final driver that addresses the crossfire issues.

 

 

 

 

WTF are you talking about? You can Crossfire pretty much anything with the same architecture (yes, even a 7970 and a 7950). The manufacturer does not matter. If one card clocks lower than the other, both will run as if they were at the lower clock speeds. That's it.

 

 

Crossfire with two cards of the same architecture but different core count works but is not always an ideal solution. It works but you get less bang for the buck than with two cards of the same type.

 

 

 

The 6970/6950 combo that your friend cooked a mobo with most likely was not the card or combinations fault. I know guys running that same combo with no issues.

 

 

 

@dr digitized congrats on the new rig. Looks like you scored some additional budget room on a few parts. Now get it built and show some benches.

[DrDigitized2]

@ccokeman, Thanks, I am looking forward to it. Its always great to save money. I was impressed that almost everything was the same price at newegg and the other tech sites. Last time I built a computer I had to use Pricegrabber to find all the best deals. This meant that everything was from different vendors and everything arrived at different dates. So far newegg is good in my book.

 

BTW, I did not mean to start a war about the 7950 manufacturers in crossfire mode. I just had no idea. Last time I built a computer it was when crossfire and SLI were still new.

[Waco]

Crossfire with two cards of the same architecture but different core count works but is not always an ideal solution. It works but you get less bang for the buck than with two cards of the same type.

Yup. BluePanda used to run a 4830 and a 4850 together, and we also tried the 4830 with a 4850X2. No issues for any configuration, scaling is essentially the same as Crossfire of the slowest card in the set.