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Two X1950 Pro GPUs on a single PCIe x16 card

Sapphire today announced its X1950 Pro powered single-card CrossFire graphics solution: the X1950 Pro Dual. DailyTech previously revealed details of the card last month. The monstrous graphics card is compatible with any PCI Express x16-equipped motherboard whether or not it is compatible with CrossFire.


Two AMD ATI Radeon X1950 Pro GPUs operate together in CrossFire mode via an internal GPU connect, but Sapphire X1950 Pro Dual retain the CrossFire bridge connector for possibilities of quad CrossFire with proper driver support.  Essentially, the new Sapphire behemoth can support "Quad-CrossFire."

The Sapphire X1950 Pro Dual features the same core and memory clocks as its single GPU counterparts: 580 MHz and 1400 MHz, respectively. While the two X1950 Pro GPUs are connected internally, each GPU still requires its own video memory. Each GPU is equipped with 512MB of GDDR3 memory for a total of 1GB on-board.

Other notable features of Sapphire’s X1950 Pro Dual include dual dual-link DVI outputs with HDCP compliance and a TV output.  The ATI driver allows the GPUs to switch between CrossFire mode and stand-alone operation, but in CrossFire operation only a single DVI interface is available.  If two X1950 Pro Duals are put in "Quad-CrossFire" mode, only one of the four DVI interfaces will display the signal.

Expect Sapphire to ship the X1950 Pro Dual in February with an MSRP around $350-400.

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
By Kiwi on 1/9/2007 4:32:52 AM , Rating: 2
Poor thing looks naked!

The K.





By dice1111 on 1/9/2007 11:13:50 AM , Rating: 4
Bender: *gasp* "But those girls don't wear cases! You can see their bare circuits!"


Sound clip (mp3);
http://www.gotfuturama.com/Multimedia/EpisodeSound...


Too late
By Ecmaster76 on 1/9/2007 8:05:14 AM , Rating: 2
By the time this thing hits the market, R600 will be out and probably faster. Or a 8800 GTX will be about the same price by then and definiteley about as fast.

An both R600 and 8800 will lack the issues that Crossfire/SLI can have.




RE: Too late
By rtrski on 1/9/2007 9:21:57 AM , Rating: 2
I don't know - might still have applications for those who want to power two completely independent displays, since it can be run with the internal Crossfire set to 'off'. Say for an HTPC in a case with a large touchscreen - independent non-cloned (extended) desktops on the touchscreen and 'main' monitor, without any loss of speed or quality on the main if you're upscaling DVDs, etc.

No idea how quiet that would be though...don't the 1950's run fairly hot? HS/F did look like it had two heatpipes for each processor, but its all in the fan noise....


RE: Too late
By KaiserCSS on 1/9/2007 8:14:48 PM , Rating: 2
Buddy, people are still using GeForce 4's. Just because something bigger and better comes out doesn't mean "older" GPUs will be forgotten and never purchased again. Besides, who wouldn't like the bragging rights that a reasonably affordable Quad-Crossfire setup will bring? Of course, if you absolutely have to be on the bleeding edge and have near-unlimited funding, then this card is not for you, but if this card demonstrates excellent performance for it's price point, then hell, I may even decide to grab one to replace the 7600GT I'm currently using.


Go Go Godzilla!
By CrackRabbit on 1/9/2007 10:10:21 AM , Rating: 2
Man that is one large card, only thing I can think of off the top of my head that was that big was a Voodoo 5.
People may have trouble stuffing it in even normal sized cases.




RE: Go Go Godzilla!
By terabaSe on 1/9/2007 12:31:58 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
People may have trouble stuffing it in even normal sized cases.


Get a bigger case?


RE: Go Go Godzilla!
By Samus on 1/9/2007 5:18:29 PM , Rating: 2
anyone using this card is almost guaranteed not to have a 'normal sized case' ;)


HSF
By mobutu on 1/9/2007 4:20:03 AM , Rating: 2
What cooler it uses?




RE: HSF
By qwerty1 on 1/9/2007 4:35:02 PM , Rating: 2
By the looks of it, Sapphire will probably introduce a custom cooler where both chips will have individual coolers with separate vents taking 1/2 of a pci slot each. That or maybe 2 VF900, but it still won't fix the problem of hot circulating air.


Against GX2
By Hypernova on 1/9/2007 4:03:03 AM , Rating: 2
Anyone got preformance numbers for 1950 PRO X-Fired?
Wonder how this compares to a GX2 $/preformance wise.




With no DX10 games...
By VooDooAddict on 1/9/2007 11:24:18 AM , Rating: 1
With no DX10 games out. If this thing can land at about $300 (with sales and/or rebates) and turns in High End DX9 (Rainbow Vegas, Splinter Cell 4, Oblivion, ect) numbers similar to a 8800GTS ... it might be a good buy for those willing to wait on DX10 to mature.




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