ATI MultiGPU Done Right: The Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition
by Derek Wilson on December 20, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
ATI: The A is for Availability?
Let's just say that we haven't been happy with ATI's promises of availability as of late. Generally speaking, we would often be promised availability for a certain date, and generally speaking that date would come and go, with nothing to show for it (definitely not in the sense of actual availability).
We and pretty much the rest of the press that ATI works with have been hounding ATI, demanding some accountability on their statements to us of availability. Because frankly, if we can't believe what they're telling us and you can't believe what they're telling us, then there's a serious problem. We've got some trust issues with ATI at this point, and luckily they seem intent on resolving them.
We've talked to ATI numerous times about availability, and prior to today's launch we had another discussion with them about the problem. They have promised that they have taken steps and precautions, internally, to once and for all resolve these availability problems. They stressed the difficulty of aligning a product launch with availability that very same day, but we countered with the fact that if they can put 330 million transistors to good use on a GPU, they can figure out how to make shipments arrive on time.
This latest launch is sort of a proving ground for our relationship with ATI, mainly with whether or not we can trust what they tell us. According to ATI, due to a customs issue, the shipments of CrossFire Edition X1800 cards were delayed from reaching the US last week. For this reason, ATI pushed the launch date back to today in order to follow through on their promise of a hard launch. In other words, today we should absolutely expect to be able to buy the CrossFire Edition X1800.
There's not much we can do other than wait and see, let's hope for ATI's sake that there is actual availability, in real quantities, sometime today. We will be keeping a close eye on what's happening with availability throughout the day, but right now let's find out if the X1800 CrossFire Edition is something worth buying to begin with.
Let's just say that we haven't been happy with ATI's promises of availability as of late. Generally speaking, we would often be promised availability for a certain date, and generally speaking that date would come and go, with nothing to show for it (definitely not in the sense of actual availability).
We and pretty much the rest of the press that ATI works with have been hounding ATI, demanding some accountability on their statements to us of availability. Because frankly, if we can't believe what they're telling us and you can't believe what they're telling us, then there's a serious problem. We've got some trust issues with ATI at this point, and luckily they seem intent on resolving them.
We've talked to ATI numerous times about availability, and prior to today's launch we had another discussion with them about the problem. They have promised that they have taken steps and precautions, internally, to once and for all resolve these availability problems. They stressed the difficulty of aligning a product launch with availability that very same day, but we countered with the fact that if they can put 330 million transistors to good use on a GPU, they can figure out how to make shipments arrive on time.
This latest launch is sort of a proving ground for our relationship with ATI, mainly with whether or not we can trust what they tell us. According to ATI, due to a customs issue, the shipments of CrossFire Edition X1800 cards were delayed from reaching the US last week. For this reason, ATI pushed the launch date back to today in order to follow through on their promise of a hard launch. In other words, today we should absolutely expect to be able to buy the CrossFire Edition X1800.
There's not much we can do other than wait and see, let's hope for ATI's sake that there is actual availability, in real quantities, sometime today. We will be keeping a close eye on what's happening with availability throughout the day, but right now let's find out if the X1800 CrossFire Edition is something worth buying to begin with.
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Vol2005 - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
Dunno what about 512gtx-Sli, but single one is http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/121/121711_5.shtml">no more "the best of the best" since "eax 1800xt top" beat it in most d3d benchies. ( not to mention it's price some $20-50 more than standard xt)Fenixgoon - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
D3D benches are different than real world performance - and for just about everything (if not everything, correct me if i'm wrong), the GTX 512 blows away the GTX 256 and x1800XT. The x1800 XTPE, or whatever's next in line, is *supposed* to compete with the GTX512. Almost seems like nvidia caught ati flat footed on this one.Vol2005 - Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - link
sorry, maybe i was a bit unclearbut the thing is that asus x1800xt-top IS x1800xtpe, indeed. And as you've just said the real competitor to gtx512 according to article that i refered.
As to real world perfomance, it's still uclear to me what do you mean.
Maybe i'm wrong, but aren't the majority of the modern games using d3d? Even if not so, i think these results are fairly enough prove that the gtx is no longer the fastest.
Of course, this has to be proven further by other reviewers
bob661 - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
You should've bought it when it was released. It was available then. Nothing mystical here.Leper Messiah - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
6 frame per second increase in 1920x1440? eh?Tanclearas - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
Come on! There are over 100 people in EVGA's step-up queue waiting for the 7800GTX 512MB, but you have a problem with ATI's availability?!Nvidia got LUCKY with the 256MB 7800GTX that it was ready to launch with no real competition. Nvidia was able to sit on it until sufficient quantity were ready. ATI (sort of) launches the X1800XT and Nvidia falls back to the same old launch tricks. If you're going to hold one company accountable, you have to hold them all accountable!
bob661 - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
LOL! That's some retarded logic you got there pal.Tanclearas - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
So you're saying Nvidia's should not be held accountable for supply issues, but ATI should be held accountable? Please tell me you were being sarcastic.bob661 - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
I'm saying it's retarded because when Nvidia released their cards, you could buy them that day. Unlike ATI that even SAYS it will be different this time around and STILL fails to deliver. If neither companies produce enough to meet demand then they underestimated demand and that's something different entirely.Tanclearas - Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - link
So ATI could have shipped about five cards to the top 10 retailers, and ATI would have completely fulfilled your expectations. They just would have "underestimated demand".That's a huge load of crap you're shovelling there. Both companies are still more interested in appearing to be in a leadership position than they are actually ensuring they are making deliverable products. I just can't understand why so many "journalists" have their heads shoved so far up Nvidia's ass they can count their fillings.