Webuser Forums: What is the Difference between Crosshair & Crossfire Motherboards (and land a Bargain)

Some of the Latest AMD Motherboards are fitted with Crosshair and Crossfire Graphic card Slots
Don't worry Your existing PCI graphic cards will work with them
But to explain about then I shall go back 2 steps in the chain
The First PCI card slotted into a single Slot then the Next generation Motherboard had a second slot For a Matching card to be fitted or a beefy card in one slot in order for the second card to share the work load they were linked with a short ribbon Link cable and the boards were designated SLI(Scalable Link Interface)
And is only good for NVidia Graphics cards
Last year AMD announced that they wanted to really go to Town with the Duo core processors and Beef up the Graphics preformance again by announcing the next Gen Board would be fitted wirh Crosshair slots
But rather than setting the Running spec to a Minimun Video card RAM value Fitting. They continued with the SLI method and Squashed a 3rd Graphics card slot in ..So they were a near sophisticated machine .Note the Price(Of the Motherboard) went to 120 Pounds and has not come down much

and it can run the Latest Phenom Processors too

But a short While after they released this Board, the Phenom Multicore Chip were released and Yes, to give them their Full potential Several dedicated Motherboads were put on Sale and Yes. the sheer power of these Chips is Beyond anything we know. So the New Board you'd think would come with a 3 graphic card Capability Like Crosshair...But AMD are calling this setup Crossfire

Have a Peek? There are now 4 slots!!!

And I learn that the Phenom Processor Has a Tuner to Make it even Faster (Hope its lockable?) otherwise Somebody will have very expensive grief if it gets into the wrong hands

Now the Price.You'd expect it to be pitched in the 150-175 range Yet, they did the Unthinkable and Priced it @ £99.86 inc VAT

(and its Not a Managers special!)
Bargain?

NOTE
Some SLI Motherboards are about £50 now though the Good brands Like ASUS have risen by £10 to £90!

Me personally I'd Bite the Bullet and pay the extra £9.86 and get a Board which runs the same Components and is totally Futureproofed for Updating for a Long time to come

--------------------
History so far.. 9 years surfing & 28 Years Computing (First ZX81 1k)