Memoirs Of A 2900XT CrossFire System :: 1GB Diamond Viper 2900XT Crossfire Card

Specifications

• ASIC: RV600
• Core Clock: 743MHz
• Memory Size: 1 GIG ( 1024 MG)
• Memory Configuration: 16Mx32 GDDR4
• Memory Interface: 512-Bit
• Memory Speed: 1100MHz
• Display Formats: x2 Dual Link DVI + HDTV-out with VIVO* (HDMI support through external dongle)

2900XT Key features:

• Dynamic Game Computing Technology
• 320 Unified Stream Processors
• 512-bit memory interface
• Dynamic Geometry Acceleration
• High-speed 128-bit-HDR (High Dynamic Range) rendering
• Physics processing support
• Up to 24X Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing
• Plug-and-play CrossFire(tm) support
• ATI Avivo(tm) HD Video and Display Technology
• Built-in HDMI with Multi-channel 5.1 surround audio
• Dual dual-link DVI with full resolution HDCP support
• HD video playback
• Dual 30-bpp display processors
• Optimized for Windows Vista with comprehensive DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 support

The Diamond 2900XT 1GB cards feature the exact same things as ATI's homespun version of the card with the addition of a Diamond sticker on the fan hub. The R600 is ATI's GPU architecture with high hopes for the future, as it has new Shader and Tent Antialiasing features that they hope will get used by game developers as DX10 titles start becoming the mainstream. Dropping technology from the old R300 to work with Microsoft's DX10 is a step forward for ATI and one of the biggest changes in the R600's nature. The cards are long not as long as NVIDIA's 8800GTX or Ultra, but close.

Reviewers really beat up the 512MB version of this card and fortunately the 1MB version has proven to be faster and has gotten better response worldwide. Featuring a whopping 1GB of memory on each card gives a 2GB CorssFire configuration that offers more available memory than any other card combination on the market. There are many innovations in the cards theoretical makeup that in some instances give it an advantage over fellow VGA slingers NVIDIA in some application depending out the supported code. The thing now is getting the game developers to use these new features and effects when making their latest games. Both cards when in CrossFire Mode were really loud or almost silent depending on their mood. They finally settled into a quite running state after the system was up and going.

At the moment these cards are only available through SI houses or System Integrators as they are known in the industry and not the retail channel. Companies like Alienware, Voodoo PC and Dell will all have systems based on these cards and in a CrossFire configuration as well in expensively decorated enclosures I am sure. I have heard that Sapphire and Diamond will be selling these cards in the retail market, but the 1GB cards have been cut from ATI's direct sales and only being distributed and handled by 3rd party players. Why ATI has gone this route is not openly known, but most likely they will want to focus on the mainstream money train of the cheaper 512MB 2900XT and 2600XT market. Diamond and Sapphire are the sole two companies currently distributing these cards in the United States. Scott Wasson over the Tech report did a great job of reviewing these cards and if you want a more in-depth technical review of the 2900 architecture check out his review over here. Since system houses will soon be selling systems based on configuration such as the system we built here, this review is about the CrossFire platform and the cards characteristics and value from a gamer's standpoint more than the cards complete technical details and their complex explanations of why they work.