ASUS A8R-MVP Crossfire Motherboard Review :: Test Setup and Performance

CPUZ Shots

Our test platform for the AMD Athlon 64 is still relevant as the 4000+ is one of the faster single core CPUs on the AMD platform even today. We may update the test platform once the Socket M2 platform arrives, but for now the performance section of the review shows good traction for the overall motherboard performance.

Standard Test System

• AMD Athlon 64 4000+
• 1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR400 memory
• 2 74GB WD Raptor SATA HDDs in RAID 0 mode
• XFX 6800GT Running 81.98 Forceware
• Windows XP with SP2
• DirectX 9.0c

Test Software

• Aquamark 3
• HL2
• Sysmark 2004
• PCMark04
• PCMark04 Memory
• Sisoft Sandra 2005 Memory Test
• Doom3
• 3DMark05
• 3DMark03

Crossfire Test Setup

• ATI X1800XT Crossfire Edition video card running Catalyst 6.2s
• ASUS X1800XT TOP Card
• 1GB DDR400
• 2 74GB WD Raptor SATA HDDs
• Windows XP with SP2
• DirectX 9.0c
• A8R-MVP

Crossfire Test Software

• Doom3 32-bit Max Settings 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF
• COD2 32-bit Max Settings 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF
• Quake4 32-bit HQ settings 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF
• Far Cry 32-bit max settings 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF
• F.E.A.R. 32-bit Max settings 1024x768, 1280x960,1600x1200 no AA no AF, 4x AA 16x AF
• 3DMark05
• 3DMark03
• 3DMark06 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200

It's impossible to do a motherboard review without giving a sense of performance of all components of the motherboard. Crossfire is using two ATI video cards in conjunction with the Catalyst driver suite to give higher performance and better image quality through Super AA.

Installing Crossfire on the A8R-MVP motherboard is pretty simple and intuitive. The Crossfire Edition video card goes into the second PCI Express x16 slot, while the X1800XT goes into the first PCI Express x16 slot. The Crossfire cable connects to the DVI the other to the DVI connector on the secondary X1800XT and a special connection to the Crossfire Edition X1800XT. I prefer NVIDIA's solution of a paddle or SLI bridge, but this does work.

To show performance of Crossfire on the A8R-MVP I took a X1800XT TOP from ASUS, a X1800XT Crossfire Edition card from ATI and put them into the motherboard. I'll go more in-depth into Crossfire in my X1800XT Crossfire review. As more motherboards are reviewed with Crossfire, I'll add them to our database, giving a sense of performance with Crossfire enabled.