ATI Technologies Radeon CrossFire User manual

Radeon®CrossFire™
Installation Guide
P/N 107-40316-10

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Table of Contents
CrossFire™ FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Welcome to CrossFire™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CrossFire™ Overview 7
Allowable CrossFire™ System Components 7
CrossFire™ Rendering Modes 7
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Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
System Requirements 9
External Connections 10
Before You Begin 10
Record Your Serial and Part Numbers 10
Uninstall Previous Graphics Card Drivers 10
Installing the CrossFire™ Edition Master Graphics
Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Installing Master Graphics Cards 13
Connecting devices for CrossFire™ 16
Display Configurations 17
Connecting Your Monitors for Multiple Display 18
Enabling Multiple Displays 21
Installing Your Software and Drivers. . . . . . . . . . 23
Windows® New Hardware Found 23
Installing the Catalyst™ Software Suite 23
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Enabling CrossFire™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center 25
Launching Catalyst™ Control Center Using the Start Menu 25
Other Quick Launch Access Points 25

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Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Troubleshooting 29
Product Registration 34
Customer Care 34
Getting Additional Accessories 35

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CHAPTER 1:
CrossFire™ FAQ
The following is a listing of frequently-asked questions about CrossFire™.
For the latest information, please consult the CrossFire™ Web site at:
ati.com/crossfire
1What combination of products are required to build a working
CrossFire™ system?
Three components are required:
• a CrossFire™ Edition graphics card that works as the Master
graphics card.
• a CrossFire™ Ready graphics card from the same brand-family
that works as the Slave graphics card.
• a CrossFire™ Ready motherboard (which contains two PCIe™
X16 slots).
More information on the requirements for each of these components can
be found within this FAQ.
2What graphics cards work with CrossFire™?
A CrossFire™ graphics card works with all members of the same brand-
family. Thus a Radeon® X850 CrossFire™ Edition can be used as the
Master graphics card with any Radeon® X850 product.
3What motherboards support CrossFire™?
The optimal configuration for a CrossFire™ system is one based on a
Radeon® Xpress 200 CrossFire™ Edition motherboard. Motherboards
from other manufactures will be certified as CrossFire™ Ready when
they become available.
4Are there specific CMOS motherboard settings for CrossFire™?

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On some motherboards, the CMOS may be set by default to support only
a single PCI Express® X16 slot. Ensure that both PCIe™ X16 slots are
enabled in the CMOS.
5Which slot does the CrossFire™ Master card go into on the
motherboard?
The CrossFire™ Master card must go into the primary PCI Express®
slot (slot zero) on the motherboard.
Note: To determine which PCIe™ slot is the primary slot, consult your
motherboard manual.
Alternately, to determine whether or not a CrossFire™ Edition card is in
the correct slot, connect your display directly to the DVI-I connection on
the Master graphics card instead of using the CrossFire™ DMS-59™
connector, with both graphics cards seated in their respective slots on the
motherboard. If an image appears on the screen upon boot-up, the card
has been placed in the correct slot on the motherboard.
6Are there any software settings required for CrossFire™ to work?
Yes, there is a setting in the Catalyst™ Control Center that needs to be
enabled for CrossFire™ to operate. When all of the hardware and
software has been properly set up and installed, the following
CrossFire™ aspect appears in Catalyst™ Control Center:

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To access and enable CrossFire™ in Catalyst™ Control Center, do the
following:
•ClickCrossFire™ in Advanced View. Then, select Enable
CrossFire™.
When CrossFire™ is successfully enabled, all display devices except the
one used by CrossFire™ will be disabled. Multiple monitors/displays
that are disabled when CrossFire™ is enabled reappear after
CrossFire™ is disabled.
7What is the difference between a CrossFire™ Edition graphics card
and a standard graphics card from the same family?
CrossFire™ Edition graphics cards include a “compositing engine,” a
chip that takes the partially rendered image from the Slave graphics card

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and merges it with the partially rendered image from the Master graphics
card. The result is a complete frame rendered at up to twice the
performance of a single graphics card.
8How are the graphics cards connected on a CrossFire™ system?
The two cards are connection by an external cable. The cable is attached
from the Slave graphics card’s DVI-I connection to the CrossFire™
Edition’s DMS-59™ connection, which is used to convey information
from the Slave graphics card to the Master graphics card and transmit
the combined signal to a display device.
9Which games/applications work with CrossFire™?
CrossFire™ works with all 3D games and applications. If Catalyst™
A.I. is enabled in the Catalyst™ Control Center software, the optimal
rendering mode available for the application is automatically selected.
10 Is a driver profile required to make CrossFire™ work?
No. CrossFire™ is enabled by default for all 3D games and applications.
11 What happens if you pair a 12-pipeline CrossFire™ Edition
graphics card with a CrossFire™ Ready 16-pipeline graphics card?
In this scenario both graphics cards will operate as 12-pipeline graphics
cards while in CrossFire™ mode.
12 What happens if the CrossFire™ Edition graphics card and the
CrossFire™ Ready graphics card have different clock speeds?
Both cards will continue to operate at their individual clock speeds;
neither card is “stepped down.” The compositing engine on the
CrossFire™ Edition card merges the resulting images independent of the
clock speed on either graphics card.
13 What are the rendering modes, and what are their specific
advantages?
The following dynamic rendering modes are available:
• SuperTiling - CrossFire™ renders alternate 32x32 pixel squares in a
fine-grained checkerboard pattern. This configuration increases
image-rendering quality, as each card processes half of the complex
3D objects in the pixel squares.

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• Scissor Mode - each graphics card renders up to half of the display,
either vertically or horizontally depending on the game or application.
• Alternate Frame Rendering - the two graphics cards are used to render
alternate frames of the display. This configuration increases the detail
of the 3D objects each card can render, as each card handles half of
the total number of frames.
• Super Anti-aliasing - improves image quality by combining the
results of full-screen anti-aliasing across two graphics cards in a
CrossFire™ configuration. The two graphics cards work on different
anti-aliasing patterns within each frame.
The first three features are performance features settings automatically
selected by ATI's Catalyst™ Control Center. Super Anti-aliasing is a
display quality mode selectable using Catalyst™ Control Center.
14 On what basis are different rendering modes chosen?
When Catalyst™ A.I. is enabled in Catalyst™ Control Center, it
determines the optimal rendering mode to use, based on the application
or game being used. The default rendering mode is dependant on both
the hardware configuration and the application being run; typically it
will be either Scissor or SuperTiling mode. If Catalyst™ A.I. is not
enabled, any Direct 3D® applications that are running on a system based
on graphics cards with 16-pipeline graphics processors will use
SuperTiling Mode.
15 What type of performance improvement is expected?
Performance enhancements experienced on a CrossFire™ system
depend on the application or game being used. Performance
improvements can be increased up to 100%, and the latest graphics-
intensive programs will generally see over 80% performance
improvement at high resolutions and image-quality modes.
16 How many independent displays can be connected to a CrossFire™
system?
While CrossFire™ is designed for optimal use on a single display, it is
possible to drive multiple monitors using a CrossFire™ system when
CrossFire™ is not enabled. On a standard CrossFire™ system, it is
possible to drive three separate sets of monitors and still have one of
those displays as a dedicated CrossFire™ display. If the motherboard

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contains an integrated video connection and SurroundView™ is enabled,
more displays can be added.
Additional issues are covered in the “Troubleshooting” chapter in the User’s
Guide.