3870 crossfire bridge

[TheRevolution55]

Does anyone know if the 3870 comes with a crossfire bridge? And if it doesn't the pc version has one so why wouldnt the mac and pc one not have one?

 

[ZeelessOne]

I'm curious about this too. If it doesn't, you can buy them seperately. For example, here:
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3186855

Since the product name clearly says "Mac and PC", though, I think they'll include it for the PC users, as well as Boot Camp users.

 

[Wormy23]

The review on xlr8yourmac listed the items in their box and it DID include the Crossfire Bridge and a Mac Pro 6-pin power connector. So I would assume it IS included in the retail box too.

Link to xlr8yourmac review

 

[tobyg]

Do we know if the 2006 dual dual core (4x2.66) will run Crossfire? Or is that only available on the newer 2008 Mac Pro?

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Do we know if the 2006 dual dual core (4x2.66) will run Crossfire? Or is that only available on the newer 2008 Mac Pro?

It will but only with 8x PCIe. The 2006 dual core cannot be set up to have two x16 PCIe slots whereas the newer Mac Pro can. Running a single 3870 on an 8x slot instead of a 16x slot results in a loss in performance of about 7%. Running two 3870s in crossfire results in a 7% as well, not 14% as you might expect.

Barefeats say on their website that you'd be a loon for running crossfire at 8x, however, Toms Hardware report that yes, it does result in a drop in performance over crossfire at 16x but its not that bad a drop and its still way faster than a single 3870. Dual 3870s in crossfire are the fastest Windows graphics solution available using official supported OS X hardware in any Mac Pro right now.

 

[ray_uk]

I read a article on a review site "forgot which one" which showed the FPS count nearly doubling when 2 x 2600 xt cards were ran in the 2008 Mac Pro, I do not recall a bridge being used, just the two cards being plugged into the 2 x 16 pcie slots.

 

[kabunaru]

I read a article on a review site "forgot which one" which showed the FPS count nearly doubling when 2 x 2600 xt cards were ran in the 2008 Mac Pro, I do not recall a bridge being used, just the two cards being plugged into the 2 x 16 pcie slots.

I have a question...
Can the two ATI Radeon HD 2600 XTs can be CrossFired too when booted in Windows? Or is this only a HD 3870 thing on the Mac Pro?