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ATI CrossFire™— Multiply and Conquer
The CrossFire™ platform takes your gaming experience to the next level with more performance, flexibility and compatibility. CrossFire combines the awe-inspiring capabilities of two ATI™ Radeon™ graphics cards and CrossFire ready motherboards for AMD and Intel® processors to meet the hard-core demands of your alternate reality. Experience stunning visual realism in today’s games with uncompromising image quality, even on your HDTV. CrossFire: Multiply and Conquer!

ATI Crossfire Brochure Download

• Unite and Dominate
Combined Multi-GPU and Motherboard power that soars into a new dimension of graphics capability

• Divide and Conquer with ATI’s Supertiling
High-performance GPU sharing that works with all games, all the time

• Render and Rule
The highest image quality and screen resolutions even with the most demanding 3D titles

• Now and Future
CrossFire’s upgradeable components allow you to gradually improve your system performance with the reliability and support that only ATI delivers.

How it Works
Build your PC with a CrossFire Certified motherboard then plug in two compatible CrossFire Certified ATI Radeon graphics cards. Learn more about the different combinations of cards and motherboards and view a brief overview of how to install them.

ATI Crossfire Flash Demo

Important note - Radeon X1300, X1550, X1600 and X1650 Series graphic cards (except X1650 XT) do not require an ATI CrossFire Edition co-processor or external cable. Just plug in two cards from the same series and use the ATI Catalyst® Control Center software to command your ultimate gaming experience!

ATI CrossFire™ options include multiple load-sharing modes called “supertiling”, “scissor mode” and “AFR” (alternate frame-rate). Together with a superior visual quality mode called “Super AA”, they combine for optimal quality and performance with game-conquering compatibility, whether it is based on Direct3D or OpenGL. ATI CrossFire gives you a significant advantage in any game and 3D application, even if it is processor-limited. And only ATI can bring you the incredible realism and visual quality of games that offer HDR and Super AA at the same time!

ATI CrossFire™— Compatibility Chart

Monitors come supporting different video connector technologies:  VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, or combinations.  Not every monitor supports these, so check the specifications carefully before making your selection.

The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is the most popular high-quality digital connection for monitors (though HDMI is quickly becoming its equal in popularity).  DVI is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. It was developed by an industry consortium, the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG). It is designed for carrying uncompressed digital video data to a compatible monitor or projector, and is partially compatible with the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard in digital mode (DVI-D).   DVI represents a major improvement in image quality over the older VGA standard. 

The DVI interface uses a digital protocol in which the desired illumination of pixels is transmitted as binary data. When the display is driven at its native resolution, it will read each number and apply that brightness to the appropriate pixel. In this way, each pixel in the output buffer of the source device corresponds directly to one pixel in the display device, whereas with an analog signal the appearance of each pixel may be affected by its adjacent pixels as well as by electrical noise and other forms of analog distortion.

Previous standards such as the analog VGA were designed for CRT-based devices and thus did not use discrete time display addressing. As the analog source transmits each horizontal line of the image, it varies its output voltage to represent the desired brightness. In a CRT device, this is used to vary the intensity of the scanning beam as it moves across the screen.

The two types of DVI interfaces are Single Link and Dual Link. Following are the features and benefits of each:  Single Link - The Single Link interface is limited to a maximum pixel clock of 165 Hz. It uses four (4) twisted pairs of wires (one each of Red, Green, Blue and Clock). Maximum resolution is 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz.  Dual Link - The Dual Link interface is most common for today’s modern LCD monitors. It provides three times as many pixels as the Single Link interface. And its maximum clock may exceed 165 Hz. Dual Link uses six (6) twisted pairs wires with two (2) each for Red, Green, and Blue, as well as a pair for Clock. Dual Link’s maximum resolution is 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz. When you use the Dual Link Interface you can use a longer cable because of its higher bandwidth. Dual Link also provides HDCP support, which is required for Blu-Ray playback.

If your Computer supports DVI ports, but the Monitor does not, then a DVI to VGA adaptor is available at low cost to solve this.  Or inversely, if the Computer output is only VGA, and the Monitor supports DVI, adaptors are available for this as well.  For our selection of Monitor Adaptors click here »

Click Here To Find Video Cards - Look For Dual DVI/Dual Monitor Ready Cards »
Click Here For Dual Monitor Stands »
Click Here For Great Deals On A 2nd Monitor »

Advanced PC Build-It-Yourself Guide
Not too long ago one had to be eligible for the Genius IQ Club (Mensa) in order to build a computer. That is no longer the case. Today’s computer manufacturers have made it much easier for the enterprising do-it-yourselfer to create a great system.
Click Here To Learn More »

Will Your Motherboard Support the Video Card You're Purchasing? Here's the Answer...

Before you buy - make sure your motherboard is compatible with this video card. For example, PCI Express video cards won't work with motherboards designed only for AGP or PCI video cards, and vice versa. Please read the specifications carefully or call us for expert advice.

Close-Up: PCI, AGP, and PCI-E (PCI Express)

Check your motherboard and make sure you are purchasing the correct cardbus type.

There are 3 types of cardbus slots currently available: PCI, AGP, and PCI Express (PCIe 2.0 is compatible with PCIe slot)

PCI - The most widely used I/O bus, it provides a shared data path between the CPU and peripheral controllers, such as network, display, SCSI and RAID cards. Though limited in terms of performance, they are considered the best value when you upgrade your video capabilities on a PC. The PCI interface can be found and used in nearly any motherboard.
Click here to view our selection of PCI Cards

AGP - The AGP slot is next in line of higher graphic performance. It was designed especially for the throughput demands of 3-D graphics. It offers up to 8x improvement over a PCI card, is 32 bits wide and runs at 66 MHz. It provides a direct connection between the card and memory, and only one AGP slot is on the motherboard. The motherboard must be equipped with an AGP bus slot for an AGP card to be compatible.(AGP 1x provided a data transfer rate of 264 Mbytes/sec. AGP 2x is 528 Mbytes/sec. AGP 4x is 1 Gbyte/sec. AGP 8x is 2 Gbytes/sec.)
Click here to view our selection of AGP Cards

PCI Express - PCI Express is the newest technology that is superior to both PCI and AGP, in terms of graphic performance. It offers performance as much as 4x faster than the fastest AGP 8X slot. PCI Express connections can support fast data transfer rates, which can be used to connect high-speed devices such as high-end video cards. The slots come in different variations and speeds, such as x1, x4, x8, and x16. Presently, most high-end motherboards meant for design, video production, or gaming come with PCI express slots. To use a PCI Express card, your computer must have at least one available PCI Express slot.
Click here to view our selection of PCI Express Cards