ATI HD2600XT Crossfire Benchmark

This post is long overdue, and I have a good reason for it. Since I mentioned Crossfire in my Crysis demo entry, might as well clear up the Crossfire issue here.

My father and I were able to purchase Crossfire Bridges when we went to Bangkok a few weeks ago. Technically, Crossfire works, but not very well. Whenever I run a 3D application, Crossfire does not seem to work. I only get single-card performance. However, Crossfire consistently works with 3DMark 2006. This seemingly makes ATI interested only in making good synthetic benchmarks, and nothing real world.

I’ve tried reinstalling drivers–both clean and “dirty”–but it only gives a short-term solution. After reinstallation, Crossfire works with all the 3D games I run, but that is only as good as the next restart. When I restart, Crossfire no longer works except for 3DMark. This also happens whenever I minimize a 3D application. The next time I return the the game, I go back to single-card performance.

This inconsistencies are the reason why I haven’t posted benchmarks. When I post benchmarks, I want the results consistent, reproducible and verifiable. Since 3DMark is the only consistent, reproducible and verifiable benchmark as of now, here it is:  

It’s a very impressive performance gain! I was also able to test Crossfire with a few games after reinstalling drivers. The results were consistent and reproducible. It is a pleasure to say that my gaming performance, to say the least, has doubled. Frame rates in GRAW 2 and MOH:A and my 3DMark score at least doubled.

I raised my problems to ATI support, and thankfully, I did not have to deal with Richard C. again. The support representative pointed me to ticket 737-29980 which is a driver bug. The representative said that it is possible that the bug affects hardware Crossfire also. Like the rest of the ATI HD users, I am also waiting for the new Catalyst 7.11 drivers. ATI has overshot their monthly release cycle. Hopefully they will arrive soon to resolve this issue.