I got curious on how Crossfired low-end card stack against single card solutions, so I ordered a few HD4830 and HD4770 to see for myself (first hand experience!) instead of just reading it from other sites.
What Is CrossfireX
ATI CrossFireX™ is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform. Enabling game-dominating power, ATI CrossFireX technology enables two or more discrete graphics processors to work together to improve system performance. For The Ultimate Visual Experience™, be sure to select ATI CrossFireX ready motherboards for AMD and Intel® processors and multiple ATI Radeon™ HD graphics cards.
Test Setup
In this article, I’ll pit the HD4770 and HD4830 in Crossfire mode against the HD4890. Here’s the computer setup used.
| Processor | Intel Coreâ„¢2 Duo E7200 @ 3.6ghz |
| RAM | Kingston HyperX 4GB Dual-channel Kit |
| Motherboard | Jetway X-Blue P45 |
| Cooler | Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer Heatsink 92mm |
| Monitor | 20″ Dell Ultra-sharp Wide-screen LCD |
| Power Supply | Gigabyte Odin GT 550w |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit |
| Driver Version | ATi Catalyst 9.4 |
In Crossfire mode, the cards run at x8 / x8 for of the PCI-E slot the cards are using.
Cards used are the
– Sapphire HD4830 (OCed version)
Performance Comparison
World In Conflict
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| HD4830 single | 25 |
| HD4770 single | 21 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 38 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 34 |
| HD4890 Single | 35 |
Company Of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| HD4830 single | 39.4 |
| HD4770 single | 46.9 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 56.4 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 49.7 |
| HD4890 | 55.9 |
Lost Planet : Extreme Condition
Graphic Detail : Maximum at 1680 x 946
| Card | Snow (Average) | Cave (Average) |
| HD4830 single | 42.4 | 54.0 |
| HD4770 single | 37.6 | 48.2 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 73.6 | 63.7 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 75.4 | 57.8 |
| HD4890 Single | 64.6 | 60.6 |
Crysis
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| HD4830 single | 13.62 |
| HD4770 single | 12.87 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 21.83 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 21.45 |
| HD4890 Single | 22.21 |
H.A.W.X.
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050, not using DX10.1 for mode.
| Card | Average |
| HD4830 single | 35 |
| HD4770 single | 38 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 59 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 56 |
| HD4890 Single | 52 |
Furmark
Graphic Detail : Maximum @ 1680×1050
| Card | Average |
| HD4830 single | 26 |
| HD4770 single | 20 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | 47 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 40 |
| HD4890 Single | 42 |
Power Consumption
Please note that the numbers below indicate the wattage for the entire system, not the graphic card alone.
| System Power Consumption | Idle (w) | Load (w) |
| HD4830 single | 44 | 206 |
| HD4830 Crossfire | N/A | N/A |
| HD4770 single | 56 | 121 |
| HD4770 Crossfire | 84 | 192 |
| HD4890 Single | 90 | 266 |
Readings taken with Gigabyte’s P-Tuner software.
Sorry, no readings for HD4830 as one of the card went bonkers before I get to take the power consumption readings. RMA took a long time, the HD4830 never met one another after that.
My Thoughts
Clearly CrossFireX technology is no slouch. As you can see from the benchmarks, it’s clear that Crossfired ATI cards perform well. Take for example the HD4830, I sold my units for only RM 300 or so and they’re performing just as good as the HD4890 card, usually retailing at around RM 850.
So if you’re looking to cut cost, a new P45 board with Crossfire capability could be acquired for as low as RM 310 and couple that with 2 units of used HD4830, add a CrossfireX cable to it and overall cost comes to a little over RM 900. For a HD4890 setup to reach that price level, you’ll need to hunt for a used unit and settle for a low-end board, usually comes with onboard graphic card (eg, the G31 boards) but lacks in many features, such as the limited DIMM slots and lack of overclocking ability.
Does that mean CrossfireX is the way to go? Not necessarily so, the above example is for NEW setup. If you already have a system with single PCI-E x16 slot, there’s no reason to change to a crossfire motherboard as there’s always a single-card solution, it’s a more cost-effective and less hassle solution.
Another thing to take note of is the power consumption. While the Crossfire setup takes a little more effort, using lower-end graphic card does help in reducing power consumption while attaining similar or better performance.
Now if only I could find a few HD4670 to crossfire to add to the articles. 🙂
*Disclaimer : The tests were done in 1680×1050 resolution, the performance difference between these cards will vary depending on resolution and chipset, eg. x38 / x48 / x58 chipset with x16 / x16 crossfire setup would allow some boost in performance. The article is also referring to HD4830 / HD4770 cards in Crossfire setup only. SLI setup does not necessarly perform the same either, so don’t quote this article for any of your SLI debates. kthxbye).
Hmm, the 4770 Crossfire performed quite disappointingly compared to 4830. But it’s nice to see how much power is saved when 4770 is used. =)
Whoah i’m amazed. Crossfire two 4830 draws less power and perform as good as 4890! Its cheaper somemore!
Means getting 4830 CF is much better than His 4850 TurboX? Is it true?
Hi I’m Justin I’m new to blogging just like to say I like your site plan to come back.
thx goldfries for the review…i amaze at what cf 4830 can do…
sir…can u pls guess the max power consumption for 4830 cf? i want to cf my setup
and, is there any performance gain if cf 4830+4830 compare 4830+4850?
thanks
darn, missed out on the comments –
@kuntawakaw – sorry don’t have. had some complications. 😀 btw CF 4830+4850 will work like CF 4830+4830. It will run based on the slower card.
@XiuKeong – as you can see, HD4830 is as good as a HD4890 already. 😀 so yeah, beats the HD4850 like silly. 😀 the HD4830 performs close to the HD4850 in fact.