Multi GPU running in Vista
Sometimes we’re quite cynical of what we see and hear when at these shows because of course everyone is going to be telling us that whatever they’re doing is the best, the first the biggest etc etc. So it was with a rather large pinch of salt that we took the news that ATI have Crossfire running in Vista as we watched 3DMark running across three monitors on ATI’s stand.
Click for larger imageJust to explain, the reason ATI are pumping out 3DMark over three monitors is to give a visual layman’s term view of how the two GFX cards, in this case two Radeon X1900 cards, work together to produce the image. The first screen is the normal output, but ATI have forced supertiling so that a non-techie bloke, (me), can see how one card renders one part of the image while the other does another part… I know it’s an over-simplification, but the principle is there, ok?
Click for larger imageAnyway, the interesting bit is when the 3DMark demo stops and the PC briefly returns to the desktop, because, lo and behold, there’s Vista! Now earlier on I said we take things with a pinch of salt, well that was the case here as we’d heard through our sources that the whole thing was a mock-up, but no, it actually is Crossfire running on Vista.
Click for larger imageOf course, my first question was as to why Aeroglass wasn’t on and apparently this is because to run 3DMark you have to shut down all other running 3D apps, so Aeroglass closes, Vista drops back to its 2D desktop and then 3DMark kicks in…
Click for larger imageSo there you go, ATI have enable multi GPU support under Vista. But I wouldn’t try it with the last public beta version of Vista if I were you, this is a build way beyond that… [advert]
