Gaming Performance
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 uses AFR mode with both Crossfire and SLI. 7800 GT and 7800 GTX are faster than Crossfire at all time with Half-Life 2 with SLI staying ahead at the top resolution too. Half-Life 2 is definitely accelerated by Crossfire, although not to the extent it is with the same CPU and basic PCI Express platform, but SLI.
Far Cry
Another AFR title on both Crossfire and SLI, Radeon X850 XT Crossfire slaps GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI around at the highest resolution it's capable of, mimicking the advantage a single X850 XT has over a single GeForce 6800 Ultra. 7800 GT and GTX sit there showing what single boards are capable of these days.
Chronicles of Riddick
Radeon X850 XT Crossfire outruns GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI at the highest resolution despite being beaten in the lower resolutions. Single board performance is dominated by the GeForce 7800 GT and GTX. SLI and Crossfire outrun them both at all times. Riddick likes more than one GPU and shows that Crossfire works well in OpenGL mode.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Crossfire has nearly perfect performance scaling in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with Radeon X850 XT Crossfire. The only problem is that GeForce 6800 Ultra SLI does too, bettering the Crossfire system's performance across the board. Again, single board performance is dominated by the GeForce 7800 GT and GTX, but the SLI and Crossfire systems show that Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory loves another GPU thrown into the mix.
Summary
HEXUS tested other games with Crossfire and all showed at least some performance scaling due to adding the second graphics card. The performance scaling shown with our four usual suspects encompasses what HEXUS feel is a general performance advantage that you can expect with Crossfire with modern games and a decent processor.This ties in with the statement by ATI that all games will see some measurable improvement in performance given the ability to do so by the rest of the system. Although we haven't had the time to benchmark all games on the planet, Crossfire seems to work in that respect.
