Asus RD580: the way Crossfire is meant to be played

WE had a chance to test ATI's latest RD580 chipset. We tested a mainstream and high end card, but first of all we should tell you some technical things about the chipset. Crossfire Xpress 3200 is based on RD580 chipset codenamed Skeletor. ATI chipset design team is all about bad guys and good guys and this board was named about cartoon character from Hi Men and the masters of the universe cartoon. ATI made a very small chip of 39 square mm and packed 22 million transistors inside. The chipset dissipates only 8W the fraction of the power compared with other chipsets including its main competition Nforce 4 SLI 2x16. It can be cooled with heatsink only and you can even overclock this board without need to actively cool the chipset. The Northbridge features 36 PCIe lanes which is enough to supply 32 lanes for graphics and to have four more for another PCI 1X slots or interconnection.

I have the power!

I am smaller than fifty cent and I can not rap

Just as we pre-announced some time ago ATI chose to call this chipset ATI Crossfire Xpress 3200. It supports socket 939 CPU's and is built on 110 nanometre marchitecture. It supports Hyper transport speeds faster than 1 GHz and it features four lanes high speed A-link NB-SB interface. It supports dual channel DDR 400 memory with up to four memory modules and matches the SB450 Southbridge or ULI 1575. The board supports two times 16 X PCIe graphic lanes and all the graphic lanes are in the single chip.

The board overclocks like crazy as we saw a chap overclocking an FX60 from its original 2.6 GHz to 3050. All he did was to change the FSB speed from 200 to 305 MHz using the multiplier of 10 and setting the memory work at 166 MHz. He didn't even play with the voltages and this surely implies that this is a damn good overclocking platform. We would try it ourselves but we don't have FX60 CPU.

Asus A8R-32 MVP Deluxe RD580 based motherboard

Asus motherboard supports all socket 939 CPU's and it is a great choice for overlockers. It features for SATA 3 GB/s ports, RAID 0, 1 or 0+1 support or JBOD, it has one internal SATA 3GB/s disc connector and it also has one external SATA disk connector. The board supports two Firewire ports, two Dual Gbit LAN ports and a High definition audio. You can plug up to four GB memory in dual channel memory slots and the board supports two PCIe 16X slots working at 16 X, a single PCIe 1X slot and three PCI slots. The board has SPDIF and optical connector for Audio, 5.1 analogue audio connectors four USB 2.0 ports and some additional USBs on a bracket. The board is indeed packed with features.

Power Color X1900, ATI X1900 XT cards in Crossfire

Benchmarketing:
We used :
Power Colot X1900 Crossfire edition card at 625/725 MHz
2x PowerColor - ATI 1900 Crossfire cards at 625/725 MHz
2x ATI 1800 XT Crossfire cards at 594/693 MHz
2x Gainward 7800 GTX 256 MB cards at 480x1300 MHz Asus A8R-32 MVP Deluxe RD580 based motherboard
Asus A8N32 Deluxe Nforce 4 SLI X16 motherboard Athlon FX 57 at 2.8 GHZ
2x1024 MB OCZ gold edition PC 4000 memory
Western Digital 8MB 160GB SATA drive
Akasa AK128 EVO Athlon 64 cooler
Akasa 650W multi rail PSU
OCZ Power Stream 600W

Doom 3	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	104.7	100.4	90.4	62.2
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	103.7	103.1	102.4	91.0
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	104.9	103.7	102.6	95.2
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	98.9	98.9	97.3	93.2
?	?	?	?	?
Doom 3 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	96.8	81.1	64.6	42.1
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	101.9	99.9	92.1	70.0
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	102.8	100.9	95.9	76.5
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	97.7	93.3	85.7	63.5
?	?	?	?	?
Far Cry	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	76.83	75.97	75.31	72.33
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	84.06	83.41	83.31	81.48
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	83.81	83.09	83.79	84.03
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	76.39	76.56	77.67	77.54
?
Far Cry High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	75.45	74.72	74.81	47.61
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	82.70	83.24	80.80	77.11
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	82.66	81.02	83.56	82.30
Gainward 580/ 760 MHz	76.64	76.35	76.02	67.34
?	?	?	?	?
Half Life 2	1024x768	1280x960	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	71.06	70.69	70.38	68.79
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	70.89	72.04	70.76	70.52
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	70.96	72.12	70.86	70.73
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	63.15	59.69	58.85	58.43
?
Half Life 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	70.50	70.24	67.95	63.08
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	70.47	71.23	70.09	68.58
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	70.64	71.80	70.41	69.87
Gainward 580/ 760 MHz	63.30	59.25	57.86	54.30
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	137.0	133.5	126.8	106.1
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	138.6	137.1	133.8	124.5
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	138.2	137.8	134.3	127.1
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	139.5	135.7	135.0	130.5
?	?	?	?	?
Quake 4 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	130.7	123.9	111.1	84.8
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	135.5	131.1	126.9	112.4
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	138.3	134.3	128.2	118.9
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	135.1	131.0	125.1	112.0
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	102	81	63	42
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	138	114	83	51
ATI Crossfire 2x X1900XT 594/693 MHz	141	123	96	66
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	118	115	92	70
?	?	?	?	?
FEAR High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 16X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	83	65	48	33
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	104	76	57	37
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	112	83	61	46
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	97	75	52	32
?	?	?	?	?
Battlefield 2	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	87.24	80.28	78.76	69.84
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	86.96	88.72	89.26	85.89
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	93.45	93.36	92.93	92.83
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	87.88	87.38	86.75	85.22
?	?	?	?	?
Battlefield 2 High Quality FSAA 4X + Aniso 8X	1024x768	1280x1024	1600x1200	2048x1536
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	86.59	76.45	74.98	62.74
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	87.23	87.90	86.98	80.95
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	93.25	92.66	92.42	92.12
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	0	0	0	0
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	3DMark 03	Game2	Game3	Game3
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	17523	146.6	106.6	111.6
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	28266	244.8	185.1	189.9
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	29863	258.3	198.4	204.4
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	29196	255.6	211.8	180.9
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 03	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Vertex Shader	Vertex Shader
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	4027.9	9386.9	62.8	198.7
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	8093.5	18437.3	109.8	341.8
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	8019.9	18786.9	114.1	343.3
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	8787.7	21874.1	90.7	674.6
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	3DMark 05	Game1	Game2	Game2
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	10903	46.1	32.0	56.3
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	12622	45.8	36.0	78.1
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	13331	46.2	36.1	91.1
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	12306	45.3	35.9	73.3
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 05	Single Texturinng	Multi Textur.	Pixel Shader	VS/VS complex
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	4755.7	9750.5	411.2	133.0/59.3
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	9426.5	19549.1	465.4	156.5/113.7
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	9473.0	19607.0	785.5	224.0/119.1
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	10544.0	22196.9	633.0	133.7/95.8
?	?	?	?	?
Composite Figures 3Dmark 06	3DMark 06	?	?	?
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	4919	?	?	?
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	6438	?	?	?
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	7167	?	?	?
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	6456	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
SM2.0 Test	Score	GT1	GT2
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	2168	16.778	19.350	?
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	3346	26.859	28.914	?
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	3752	30.663	31.867	?
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	3464	27.678	30.054	?
?	?	?	?	?
HDR/SM3.0 Test	Score	HDR1	HDR2	?
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	2427	23.294	25.247	?
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	3454	33.473	35.599	?
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	4298	44.492	41.463	?
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	3367	29.143	38.203	?
?	?	?	?	?
CPU Test	Score	CPU1	CPU2	?
PowerColor X1900 Crossfire Edition 625/725 MHz	1085	0.343	0.550	?
ATI Crossfire 2x X1800XT 594/693 MHz	1084	0.342	0.551	?
PowerColor Crossfire 2x X1900XT 625/725 MHz	1090	0.344	0.553	?
Gainward SLI 7800GTX 480x1300 MHz	1084	0.342	0.550	?
?	?	?	?	?

You can clearly see that at Doom 3 X1900 XTX Crossfire manages to be faster than two Gainward cards. We still can not run two 7800 GTX 512 cards that would be much better competition but we hope that we wont have such a problems once we get two 7900 GTX 512 cards. ATI's dual card solution is some five FPS faster but it is still faster than the Nvidia's overclocked Gainward cards.

There is some more drastic performance difference between the cards with FSAA and Aniso on. You can clearly see 10+ frames difference but it is interesting to note that two X1800 XT in Crossfire are running Doom 3 almost as fast as two X1900. Single card naturally stays behind in higher resolutions.

Far Cry is on ATI's Crossfire side but the difference is marginal. We are talking about six to nine frames difference and once again X1800 cards in Crossfire can keep up with a faster X1900 brother. The difference with FSAA and Aniso is 9 FPS at 1600x1200 and 15 at the highest 2048x1536. Please note that even at highest resolution all the dual cards can score more than 60 FPS.

Half life 2, ATI own game is faster in every single scenario than two Nvidia cards. It's interesting to note that X1800 Crossfire is neck to neck with X1900 cards. Nvidia is losing for averagely 12 frames to ATI. The performance difference is consistent to the scores with FSAA and Aniso.

The two Gainward 7800 GTX 256 are neck to neck with X1900 Crossfire on Quake 4 and even manage to be two frames faster on the two top resolutions. Crossfire X1900 outperforms Nvidia with FSAA and Aniso but for averagely three frames. I would call it a tight.

FEAR loves ATI. It runs significantly faster than Nvidia. We are talking about 23 FPS difference at 1024x768 or 26 percent performance difference. This is the most extreme scenario but at the highest resolution Nvidia mange to run some four frames faster than ATI. The FSAA 4X + Anisotropic filtering 16X are again faster on ATI Power Color Crossfire X1900 side. The two cards in Crossfire win in every single scenario.

Battlefield 2 runs slightly faster on Crossfire X1900 cards, by roughly five to six frames while at FSAA and Aniso off X1900 would just freeze every single time. Power Color X1900 Crossfire is winning in all 3Dmarks including 3Dmark03, 05 and the latest 06.
Power Color X1900 master card

Conclusion
ATI did a good job with its new RD580 board. ATI's Skeletor, Crossfire Xpress 3200 is one heck of a nice chipset, it has the features and it will show you how easy is the overclock the high end CPU. Asus made a very nice board and the board is available now. You should look for Asus A8R-32 MVP Deluxe but we know that it won't be that cheap. Sapphire, Abit and DFI will also have a nice boards based on this chipset. Power color made a nice X1900 Crossfire card and we didn't have any singly problem with this card. It works just as good as ATI's X1900 master card while we have to say that we were surprised with Radeon X1800XT performance. In Crossfire it manage to stay very close to its X1900, R580 brother. We have to say that sometimes we would get an awkward score while running some of the older games but we think it has to do with power. Once you run the scores a few times, things would clear up but we have to say that we didn't had this problem with SLI Geforce 7800 GTX 256 cards that would run and give a logical score every single time.

Geforce 7800 GTX 256 MB SLI is no match for and X1900XT Crossfire but we are sure that 7800 GTX 512 would show a better fight. Nvidia will release a new GPU Geforce 7900 GTX 512 and this one has a chance to attack X1900 Crossfire dual card dominance. Until then we think that this is the fastest you will go .?

Tested by Sanjin Rados and Fuad Abazovic