According to AnandTech, ATI will release a driver which will enable CrossFire multi-GPU configurations on X1300 and X1600 products without the need for a "master" card. Alternatively, all data will be handled by the PCI Express bus.
CrossFire, ATI's answer to NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU setups, has since its inception needed a master X850 or X1800 series card in conjunction with a standard card to allow both cards to render simultaneously. Data transfer was handled via an external connection. Conversely, lower end NVIDIA cards have been able to run in SLI configurations without any sort of internal connector for quite some time. Even higher end cards were capable of doing so without the bridge connector, but at a performance hit. With this sort of "plug and play" ability, CrossFire setups with X1300 and X1600 series cards may become more appealing. Add-in partners have not been able to confirm if users will be able to mix and match card families in CrossFire mode.
The X1300 has been filtering into retail markets over the past few weeks, but the X1600 is not expected until December.
News source: AnandTech
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