# You Can Pair an R9 300 Series GPU with an R9 200 in CrossFire



## btarunr (Jul 13, 2015)

With AMD unifying the driver between the R9 300 series and the older R9 200 series GPUs, it's now possible to pair a Radeon R9 300 series graphics card with one based on a similar-spec chip from the R9 200 series. At launch, the R9 300 series and R9 Fury series had a separate driver branch from the remaining lineup, which was unified with Catalyst 15.7 WHQL. Now, you may pair an R9 390 or R9 390X, with an R9 290 or R9 290X. 

You may even create a 4-way CrossFire setup with one each of the four cards. You should even be able to combine R9 380 with R9 285. AMD allowed similar cross-generation pairings in the past, such as those between the R9 280 series and HD 7900 series, and between the R9 270 series and HD 7800 series. The company's newer GPUs feature XDMA CrossFire, which does away with bridge cables, for increased flexibility.





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## Frick (Jul 13, 2015)

300 and 79/8xx possible?


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## btarunr (Jul 13, 2015)

Frick said:


> 300 and 79/8xx possible?



The only condition is that the silicon should be the same. The cards may have different core configurations, clocks, memory amounts, or even SKU names. Hawaii and Grenada are the same silicon down to the last transistor, because they share the same device IDs.

So R7 370 with HD 7800 and R7 360 with HD 7790 are possible.


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## APEKS (Jul 13, 2015)

btarunr said:


> The only condition is that the silicon should be the same. The cards may have different core configurations, clocks, memory amounts, or even SKU names. Hawaii and Grenada are the same silicon down to the last transistor, because they share the same device IDs.
> 
> So R7 370 with HD 7800 and R7 360 with HD 7790 are possible.



How would that work though because the old cards had crossfire fingers didn't they or have AMD been using the pci-e lanes for a while now?


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## Sempron Guy (Jul 13, 2015)

APEKS said:


> How would that work though because the old cards had crossfire fingers didn't they or have AMD been using the pci-e lanes for a while now?


that would only be for the Fury series, R9-300/R9-290, and R7-360(afaik)


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## comperius (Jul 13, 2015)

Does anyone know if you can paid R9 270/270X with and of R9 3xx cards? Because that would be extremely useful for mainstream users.


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## W1zzard (Jul 13, 2015)

comperius said:


> Does anyone know if you can paid R9 270/270X with and of R9 3xx cards? Because that would be extremely useful for mainstream users.


Not the same GPU, so no


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## buildzoid (Jul 13, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> Not the same GPU, so no


The R7 370 is a R7 265 and IIRC the 265 can CFX with the 270(X) so the 270(X) and 370 should work.


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## W1zzard (Jul 13, 2015)

Sorry I misread, I thought you wrote R9 39x.
What Buildzoid said is correct


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## Cataclysm_ZA (Jul 13, 2015)

APEKS said:


> How would that work though because the old cards had crossfire fingers didn't they or have AMD been using the pci-e lanes for a while now?



The HD7790 can use XDMA over PCI-E, it just was never enabled in the drivers. The R7 260X and R7 260 can do it as well.


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## RejZoR (Jul 13, 2015)

Pairing of different GPU's will be available with DX12 games.


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## jamesdunn (Jul 13, 2015)

OK great to know, but I have an question, I have an MSI R7 260X with an MSI 970 chipset motherboard. I wonder what of the new R 300 card that I can crossfire that with or just stay with my R7 260X crossfire setup as it is?


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## Cataclysm_ZA (Jul 13, 2015)

jamesdunn said:


> OK great to know, but I have an question, I have an MSI R7 260X with an MSI 970 chipset motherboard. I wonder what of the new R 300 card that I can crossfire that with or just stay with my R7 260X crossfire setup as it is?



Nothing for now. You'll have to wait for a Radeon R7 360X to surface which will pair up with the R7 260X.


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## Mussels (Jul 13, 2015)

any idea whats compatible with a 7970/280x? i'm in warranty right now with my 280x, and after 3 faulty cards they may be willing to upgrade me.


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## suraswami (Jul 13, 2015)

I wish the drivers allow cross fire R9 290 4GB with 7950 3GB, that way I don't need to sell the 7950 for throw away price!!


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## bubbleawsome (Jul 13, 2015)

Mussels said:


> any idea whats compatible with a 7970/280x? i'm in warranty right now with my 280x, and after 3 faulty cards they may be willing to upgrade me.


Nothing R9 3xx. The place where Tahiti would be in the lineup is replaced by tonga.


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## c12038 (Jul 13, 2015)

So Is it possible to CrossFireX a R7 370 and R9 270 as they are both the same GPU Pitcairn

can someone read this http://www.pcworld.com/article/2947...upport-between-r300-and-r200-radeon-gpus.html and clarify above comment


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## Caring1 (Jul 13, 2015)

c12038 said:


> So Is it possible to CrossFireX a R7 370 and R9 270 as they are both the same GPU Pitcairn
> 
> can someone read this http://www.pcworld.com/article/2947...upport-between-r300-and-r200-radeon-gpus.html and clarify above comment


The 370 is basically a rebrand of the 270, so it should be possible


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## c12038 (Jul 13, 2015)

Caring1 said:


> The 370 is basically a rebrand of the 270, so it should be possible


But would I need the CrossfireX bridge cable to do it


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## Caring1 (Jul 13, 2015)

c12038 said:


> But would I need the CrossfireX bridge cable to do it


It's my understanding that any of the new generation "R" series do not need the crossfire bridge.


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## RealNeil (Jul 13, 2015)

Sempron Guy said:


> that would only be for the Fury series, R9-300/R9-290, and R7-360(afaik)



R9-285 is also included in that list.


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## KainXS (Jul 14, 2015)

Caring1 said:


> The 370 is basically a rebrand of the 270, so it should be possible



the 370 is a rebrand of the 265

and I think you do still need a crossfire bridge, the 370's still have the connectors for it, and you probably could crossfire with a 270 since its a pitcairn but I'm guessing sp's would get disabled on the 270 unless its one of those 1024sp 270's that came out later.


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## Mussels (Jul 14, 2015)

bubbleawsome said:


> Nothing R9 3xx. The place where Tahiti would be in the lineup is replaced by tonga.




balls. i'm stuck with faulty, ever failing gigabyte 280x's then


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## RealNeil (Jul 14, 2015)

Mussels said:


> balls. i'm stuck with faulty, ever failing gigabyte 280x's then



My 280X cards are all working great. No problems at all with all three of them. Sorry to hear that your's don't work right.


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## Mussels (Jul 14, 2015)

RealNeil said:


> My 280X cards are all working great. No problems at all with all three of them. Sorry to hear that your's don't work right.



i've got a really bad gigabyte one, from a known bad series. third RMA in two months - the thread title here got me hopeful i could ask for a 3x0 card to pair it with and avoid the issues.


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## Caring1 (Jul 14, 2015)

KainXS said:


> the 370 is a rebrand of the 265
> 
> and I think you do still need a crossfire bridge, the 370's still have the connectors for it, and you probably could crossfire with a 270 since its a pitcairn but I'm guessing sp's would get disabled on the 270 unless its one of those 1024sp 270's that came out later.


My 270X has the crossfire connector, but I can still Xfire (no bridge) with another 270X, dependent on OS and Motherboard support.


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## Caring1 (Jul 14, 2015)

Mussels said:


> i've got a really bad gigabyte one, from a known bad series. third RMA in two months - the thread title here got me hopeful i could ask for a 3x0 card to pair it with and avoid the issues.


Hopefully they will tire of attempting to fix it before you do, and just replace the damn thing with a new card.


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## Mussels (Jul 14, 2015)

Caring1 said:


> Hopefully they will tire of attempting to fix it before you do, and just replace the damn thing with a new card.



hence my comments in this thread, because if i get a different card i lose crossfire.


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## Primalz (Jul 14, 2015)

Well this is great news, may have to get that shiny new asus 390x to have some fun with my 290x dcu2.


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## KainXS (Jul 14, 2015)

Caring1 said:


> My 270X has the crossfire connector, but I can still Xfire (no bridge) with another 270X, dependent on OS and Motherboard support.



yea I think your right about the bridge but it gets me wondering, what would happen if you tried to cf a 370 with a 7850.


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## RealNeil (Jul 14, 2015)

Mussels said:


> hence my comments in this thread, because if i get a different card i lose crossfire.



Are you in the states?

I may be selling or trading off one of my 280X OC cards in the next month or so. If they send you a card that will not cross with your other ones, maybe we can swap and I'll just use it in my HTCP box. I have an HIS Ice-Q X2 that is in there now.


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## Mussels (Jul 15, 2015)

RealNeil said:


> Are you in the states?
> 
> I may be selling or trading off one of my 280X OC cards in the next month or so. If they send you a card that will not cross with your other ones, maybe we can swap and I'll just use it in my HTCP box. I have an HIS Ice-Q X2 that is in there now.



aus, not the states sadly.


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## RealNeil (Jul 15, 2015)

Probably cost more to ship it than what it's worth.


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## TPout (Jul 15, 2015)

Well, by this it seems that it works without any problems


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## RealNeil (Jul 15, 2015)

285s are OK to do it with. 280s are not.


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## hard_trancer303 (Aug 8, 2015)

Can I pair Hd 7790 with R7 360 in Crossfire ? 

I know that HD 7790 + R7 260X  in crossfire is possible, but my Asus HD 7790 is only 1 Gb, will it run with R7 260X 2 Gb ?


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## chakra85 (Dec 26, 2015)

OK so since this update is fairly recent, it goes against what pretty much 99% of the forums are saying out there about pairing different AMD cards. I currently have a R9 270x. I want to get a new card and am looking at R9 380. 

Can I crossfire them, and will the 380 be downgraded to operate at 270x level?


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## Mussels (Dec 27, 2015)

chakra85 said:


> OK so since this update is fairly recent, it goes against what pretty much 99% of the forums are saying out there about pairing different AMD cards. I currently have a R9 270x. I want to get a new card and am looking at R9 380.
> 
> Can I crossfire them, and will the 380 be downgraded to operate at 270x level?



they need to have the same GPU core, so it only works if they re-branded the GPU into a new model.


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