sridhanush
Contributor
ATI SIMPLY didn't have enough time to remove the necessity for the master–slave card concept in R520 and the other R5xx cards. We learned that a handful of R520 master cards should be available at launch date and that customers will get them a few weeks after the launch.
ATI's next generation part, codenamed the R580, will still need a master card concept. ATI realised that due to the picture quality, you need the master–slave card concept just as you need an additional chip on the special card called the "master card" [No relation, Ed.].
It takes approximately two years to finish a graphic chip and a graphic card and ATI didn’t even consider using dual cards in the same setup as an option. Nvidia opened the dual card doors for everyone and ATI just had to react. It took ATI a long time to do this - almost a year from its initial plan. ATI still has to ship Crossfire boards and we are expecting them in the next few weeks.
R580 will obviously be an improved version of R520 but will still need a master card, you simply just can not avoid that. I guess that R600 next year, a pre-Longhorn Vista component, might be master card free but that’s a few quarters from now.
Source:THE INQUIRER