Can you use the DVI connector from each of 2 connected crossfire vid cards?

[Cymae]

I'm curious, i just bought a Radeon X1950GT, and it's crossfire compatible. the card has one DVI connector and one analog connector. If I add a second Radeon X1950GT and run it with crossfire in conjunction with the first card, will I be able to connect dual monitors using a DVI connector OFF EACH CARD, or will i have to limit myself to the DVI and analog connector off one of the cards? I had a look on the ATI website but im still a little iffy on the rules..I'd assume logically you could use both but i cant see it written anywhere. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks to anyone that can clarify.

[jdbnsn]

The way it works is you can power as many monitors as you have connections, but you can only run one monitor while Crossfire is enabled.

[Cymae]

hmmm strange...why?

[Zephik]

http://forums.slizone.com/lofiversion/index.php?t4779.html

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=54241

Just a quick google. Basically, if you want more than one monitor then don't enable SLI. ...whatever that means I don't know. I think what it means is that you can have dual vid card and have dual/tri/quad monitors but when you enable them with sli or crossfire you can only have one. ...or maybe two?? But I think... its kind of like... the two video cards become one so its like your only using one. But... then shouldn't you be able to use dual monitors? lol man, I just woke up. Maybe I should go back to bed. lol

Well I hope those links at least help explain it. You can always turn to google again to answer your question. I have about... 50 kagillion questions a day and google usually helps answer them 98% of the time. The other two percent is for if I am feeling lazy or if I truly can't find an answer. ^_^

**okay, basically it seems like this**

You can have your dual/tri/quad monitor setup with dual graphic cards, but you can't have SLI or CrossFire enabled. Here's a little text diagram to help myself, err, I mean you understand.

Options with SLI or CrossFire "turned on":
1 monitor running off of one card (get a huge monitor?)

Options without SLI or CrossFire "turned on":
2 monitors running off of two cards
3 monitors running off of two cards
4 monitors running off of two cards

lol I hope that helps. If I confused you in anyway, just pretend I never said anything. :p

btw, I'm sure that its only a matter of time before ATI or nVidia figure out how to enable multi-monitor support for CrossFire and SLI. Until then, those are your options. ^_^

[jdbnsn]

Snowfire is correct, by enabling SLI or Crossfire you are assigning two graphics cards to work in cooperation to divde the workload of boosting resolution and framerates on a single monitor. If you are using more thna one display, the cards cannot double their efforts on a single display anymore, they must work separately.

[Zephik]

Snowfire is correct, by enabling SLI or Crossfire you are assigning two graphics cards to work in cooperation to divde the workload of boosting resolution and framerates on a single monitor. If you are using more thna one display, the cards cannot double their efforts on a single display anymore, they must work separately.

yay! I'm not a retarded monkey after all! I'm so happy! :D

/goes back to bed

[Cymae]

So what if your main card has 2 ports? can you still only use the one monitor or can you run both the ports off your main card?

[jdbnsn]

Once again, you can run as many monitors as you have ports but you can only run one monitor with Crossfire enabled.

[Cymae]

humbug. me thinks i need a bigger monitor!

[xRyokenx]

This kinda goes with the same thing, but...

With SLI or Crossfire do you have a cable from each card going to the monitor or just one card with a cable to it, I'm curious.

/hijack

[Bucko]

Just one cable going to the monitor.

[jdbnsn]

There are several different ways the cards are connected. The old version of Crossfire used a cable that connected both cards on the rear ports of the cards, then they moved to an internal ribbon cable that runs inside the case from the edge of one card to another, this is also how SLI works (or used to). The latest cards need no connection between the cards.

[simon275]

Even though the card is crossfire compatible don't you need a special X1950GT CF version?

[jdbnsn]

It depends on the model and series, there is a good discussion and compatibility graph here. (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8358)

[xRyokenx]

Ahh, okay, thanks for clearing that up... kinda, lol. I'll take a look at that later. I should have realized it would vary by "model" and all that...

[Spawn-Inc]

just a another quick question with sli it all connects via the sli bridge right? no stupid outside cables?

[moon111]

Any SLI or Crossfire setup is basicly going to split the workload between two GPU's. The one card is the 'Master', the other the 'Slave'. There should be no difference in the 'Master' except half it's GPU workload is going to the 'Slave' So if the 'Master' could run two monitors before, I can't see why it couldn't in SLI mode. The 'Slave' is only used for it's GPU. It's connectors are useless in SLI or Crossfire setup.

Now there are Quad SLI setups out there... ...maybe those could be setup to run as 'dual' video cards...and get you 4 monitors running? Big $$$

[jdbnsn]

just a another quick question with sli it all connects via the sli bridge right? no stupid outside cables?


When SLI came out this was the case, I'm not sure if the bridge is still required with the later models or not.