SLI + Dual Monitors?

[Vertigo]

It's upgrade time, infact it's build a new main rig and cannibalize my two current PCs but that's beside the point. I'm looking into some updated gear, I'm wanting to put together a dual booting Vista / XP machine as my main but I'm curious about putting SLI in the mix. I've never worked with SLI and I'm wondering if it has any effects on using two monitors? I currently use a 7950 GTX with a pair of Samsung LCDs hooked up to it, but I've heard that atleast in Crossfire setups you lose the ability to do dual monitors. Anyone have experience with this?

[.Maleficus.]

I just read that the easiest way to do this is buy a PCI graphics card not made by Nvidia and run the other monitors off that.

Check it. Doesn't seem too hard or expensive when you can buy a cheap PCI card for $30-40.

[Vertigo]

Nice find Male, thanks.

[Greco101]

Sweet! I would have never thought of running 3gpus...


Now I need another 7950 GT, another lcd and I'm set!

[The boy 4rm oz]

You shouldn't have a problem running duel monitors off an SLI rig. Theoretically you can run 4, 2 per card.

[Bucko]

You shouldn't have a problem running duel monitors off an SLI rig. Theoretically you can run 4, 2 per card.

Not while it's in SLi though. When you have two cards you can run 4 monitors, however when you run as SLi, you can only run one monitor.

[dgrmkrp]

errmm.. I built a dual 7600gs (leadtek extreme) system.. and the dual monitor feature worked.. just don't plug the cables in different adapters.. It's like using one board.. no biggie just think of it like the second card sacrificing its connectivity for the performance boost

[Cymae]

What SLI and crossfire do, is share the rendering on the screen between two video cards, so each video card has an allocated part of the screen to render. Why this is stupid with 2 monitors is this: If you have 2 monitors, you're better off plugging 1 monitor into each video card so 1 video card renders 1 monitor. To have SLI compatible with dual screens, you'd need FOUR video cards, two to work on each monitor, othewise you lose the whole point of it. It's like either putting 2 cpus in one computer or getting 2 computers (ok thats a pretty loose comparison but you get what i mean). In my opinion, until larger monitors become cheaper, SLI and crossfire aren't really worth it unless you're doing high-end graphics design, and even then you're probably going to want 2 screens so you can't do it.

I guess technically it's possible, but if you're running like that I'm going to call you an idiot, cos you are!

[jdbnsn]

I agree with the above statements regarding SLI or CX running multiple monitors, it doesn't work that way and you can only run a single monitor in CX or SLI. I have 2 X1900 ATI's in CX and there is a noticeable improvement in performance. But bang for the buck, you are probably better off getting one 8800 than either CX or SLI rigs these days. There are also plenty of compatibility issues with many games.

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

lemme break this down to u very simply..... SLI or CX..... ABSOLUTELY USELESS!!!!! lol no real benchmark differences....ive looked into to it very in depth... my customers have said they want all the new big features.... u should see their faces when i tell em its a waste of time heh i agree with the idea of using jus one 8800 would make ya life alot ezier...