question about SLI

H

heyman421

banned
I have a 3 monitor setup right now, and in the near future, i'm building a new rig consisting of a single 8800gtx.

I read on nvidia's website that when SLI is enabled, you can only use the video card to power a single monitor.

I was wondering if i use my 3rd pci express slot of my current x1300 pro video card, will i be able to run my 2nd and 3rd monitors off of the x1300, so i can keep my multi monitor display?

I just wasn't sure how the SLI motherboards worked.
 
To run an SLI setup you have to have two "identical" cards to see it really work out the best. You would be trying to mix NVidia and ATI software together with those two cards. NADA! No good! Doesn't work! At least with two close models like mixing a 7900 model with a newer 7950 you would have have a slight chance there to see anything work.
 
like he said.. 3rd pci-e slot.
ive seen a review of my current PSU, where it powered a system with 3 8800GTX's (2 in SLI, and a 3rd one that ran a additional monitor. so i'd say yes, it should work.
 
ok, cool, i figured it should go without saying, but you can never be too sure.

what i meant was if i eventually had two 8800's running SLI, i didn't know if i could use a 3rd video card that wasn't in the SLI array to run 2nd and 3rd monitor, and i'll take archangel's reply as a yes.

sorry about the confusion. i just realized how poorly typed the initial post was :P
 
I don't think it'll be a problem.

If it is, i'll just get whatever the low-end nvidia card is.

The 2nd and 3rd monitor aren't used for games, just for more workspace, so i can drag webpages/text files/windows, etc. out of my primary desktop.
 
Archangel said:
like he said.. 3rd pci-e slot.
ive seen a review of my current PSU, where it powered a system with 3 8800GTX's (2 in SLI, and a 3rd one that ran a additional monitor. so i'd say yes, it should work.
Click to expand...

But "two identical in SLI". The third if any runs at 1x not 16x there.
 
no, the motherboard i'm getting has 3 pci express x16 slots

again, i just didn't know if i could use a 3rd completely unrelated card, while running two in SLI, but i'm 99% positive i can.

and if not, i can just turn off SLI when i'm not playing games, and use the two SLI cards for all 3 monitors
 
The reason for the identical cards is not only a match for hardware but the software/drivers installed. One set of drivers does all. For SLI you also need to use NVidia driven cards while to run a Crossfire setup you run ATI cards on a board with the ATI chipset. With three 16x slots in SLI you are now talking matching a third of the same.

When in doubt go to NVidia's own SLI site for details including guides for do-it-yourselfers. http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_faq Even card manufacturers state the obvious on SLI like seen at BFG's site. Note the paragraph on the bottom left at http://www.bfgtech.com/7900GTX_512_PCIX.html
 
You can have one monitor running from your SLI setup, which would be the main, gaming display, and if you have another slot you can install a third video card for the other 2 monitors, but they wont provide the SLI gaming performance.
 
guys, all i was asking is if i could have TWO cards in SLI, and use the THIRD slot for a completely different video card that has nothing to do with the SLI to run my other monitors.

My question was answered by archangel, i'm set.
 
heyman421 said:
guys, all i was asking is if i could have TWO cards in SLI, and use the THIRD slot for a completely different video card that has nothing to do with the SLI to run my other monitors.

My question was answered by archangel, i'm set.
Click to expand...

I also answered it in the previous post.
 
Unless things have changed recently the 3rd card has to be non-nvidia or the driver disables it when sli mode is on.
 
why do you want 3 monitors at once...
I do not knwo for sure, but what Cromewell says makes sense to me. Worth looking into before you invest.
 
heyman421 said:
Why WOULDN'T I want three monitors????? :confused:

And my video card is an x1300, so it's a non issue.
Click to expand...

But what about drivers for it? can you have ATi and nVidia drivers at the same time? if you can only have the nVidia ones for SLi, then you might have to turn the color depth and resolutions down a bunch for the X1300.
 
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