Poll: 2 Different Graphics cards... seems to work?

[FireFly90]

So yeah, i posted my PC build in one of the other topics on this forum and then i got thinking...

I have 2 different graphics cards, an XFX ATI HD5750 1GB card, and an XFX ATI HD5450 1GB card, both linked to 2 different screens.

Question is... am i getting any more performance than if i where using one card on 2 screens (say the HD5750) and when i'm gaming are they both working and sharing the load or is it 1 card doing all the work whilst the other just does whats on the other screen (mostly internet)?

Sub-Question: on my XFX ATI HD5750 1GB there are 2 connectors on the outer edge

what are they for??

 

[Zer_]

CrossfireX supports different graphics cards of the same series. Usually.

 

[Bluntknife]

You're not getting additional performance.
Cards need to be in the same series to put them in crossfire. ie, 5870+5850

All you're getting right now is additional outputs on your monitor.

When you run a game your system will decide which card to use (hopefully the 5750)

http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImages/Public/Graphic_Illustrations/WebBannerJPEG/AMD_CrossfireX_Chart_1618W.jpg

Thats the crossfire compatibility chart.

Sub question: The 2 crossfire connectors are for 3 way crossfire.

 

[FireFly90]

well i guess that answers my questions =)

Did anyone have a crossfire cable come with their card when they bought it?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Did anyone have a crossfire cable come with their card when they bought it?

Most Crossfire capable cards ship with Crossfire bridges (what you're calling cables) so do many makes of Crossfire supporting motherboards. I've got something like 8 around my flat at the moment (because I'm only using one GPU at the moment and my current mobo uses Hydra instead of Crossfire or SLI).

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Sub question: The 2 crossfire connectors are for 3 way crossfire.

And 4 way if you can find a mobo to support it.

 

[dannybates]

Also when you crossfire them the cards will be the same output as 2 of the lowest cards. Eg you could have a 5470 and a 5970, the 5970 will be the same as the weakest card that is crossfired with it.

 

[Whodat]

I have two 5750 cards and have crossfire but what you're proposing won't work because, as a previous person stated, you need to have them in the same hundred series e.g. 5750's work with 5770's and 5700's. On that note can anyone tell me how to get that stupid Crossfie symbol out of the top right hand corner of my screen? It's really annoying.

 

[Saulkar]

I have two Geforce 285s in SLI on my laptop.

 

[Zantos]

Sub question: The 2 crossfire connectors are for 3 way crossfire.

And 4 way if you can find a mobo to support it.

That would be truly awesome.

OT: I'm intending to put a second SLI card into my machine, but I currently only have a NVIDIA 9600GSO (letters may have been guessed). I'm reliably informed however, that it is still better to have a single high end card in your machine than it is to crossfire (or SLI, whatever, crossfire sounds cooler) 2 mid spec cards together. Something to do with the fact that lower spec stuff is cheap and crappy.

 

[JET1971]

Why do you have 2 cards for 2 monitors? you realize you can plug both monitors into the same card right? It doesnt make much sense keeping the 5450 installed since you get negligable performance gains unless you can crossfire

 

[Groundchuck]

On that note can anyone tell me how to get that stupid Crossfie symbol out of the top right hand corner of my screen? It's really annoying.

You can disable it by right clicking on the CCC icon on the task bar down by the time and date, you should see your model number 1 thru 3 if you go to the drop down of number 1 you will see crossfire settings and uncheck the show crossfire status icon in that drop down and your good to go.

 

[Whodat]

On that note can anyone tell me how to get that stupid Crossfie symbol out of the top right hand corner of my screen? It's really annoying.

You can disable it by right clicking on the CCC icon on the task bar down by the time and date, you should see your model number 1 thru 3 if you go to the drop down of number 1 you will see crossfire settings and uncheck the show crossfire status icon in that drop down and your good to go.

Thank you very much sir! Now I can know what other tanks there are in World of Tanks >

 

[FireFly90]

Did anyone have a crossfire cable come with their card when they bought it?

Most Crossfire capable cards ship with Crossfire bridges (what you're calling cables) so do many makes of Crossfire supporting motherboards.

hmmm... i didn't get one when i bought my xfx card, though i've found places where i can get them online. Would crossfire still work if i bought a card of the same series but a different manufacturer?

Why do you have 2 cards for 2 monitors? you realize you can plug both monitors into the same card right? It doesnt make much sense keeping the 5450 installed since you get negligable performance gains unless you can crossfire

really i just wanted to try it out so that i didn't throw away a perfectly good card.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

As far as I've always understood it, to get Crossfire to work properly you really should use two identical cards.

 

[erbkaiser]

As far as I've always understood it, to get Crossfire to work properly you really should use two identical cards.

Or close, but within the same series.

I have nVidia myself, two 260-216s in SLI. A little pissed at nVidia that they STILL do not support "3D" Vision Surround for the 260s though even if they promised it months ago.

 

[Baneat]

Crossfire can't use two different cards, though maybe it's possible to get one to handle one task and one on the other. SLI can, but I'm a little apprehensive when it comes to that since it seems like a recipe for a waste of time.

 

[erbkaiser]

SLI can, but I'm a little apprehensive when it comes to that since it seems like a recipe for a waste of time.

Not sure what you mean with that. Most games can use SLI (Google for nHancer -- many more possibilities and predefined profiles than default nVidia), and even if they can't support it you can still use SLI for anti-aliasing. It's quite simple to setup as well... just attach the connector to the two or three cards, and enable in the control panel. The predefined profiles take care of the rest.

 

[Baneat]

SLI can, but I'm a little apprehensive when it comes to that since it seems like a recipe for a waste of time.

Not sure what you mean with that. Most games can use SLI (Google for nHancer -- many more possibilities and predefined profiles than default nVidia), and even if they can't support it you can still use SLI for anti-aliasing. It's quite simple to setup as well... just attach the connector to the two or three cards, and enable in the control panel. The predefined profiles take care of the rest.

Just hSLI not two of the same card, considering how bad things go when you try to stick two different speeds of RAM into a system at once, there must be some real problems with it.