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After reading dozens of forums and conflicting accounts, it occurred to me that lots of people here probably have this set up already :confused:
My PC's need an upgrade. I'm tired of managing so many desktops, so I figured I might give a software boxing a try. I've read there are all sorts of issues with multi-monitor support. Is there a major difference/advantage between SLI and CrossfireX that makes one better than the other for running 3+ monitors on dual GPU's?
There are no major differences or advantages to either.
I know there used to be major issues in Vista prior to service pack 1 where any monitors hooked up to your 2nd GPU wouldn't actually hardware render the graphics - it would be passed back to the OS and CPU to software render. But supposedly SP1 fixed all that. Win7 already includes that change.
Personally if I wanted to do 3+ monitors now, I'd look at a 4850x2 - comes with 4x DVI ports built in and 2GB of RAM. The card is like 11" long so even some bigger cases have some problem fitting it in. The card has some build in Crossfire, but is transparent to the OS and to the game - they only see 1 video card. It only takes 1 PCIex16 slot on your mobo too.
I believe WoW support for either Crossfire or SLI is pretty limited. i.e. dual cards are not well utilized. The standard comment I see on this forum is that you are better off spending more on a great single GPU then you to buy two good GPUs. Of course this varies by game, and it's even possible that future xpac's or patches could include better SLI/Crossfire support.
But take everything I say with a grain of salt. I have nether a SLI/Crossfire rig, nor a 4850x2. But I'm working on it :)
I don't have the exact video cards your recommending but i used 2x 8800GTS and i can tell you my Q6600 went nuts when I took the cards out of SLI (I didnt enable SLI) and put a second monitor on the second video card. I 5 box and my CPU usage for them was around 40-50% per core. I ran at 80-90% after splitting the cards with separate monitors.
Now im setting up a second computer moving one of my GPU's to it.
Anyone want to buy a wife so I can upgrade???? Cheap and EZ man, Cheap and EZ......