Looking to upgrad my video cards need some ideas

[Khatovar]

Dual Display adaptors only share the GPU load when running SLI/Crossfire and the single application is in full screen mode.
When your multiboxing the expensive second GPU is not doing a thing.
If you want to validate this load MSI afterburner(its free) it will show you the load on each of your GPU's.

You will get more GPU horse power for multiboxing by spending more money on a single Display Adaptor that can support 3 monitors.

Granted, I'm no hardware guru and we may not be talking about the same things, but you seem to be saying that a secondary card will never be used. That's not what I see with my setup.

You don't use SLI/Crossfire for multiboxing, you run the cards independently and set the loading preference in WoW's game options. That is, you aren't pooling the cards and letting them spread out the load, you run the cards independently and split the load. I run 2 cards, each with their own monitor and each of my cards are utilized while multiboxing.

Unfortunately, I don't have my slave accounts subscribed, so all I can show is loading the login screens, but -

Here's MSI Afterburner showing WoW1 on card/mon 1. GPU2 is flatlined because I'm not running my slave accounts. About a third of the way in, I launch my slave accounts and GPU2 is active.

msi1.png

And here's where I close my slave accounts...GPU2 flatlines out again. I then change the settings in WoW1 to load on card/mon2. I close out WoW1 and GPU1 flatlines. I load up WoW1 again and it launches on card/mon2, clearly using GPU2.

msi2.png

While there is no doubt that a single, more powerful card is the preference for any number of reasons, you can effectively make use of multiple cards. The second card doesn't simply sit there doing nothing.

[MiRai]

a pair of Accell mini-display port to dvi adaptors(2X $120).

You need to start shopping at Monoprice if you're able to.

While there is no doubt that a single, more powerful card is the preference for any number of reasons, you can effectively make use of multiple cards. The second card doesn't simply sit there doing nothing.

Truth.

[Bollwerk]

You need to start shopping at Monoprice if you're able to.


Truth.

Unfortunately, Eyefinity requires Active display adapters for the 3rd and 4th monitors (which means they require separate power, usually through a USB connector) - http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/...y-dongles.aspx
Unfortunately, I could not find such an adapter on Monoprice. Maybe they exist elsewhere for a good price.

[lokka's]

Granted, I'm no hardware guru and we may not be talking about the same things, but you seem to be saying that a secondary card will never be used. That's not what I see with my setup.

You don't use SLI/Crossfire for multiboxing, you run the cards independently and set the loading preference in WoW's game options. That is, you aren't pooling the cards and letting them spread out the load, you run the cards independently and split the load. I run 2 cards, each with their own monitor and each of my cards are utilized while multiboxing.

Unfortunately, I don't have my slave accounts subscribed, so all I can show is loading the login screens, but -

Here's MSI Afterburner showing WoW1 on card/mon 1. GPU2 is flatlined because I'm not running my slave accounts. About a third of the way in, I launch my slave accounts and GPU2 is active.

msi1.png

And here's where I close my slave accounts...GPU2 flatlines out again. I then change the settings in WoW1 to load on card/mon2. I close out WoW1 and GPU1 flatlines. I load up WoW1 again and it launches on card/mon2, clearly using GPU2.

msi2.png

While there is no doubt that a single, more powerful card is the preference for any number of reasons, you can effectively make use of multiple cards. The second card doesn't simply sit there doing nothing.

this is how i run mine card 1 just runs my main screen card 2 runs the 2 slave screens i would like to stay with 2 cards as ill be adding a 4th monitor.