Multiple graphics cards/multiple monitors

[Gooch]

For some time now, I've been working with a 3 monitor setup. (I do a lot of graphics work.) I use a dual display card (geforce 6600 GT) to drive my main central monitor, and the monitor on the right.

I use a second cheap card (geforce 4 mx 4000) in the PCI slot to drive the left monitor. So far so good.

But I'm getting ready to build a new system, and now all the rules have changed. Apparently everything is PCIe now, so I'm wondering how I'll be able to do the same thing.

I'm figuring that my new main card will go in one of the PCIe x16 slots. So will putting a second, cheaper graphics card in the other x16 slot allow me to extend my desktop onto a third monitor? Or are these slots only meant to be used in conjunction with SLI/Crossfire?

And what are those smaller, PCIe X1 slots for?

And speaking of SLI/Crossfire, is that something that's only supported by specific games?

tia

 

[King X13]

you will run it the same way you currently do, just with a pci-e 16x card instead of and agp card, and you can still use the same pci card if you get a mobo with pci.

pci-e 1x is for the same things that pci is for just like pci-e 16x is for what used to be agp, its just the newer standard of it. so you can get a nic or a sound card, etc. for pci-e 1x.

i believe the 2nd slot is only for sli/crossfire i dont think you can run it as just a second card for dual/quad monitors.

 

[Chumly]

And speaking of SLI/Crossfire, is that something that's only supported by specific games?

If I correctly remember what I read in the Cold Hard Truth thread, it's that some high-end games just perform slightly better under certain SLI/Crossfire set-ups than they would with single-card set-ups.

 

[Nitestick]

a card can be used in the second pci-e 16x slot without SLI/Crossfire. for a start why would boards like the Ultra-D have two slots without SLI capability (ignoring the mods to enable it). however i would agree with king on this one, ever the beacon of logic he pointed out you can still use your pci card in conjunction with a primary pci-e card. you will have to get an nVidia card though as you well get major driver conflicts trying to use an ATI pci-e card with an nVidia card in the same system.

 

[Gooch]

...you will have to get an nVidia card though as you well get major driver conflicts trying to use an ATI pci-e card with an nVidia card in the same system.

Yeah I was wondering about that. I've always done this with 2 nvidias. So if I ended up going with an ATI card as my main card, it would then probably be a good idea to get a cheap 2nd ATI card for the PCI slot to avoid nvidia/ATI driver conflicts?