Thinking about dueling 2 VGA cards

[Lord Lurk]

I was just wondering, is it possible to put in 2 graphics cards at the same time, and if so can they be from 2 different comanys?

I have a Geforce 440 MX series install at the moment but i managed to obtain a ATI RAEDON 9200 series (i think) from someone for $20. The Geforce is a AGP card, the ATI is a PCI card, so this is why i am thinking they can be dueled.

Is it possible to duel these 2 together? If not should i go through the trouble of installing the ATI card? And if i should stick with the ATI card, how can i install it correctly because i am not familiar with any other VGA card besides Nvidia products. I've already tried myself and i had to reset my BIOS to get my monitor back up and running correctly again.......

Any help with this would be great!

 

[Nitestick]

it is possible however the two cards need to have GPU's from the same manufacturer such as 2x ATI cards or 2x nVIDIA cards. if they are not the drivers will conflict.

 

[Meithan]

The "duelling" technology (as you call it) is formally known as SLI (Scalable Link Interface) for NVidia cards and CrossFire for ATI cards.

As nitestick said, the cards must be similar (same brand); in fact, they must have the same GPU, although they need not be from the same manufacturer. Also, only newer cards (I think 6600GT and forward) can be put in this mode. So it's a no-no for the 440 MX (which I also have - upgrade urgent!) and the 9200 . Finally, SLI/CrossFire only works on PCI Express cards and requires a motherboard specifically designed for it.

 

[The General]

Duel = fight
Dual = two

 

[Meithan]

Naturally.

 

[Lord Lurk]

Cool thanks for the help everyone.

Dualing cards would have been nice to do but i guess i'll have to stick with just one.

But should i stick with the Geforce or the RAEDON, which would be better for gaming? I would assume the RAEDON would be better because of the larger GPU, but i've heard that ATI does not make that many good gaming graphics cards.


PS *I was posting the first post after spending 3 hours doing manual labor and another 1-2 hours trying to get my junk computer working right, so I might have spelled a thing or 2 wrong *

 

[Nitestick]

if you were talking about using dual cards for multiple monitors and not for more GPU power then disregard the latter half of Meithan's post. if you were talking about using them for more GPU power then disregard my previous post.

SLI is not necessary to use 2 or more cards for multiple monitors.