Can I do dual graphics cards without SLI board?

[mozkill]

I am confused as to whether or not I am REQUIRED to buy a SLI board to run dual video cards.

Does a dual PCI-E motherboard without SLI only support 2 separate monitors?

I am curious if 2 video cards can be combined to drive one monitor without using SLI?

 

[NumenorLord]

I believe you need an SLI mobo for SLI, but I think you can do Crossfire on some other "non"-XFire chipsets though.

 

[ZozZoz]

It can have a few PCI-e slots, but there's the 4x ones and the 1x ones, and they are pretty short (you won't fit a vid card in them). \
If a board features two PCI-E x16 slots, its already bound to be based on an SLI chipset.

 

[fredgiblet]

You can run as many video cards as you can fit in your computer, but only a SLI/Crossfire board will let you run one monitor with 2 cards.

 

[BoomBatz]

You can run SLI with almost any motherboard. I have an old socket 423 mobo with dual AGP slots, i am running SLI.

I also have an abit ab-9 pro that runs SLI perfectly with 2 8800gtx cards.

The SLI board is all a bunch of hype. Just plug 2 of them into your 975 or 965 mobo and connect them and let her rip!

 

[turboflame]

You can run SLI with almost any motherboard. I have an old socket 423 mobo with dual AGP slots, i am running SLI.

I also have an abit ab-9 pro that runs SLI perfectly with 2 8800gtx cards.

The SLI board is all a bunch of hype. Just plug 2 of them into your 975 or 965 mobo and connect them and let her rip!

Ignore the dumbass above, usually if a mobo has two PCI-E slots, it supports either SLI or Crossfire (more likely crossfire). But you should probably check the website of that specific mobo to make sure it's compatible.

 

[SEALBoy]

You can run SLI with almost any motherboard. I have an old socket 423 mobo with dual AGP slots, i am running SLI.

I also have an abit ab-9 pro that runs SLI perfectly with 2 8800gtx cards.

The SLI board is all a bunch of hype. Just plug 2 of them into your 975 or 965 mobo and connect them and let her rip!

It is impossible to have SLI using two AGP ports. There is no motherboard in existence with two AGP ports.

I'm very curious as to how you ran SLI on a motherboard with only 1 PCI-E slot.

Someone ban this troll already.

 

[enforcerfx]

You can run SLI with almost any motherboard. I have an old socket 423 mobo with dual AGP slots, i am running SLI.

I also have an abit ab-9 pro that runs SLI perfectly with 2 8800gtx cards.

The SLI board is all a bunch of hype. Just plug 2 of them into your 975 or 965 mobo and connect them and let her rip!

Haha, I agree this guy does make me laugh. Whats even funnier are the Ati X1600 series AGP cards that say Crossfire ready on them.

 

[skud]

tomshardware did a review using a mobo that had 2 pci-x slots but did not officially support sli. the results were that the sli worked but it just had 3-5 fps less than an sli mobo. so theoretically it works and tomshardware tested it but im not promising you anything.

 

[weilin]

if you want SLI, IE 2 cards driving one monitor, you would well, need a SLI board (or a xfire board/p965/975 for well xfire). However, if you just want like 10 monitors or something on one pc (or 2). You can get as many video cards as you like though most of them would probably be pci based. Each video card would be able to drive 2 monitors which means the most you fit in one ATX board is 14 monitors.

 

[jt001]

It is impossible to have SLI using two AGP ports. There is no motherboard in existence with two AGP ports.

I'm very curious as to how you ran SLI on a motherboard with only 1 PCI-E slot.

Someone ban this troll already.

Actually, the AGP spec allows for 2 agp ports on one chipset. Not sure if such a board exists but it is possible.

 

[SEALBoy]

Are you sure? I thought one of the major advantages of PCI-E is that it allows for SLI or CrossFire. I always thought that only 1 AGP port was possible on a motherboard.

 

[jt001]

Yes I am sure. And that always confused me too why they never took advantage of dual graphics then but it was a main selling point of PCI-E. I'm not sure if anyone made a board with dual AGP just saying it's completely possible, I believe it was the last agp spec that added support for dual graphics.

 

[rquinn19]

You can run SLI with almost any motherboard. I have an old socket 423 mobo with dual AGP slots, i am running SLI.

I also have an abit ab-9 pro that runs SLI perfectly with 2 8800gtx cards.

The SLI board is all a bunch of hype. Just plug 2 of them into your 975 or 965 mobo and connect them and let her rip!

Ignore the dumbass above, usually if a mobo has two PCI-E slots, it supports either SLI or Crossfire (more likely crossfire). But you should probably check the website of that specific mobo to make sure it's compatible.

I wonder who's the dumbass here... do some research. theres a such thing as hacked drivers that enable sli on a crossfire board and vice versa.