SLI / CrossFire FAQs

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums ryanhmusic
I'm glad you fond it useful

 

[BF Texan]

As a nooB to Tom's I appreciate any info I can get and I found your post very informative...
One piece of information I found confusing is in your article...

List of NVIDIA and AMD/ATI CrossFire compatible Graphic Card

This appears to me to mean that these NVIDIA cards are Crossfire compatible...
Do you really mean to say that the list is of NVIDIA SLI and AMD/ATI CrossFire compatible?

My question to you is this:
My mobo does NOT support SLI which I didn't realize until I bought a second card.
I don't play games as much as I want to use more monitors...
can I use the second card without bridging them without hurting my mobo or anything else for that matter.
And I have to assume that I would NOT want to use the SLI bridge.

 

[Maziar]

Thanks for pointing that NVIDIA supports SLI and AMD/ATI cards support CrossFire only,i'll edit the post thanks again

Well if your motherboard has another PCI-Express slot then you can bring the other card in your motherboard.

Fixed now

 

[Guest]

Please someone help me... the six pin power connector connects to the graphic card and where else? on the motherboard or the power suply?

please need help fast

 

[nukemaster]

Power supply.

If you do not have one on your PSU(most new ones have at least 2) there are adapters, but make sure your PSU has the power.

 

[carlos alcantara]

There are some MOBO's, in fact, Gigabyte MOBO's series AMD 780G and new AMD 785G (these are for Hybrid Crossfire), I was wondering, if they came with two PCI Express X 16 slots, is vailable do Crossfire X?, my question is because are not specified in user's manual

 

[Maziar]

From that link:
"(Note 4) If you are installing a PCI Express graphics card, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16_1 slot."

The first PCI-E slot is 16x and the second model which is for Hybird CrossFire is 4x.
But if u want to use normal crossfire u will get performance hit,because the second card will operate at 4x and that's not good for gaming, 16x4x mode doesn't perform well compared to dual 8x or dual 16x.

 

[carlos alcantara]

I suspect that, thanx for answer, 'cause I've been plained to arm a system with this MOBO, first with no aditional video card, only with one for capture and edition of videos, but later maybe with one or two 4850, but if this doesn't apply to games, then I choose one MOBO 790GX, diferences in cost of this Motherboards in México is about $1400 pesos, almost $110 dollar. Thanx again Maziar.

Later I bother you with more questions.

 

[Maziar]

No problem ask and i will help if i can

 

[mathewbutterfield]

hey im just woundering if u can take a crossfire card and put it on another mother board that doesnt require crossfire ready like i have a gateway dx 4200 good computer the on board hd3200 isent so great i was just woundering if i can by a crossfire ready card and put it in there with out no problems e-mail me back at
thanks

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

matthew, Id remove your email, just in case theres bots here, and you wont get spammed to death
Any card made today can run on any motherboard made recently with no problems, tho theres power issues to consider

 

[Maziar]

Yes as jaydee said,u can put a "CrossFire-ready" card in a non-CrossFire motherboard.

 

[mathewbutterfield]

Yes as jaydee said,u can put a "CrossFire-ready" card in a non-CrossFire motherboard.

thanks i have a gateway dx4200 i dont know what card i should get i plan on changing to crossfire but im gonna do a lil at a time i want to know is there any software i can bypass the bios to overclock my amd phnome i know i need to becareful i know i wouldnt mess anything up just have to take a chance ill just get a new one if something goes wrong thanks for the help

 

[Maziar]

Well please post your system specs and games and the resolution you play,so we can help you choosing your VGA.
Also because your machine is a pre-built model so as you mentioned too,its BIOS is locked,i don't know if there is a way to unlock it,so do it at your own risk.

 

[carlos alcantara]

Eh Ah! What's new boss? , is me again, actually I use a PSU Delta Electronics 700 watts, with 4 12v rails and 50A (not a 80+ certified in fact its efficiency is only 67% reported), my question is, this PSU is recomended for a HD4890 (near future) or I have to changed for a better PSU?, so I think maybe can upgrade my GPU to a 5xxx series, I hope this will come in mid september or october.

 

[Maziar]

It will support a HD 4890,not sure about the future 5xxx series though since they are not out yet

 

[carlos alcantara]

Yeah! I know it will support, by the power, but really my question is, if this is not 80+, no PFC, no voltage regulation and none surge protection, graphics cards and other devices are under some risk?.
Mine is reasonable doubt because with only one HD4830 i can't get any stable OC and same problem is with my procesor a X2 7750BE, my devices are well cooled and temperatures are GPU: 52-54 ºC under load; and CPU: never goes over 42 ºC, average is 37 ºC.

In the other hand even here in México some vendors says series 5xxx in some places are under test and they hope these cards come probably in next week ???.
Really I believe this is an oasis and I guess maybe come in october or september if good.

 

[Maziar]

Well if you can get a better PSU then go for it,because you want to some OverClocking too.

 

[bujinyun]

im new to this forum, hope you guys san help me.
right now i have a radeon hd 4870 1gb, and im planning to buy another one to CF.
but, will my mobo bottleneck my GPU? coz im using gigabyte ep45-extreme mobo, and it have 1 pci-e x16 and 1 pci-e x8.
monitor res, 1680x1050. actually, i can afford a whole new core i7 rig, if i want to. but i don't think its worth it. im using C2D e8400@3.6. i always play using the highest possible setting, and just for information, im a hardcore gamer.

 

[Maziar]

Well for that resolution a single HD 4870 would suffice,but if u want to go CrossFire then it will be fine,since P45 supports CrossFire at dual 8x mode which is good(not a noticeable performance loss compared to dual 16x)

 

[bujinyun]

thanks for the quick reply maziar! good luck in ur life.

 

[Maziar]

Thanks you too

 

[Maziar]

Edited with some information regrading Intel P55 chipset.

 

[nashlofer]

Thanks for the information.
Interesting to hear about Hybrid SLIs or crossfires graphic card configurations. I have been using ATI/Radeon since then, not that I dislike NVIDIA but because you could get the same NVIDIA graphic card spec on ATI at a cheaper price, sometimes even better. Just need to make your homework first before buying.

 

[Maziar]

No problem glad you find it useful