Multiple cards with multiple monitors?

[Siyko]

Hey there,

I'm putting together a new PC and decided to finally try out ATI after years of NVidia loyalty. Looking at specs, it seems ATI is just ahead of the game right now.

I have most things figured out, but I'm looking at this video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127490
Now I'm a bit skeptical about a card like this being priced so low, but the reviews seem solid. The only real issue is the video output:

1xHDMI
1xDisplayPort
1xDVI

I've used two monitors for a long time, and it's vital - they're both currently connected through DVI as my current video card has two DVI outputs.

How would this work with this card if I went with CrossFire and got two of these cards? Could I plug one monitor into each card and have dual monitors working both through DVI? I'm certain they monitors don't support HDMI so I hope so.

I'm also not convinced my money wouldn't be better spent on just a single 5870 as this site:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
seems to indicate it's leagues better.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Lonyo]

If you look at the pics, it seems to show that there's an HDMI -> DVI converter included, so you should be able to connect two DVI monitors to the single card with the included adapter. If not you can get adapters for quite cheap.

 

[Siyko]

Ah, this is true, I see what you are talking about, thanks.

What about SLI vs a single more powerful card? This card seems underpriced for its power, but would I really be better off with two of this card or one of something like this?:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-476-_-Product

Thanks for your advice

 

[lurk3r]

There is even a cable that does HDMI-DVI at monoprice, I used it the other way to get output to my TV.

 

[tweakboy]

Easy, connect it and configure it.

that depending,:awe:

 

[1h4x4s3x]

For clarification:
Running 2 or more ATI cards simultaneously = CrossFireX
Running 2 or more Nvidia cards simultaneously = SLI

Anyway, as far as I know, you've to connect all your monitors to the same (primary) card when running a CF setup.
What's to purpose of your upgrade? Will you use both monitors for gaming?

 

[NoQuarter]

2x 5770 in Crossfire actually benches slightly above a single 5870 in most games (I suppose because each 5770 gets a full 16 lanes of PCI-e bandwidth) and is over $100 cheaper so it's a great deal. But you do have all the caveats of dual-gpu gaming.. some games may get microstutter and others just may not be optimized well for dual gpu.

But from the benches I've seen Crossfire runs pretty well now.

 

[Dark Shroud]

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