Crossfire Question PLEASE HELP!

[rman3349]

Ok so I'm building my first system and I got a mother board with the Intel 975x chipset so I could deicide later whether i wanted sli or crossfire. I'm pretty sure I'm going ATI but I have a question. I plan to get two Sapphire X1600Pro 512MB cards. HOwever, this card is not "crossifre edition". I have read some stuff that indicated that that dosen't matter anymore but I just wanted to make sure that this setup will work ok for me.

Also, how do I connect this to a dsiplay. I was conidering using a tv instead of a buying a monitor but my TV dosen't have a dvi slot. I was going to get a DVi to 3-component cable to rededy this but the crossfire stuff looks like you need a special dvi cable to externally connect the two cards (unlike the internal sli connector). Its pretty hard to find a dvi female to 3-component cable so I think this might also be an issue. Thanks for the help and for reading this unnecessarily long question!

 

[firepyro555]

Pretty much, as of now, the cards you have to get either have to be "crossfire ready", "crossfire supported" or a "crossfire edition". As for the whole tv monitor thing, well, the cards come with a RCA out (the little yellow thing). And the cards communicate through the pci-e on the motherboard, so they don't need those bridge things

 

[rman3349]

So does this mean I can just hook u one of them and it will work?

 

[firepyro555]

I don't know much about the Intel chipset, but i know with the ATi Xpress 3200, you won't need an external dongle for the X1300's or the X1600's. So pretty much, you would just have to connect your tv/monitor to the master card.

 

[GherkinPekul]

The 1600's don't need a mastercard. so if you go that way you are good.
You will get better performance with one x1900xt, however. I was in the same spot you are when I built my new pc. I nutted up and got one x1900xt. I'm happy with it.

 

[firepyro555]

Yeah, i actually did the new Xpress 3200 wit the 580Adv. and dual X1600XT's and it runs nice

 

[rman3349]

thanks for all the help everyone! I ended up getting a 7900GT instead ( better price point) and hope to pick up another one later. Again, thanks for all the advice.