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!
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
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.
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.
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.
You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months. If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.