dual gpu question

It's MUCH easier to have a motherboard with a SLI or Crossfire chipset. For ATI, most configurations need a Master card.

For both, you need same GPU (any 7900GT with any 7900GT only).

And then, you need to enable it through the drivers.

and a good quality powersupply

While that is strictly true, I'd be willing to bet that by changing the device id in nBiTor and re-flashing a 7900GTX with a 7900GT 'label' you could get it to work with a 7900GT.

That may seem pointless, as obviously the clocks will be adjusted to the speed of the lower card and the extra memory will be 'hidden', it could be usefull in a few months time when there are no 7900GTs availible, and we have to buy 7950GTs instead. (especially as it looks like there will be 256mb 7950GTs and alot of people have 'superclocked' 7900GTs that will match them in frequency.)

ATi are kind of simpler in that regard, in that their Crossfire Master cards work for that entire series, for example an x1900 Crossfire edition works with an x1900GT, x1900XT, or an x1900XTX. The problem comes however in the fact that except for the new x1950 Crossfire, the Crossfire cards are always slower than the best single card.

The x1900 Crossfire for example runs at x1900XT speeds, and will cause an x1900XTX to 'detune' itself to match, while the crossfire card itself would drop a load of shader units and extra RAM to run with an x1900GT.


If you are building a new rig and going Core 2 Duo, I'd strongly suggest an Intel 975x chipset EVEN IF YOU WANT SLi.

The nForce 590/570 Intel edition chipsets just aren't up to much compared to the 975x. The only one I have seen reviewed was a DFI board that had a max FSB of 350 (1300 effective) in the BIOS, and 332 in practice, while 975x board have been regularly hitting 540 or so. This indicates to me the 975x is a much higher quality chipset.

There are drivers availible that will run SLi on a 975x, and it does seem likely that nVidia will 'unlock' SLi on all platforms in the future in light of the AMD/ATi merger.

No, it depends on the budget.

7600GT and X850XT are good cards for about $100-$150 that I would recommend.

X1800XT and 7900GT are in the $200-$250 range. Both are great.

7900 GT can overclock to a 7900 GTX, so its best if u cant spend an extra 50$ for an X1900XT.

Yup, if you get one go for one with fast RAM tho, like the EVGA 580/1580 one, or you could end up RAM limited like me

If I could turn back time I would have bought an x1900XT rather than my 7900GT tho.