I have 2 ATI gfx cards but my mobo is SLI - help

[kaine]

I bought a SLI mobo in May this year and then upgraded my nvidia card to an ATI X1950 PRO 512MB. I've just bought another X1950PRO and bunged them both in my machine only to find that crossfire doesn't work on an SLI board - Doh!
It's my own fault for not researching SLI/Crossfire more, when I bought the board I assumed SLI was the generic term for both (my board is a Foxconn Winfast NF4SK8AA-8EKRS socket 939)

So, now as I see it, I have a couple of options:

Buy a new mobo - I can get an ABIT AT8-MVP for £40 but it only has the 480X chipset which means that crossfire wont run at full speed. A full speed 580X board is going to be around the £100 mark

or, sell both my X1950's and buy either a single nvidia card or 2 nvidia cards and run them in SLI.

I don't want to spend loads more money on it so what's my best option? I have a few questions if anyone can help:

Will I notice much real speed difference between the 480X and 580X chipset when running in crossfire mode?
What is the equivalent nvidia card to the X1950PRO?
If I get a single nvidia card which one would be comparable to 2 X1950's in crossfire mode?
Am I better getting 2 lower spec Nvidia cards and running them in SLI or spending the same amount of money on a single higher spec card?

I really don't know what to do for the best, any help is really appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[m1ddy]

this link will help you out by telling you the equivelent for each company.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/03/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page7.html

 

[wgdz]

i'd sell the x1950s and buy a newer gen card

 

[jeremyrailton]

sell em and buy 1 or 2 8800 gt's

 

[sharp910sh]

i would sell them and get a single 8800gt sorted!!