8800GT and 4870 running Together?

That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but kudos if you can get it working

you, my friend, has tapped into a territory unknown to me, i shall rule that you are trying way too hard... if you own 2x 30" mon i dont see why you cant afford to get the 4870 in within days... and personally, if i was you i would have been able to live that few days without one of them no problem... truthfully your attempt makes no sense at all. the 8800gt should be on eb@y right now instead of sitting right next to the 4870. my 2cents

gl

Never heard of that working

You might be able to use that 8800GT for PhysX processing in the future, at least I am hoping that will be true.

Which OS are you running? I think that with XP you can run two different video drivers, but with Vista you can't. Something to do with the way Vista handles graphic. Not sure where I read this. So, if you're using XP, I think it is possible to do.

However, I don't see the need to. You should be able to run both monitors with the 4870 no problem. You only need a powerful video card for gaming. And I don't think you'll be be gaming on both monitors at the same time.

Honestly, I don't think you should try it unless your willing to sit through a fresh install of the os in case you encounter problems. But like the last poster said it is probably possible in XP but in Vista there is no way that will work. Also like the last poster said the 4870 is more than enough to run both monitors without any type of hitch. Your are better off selling that 8800gt to get some money for that other 4870. best of luck should you try it and lets us know how it worked out.

D3 baby!

It took my a long time to save up for those two 30" LCD. I don't have a lot of cash so I would have to wait awhile for the second 4870.

I'm running Vista 64bit, 8GB RAM. When running 3DS Max you need power behind your video card when modeling/displaying materials/textures (this is not the same as rendering ie CPU power) that's why I wanted to be able to use both cards. (both these cards are still lacking the power for my prof apps ie. Not Ultra-High End Quadro's)

Anyone else ever tried this?

If you are running vista, you can't do it. Vista will only load ONE driver for all video cards. Because the 4870 won't run on Nvidia drivers, you are out of luck.

running 8800GT and HD4870 is out.

When I get both HD 4870 cards:

1 HD 4870 hooked up to monitor 1.
2nd HD 4870 hooked up to monitor 2.

Will these two be running in crossfire? I'm still not 100% clear if crossfire can be used to power two monitors ( 2 3DS MAX apps running) Or will 1 card power everything on monitor 1 and the 2nd v-card power everything on monitor 2?

Will these two be running in crossfire?

Only if you set them to. They wont if you don’t.

I'm still not 100% clear if crossfire can be used to power two monitors

Yes it can.

( 2 3DS MAX apps running) Or will 1 card power everything on monitor 1 and the 2nd v-card power everything on monitor 2?

This I cant say. I don’t have crossfire/sli. I think it’s a huge waste of money.

As you probably know, 99.9% professional applications don’t support crossfire/sli – 3ds max included. Most games will run in 60+ fps in most resolutions on single 4870, while in some games it might be good to have the second one for 26x16. You probably would be better of with single 1gb 4870 card- for both max and high res gaming.

Just replace single card once the 5870 comes out. Or gtx 380.

Sli/ crossfire always has been and probably will be – a waste of good money… Maybe with exception in 26x16 on 30” screen. Cant tell. I don’t game in that res. I'm on 19"/22" setup

Yes it does have dual DVIs for running both monitors.

I'm running 3DS Max 2009 SP1 using the MAX Performance Driver.

From all this info I have got I will either save my $$ and get the 4870 X2 or the "new" gen cards. I like the idea of 1GB of memory.

Or the X2 which'll have 1gb per core

Actually the reference HD4870X2 design has 2GB of GDDR5