Can all crossfire cards support 3-way Crossfire

[lightshinobi]

As stated. Can all crossfire cards support 3-way Crossfire. I have a motherboard that can do 3-way crossfire support, but I do not know which cards work in a 3 way config. Believe it or not Im not doing this for gaming either, but more for work. I need to support up to 6-8 screens. and Im not looking to spend a great amount of money. Could you guys help me out? Thank you.

 

[2fast4thetown_down]

The ones that have 2 crossfire bridges can do it whih card did you want to 3 way crossfire?

 

[unksol]

no, they cannot. they must have 2 crossfire bridge connectors and the lower end cards don't.

I have to ask though, if this is for work why? are you doing gpu compute? if its just productivity stuff there is zero reason to use crossfire. there are single AMD cards that can support 6 screens as one, or separately, and if you were going to do crossfire you'd need one if those anyway.

if this is just excel or stock tickers or anything that's not 3D like games, you just need to drop a couple low end gpus in...

sapphire flex would be the easy way. each of these cards can support 3 monitors. if you are concerned it wont be powerful enough (it will be for productivity) there is a 6770 version as well with more horsepower

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102960&Tpk=6450%20flex

Anything but a flex card you have to use a display port adapter to connect the 3rd monitor to each card which is about 30 bucks. And higher cards are going to require pcie power connectors etc. you can only run. 2 monitors on nvidia consumer card except GTX 6xx

 

[oxford373]

the graphics cards support 3 way CF is 6950/6970/7950/7970
but one 6850 or 6870 can support up to 6 monitors by HDMI-to-DVI adapter and mini-DisplayPort-to- DVI

 

[photonboy]

WARNING:
32-bit Windows is limited to 4GB of address space for everything (not just System RAM). If you have 3GB used for three cards (3x1GB) you will be limited to less than 1GB for Windows and applications to use which is unusable. Even 3x512MB might not be a good idea.

Crossfire:
You would NOT use Crossfire for your needs.
Ignore it competely. Crossfire works for gaming by drawing a single frame on each monitor. So card one draws frame #1, then card two draws frame #2, card three draws frame #3 then it repeats.

Solution:
1) verify 64-bit Windows
2) uninstall previous drivers
3) install your two, or three graphics cards
4) turn on Windows with a single monitor installed
5) install drivers
6) use the Catalyst Control Panel (AMD cards) and learn how to hookup and set resolution etc for multiple monitors

*You can get a single screen this way but it varies by the card (usually three without DisplayPort and up to 4 with). You need a different card that supports Eyefinity 6 for example to enable a "single screen" comprised of multiple monitors like the Asus Eyefinity HD7970 Eyefinity 6.

**I recommend using three inexpensive HD6000, 1GB cards such as the HD6450 1GB for about $30 unless you have some need I'm unaware of.

Summary:
- VERIFY my information but I believe it's correct
- don't recommend 32-bit Windows due to memory usage
- recommend three, $30 HD6450 1GB cards (total about $100)
- I think it's two monitors per card except for more expensive cards.

More information:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/how-to/Pages/faqs.aspx

 

[photonboy]

More info:

all the cards I saw that were inexpensive had three outputs, VGA, HDMI, DVI.

It might be possible to use all three with the appropriate cables, AND if the monitor supports (VGA is starting to be dropped).

Regardless, my advice is to get an Asus or Gigabyte, fanless HD6450 1GB card (However many you need).

You might wish to start with two and add a third if needed.

There are other options but they are more expensive. It might be possible to find a $150 to $200 card that supports four screens but I have no more time to investigate.

***This card was $25 after rebate. May not be still (US link). Or simply go to www.ncix.com
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=66802&vpn=EAH6450%20SILENT%2FDI%2F1GD3%28LP%29&manufacture=ASUS

there is no advantage to getting a more expensive card. There are advantages to 1GB vs 512MB of RAM though depending on usage (provided 64-bit Windows).

Finally?
In what conditions could I use three cards with 32-bit Windows?

Answer:
I would ONLY do so if using 512MB cards. This would drop you to roughly 2GB of usable System RAM which should be okay. Absolutely do NOT use two or more 1GB video cards with 32-bit Windows.

 

[inanition02]

More info:

all the cards I saw that were inexpensive had three outputs, VGA, HDMI, DVI.

It might be possible to use all three with the appropriate cables, AND if the monitor supports (VGA is starting to be dropped).

....

***This card was $25 after rebate. May not be still (US link). Or simply go to www.ncix.com
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=66802&vpn=EAH6450%20SILENT%2FDI%2F1GD3%28LP%29&manufacture=ASUS

That card can't support 3 monitors. Only either Sapphire Flex cards or cards with DisplayPort (one has to be DP or miniDP) can support 3+ monitors. (Has to say "Eyefinity")

Get 2 6750s or 6670s, non-crossfire.

 

[photonboy]

Gaming:
If you decided you wanted to game then you could:
1) use a single monitor (should not be required to unhook, just change in the CCC. Catalyst Control Center)

2) change to Crossfire in CCC

Three cards don't have severe micro-stutter and even Diablo 3 with this lowly HD6450 1GB card would likely run nicely with the correct setting. The Tool RadeonPro is useful for games and has a feature that can use HALF VSYNC to run at 30FPS.

Example:
1) switch to Crossfire mode
2) drag game icon (i.e. Diablo3.exe) over to RadeonPro
3) change to HALF VSYNC mode
4) monitor frame rate (FPS option)
5) tweak game settings until you achieve 30FPS most or all of the time

 

[photonboy]

That card can't support 3 monitors. Only either Sapphire Flex cards or cards with DisplayPort (one has to be DP or miniDP) can support 3+ monitors. (Has to say "Eyefinity")

Get 2 6750s or 6670s, non-crossfire.

That may be true and PROBABLY IS, however if he doesn't have a VGA compatible monitor there is no point in getting a more expensive card unless it supports three outputs that are non-VGA (i.e. 2xDVI and 1xHDMI). You mention DisplayPort which is fine, but he should look at:
a) TOTAL COST (cards plus DisplayPort adapter if a Displayport monitor)
b) total slots used
c) extra heat by more expensive cards

The AMD link for the HD6450 states up to THREE displays without DisplayPort, however that depends on how the MANUFACTURE implements it. My guess is that only two monitors are being supported by most/all due to the small cost difference to support three.

I guess you'd have to find a review, or the Manual for a specific card to know whether it actually supports two or three cards. Again, if he doesn't have a VGA monitor it doesn't matter.

Maybe he should get a single card and find out.

About VGA:
VGA output is exactly the same as the DVI output except that it passes through a Digital-to-Analog Converter first. It then is used directly by the older CRT (tube) monitors or goes into an Analog-to-Digital chip. The quality difference between VGA and DVI is hard to see.

Why HD6450?
These cards are inexpensive and you can get fanless, single-slot solutions so three cards would only take three slots. For non-gaming use it's pointless to invest in more expensive cards since the processing is usually done on the CPU (that is slowly changing with OpenCL).

For about $100 for three cards (six monitors total), using three slots I'm not sure that there is a better way for his needs.

FANS:
While you can get fanless, 1-slot solutions I strongly recommend case fans. One in the bottom-front, and one at the top-rear. If you need to buy one these are the rough specs:
- 120mm (12cm)
- 4-pin molex (or with adapter)
- non-variable speed
- max 800RPM
- max 18dB noise
(simply install directly to the power supply and leave them running all the time to create an air flow through the PC. If you have a crappy case consider an inexpensive Antec for about $50 which has two pre-installed fans. See NCIX and the Antec site for details.)

 

[unksol]

You must use display port or a special card like the sapphire flex card that has the adapter built in for 3 monitors. its not optional. This is why I linked to the appropriate 6450 flex card in the 2nd response before the rambling. Any other combination will not support over 6 monitors without the additional cost of display port adapters

 

[mogen1000]

only 6950+ cards / 7850+ / GTX670 / GTX680 cards go 3-way (they are higher end cards)

 

[lightshinobi]

no, they cannot. they must have 2 crossfire bridge connectors and the lower end cards don't.

I have to ask though, if this is for work why? are you doing gpu compute? if its just productivity stuff there is zero reason to use crossfire. there are single AMD cards that can support 6 screens as one, or separately, and if you were going to do crossfire you'd need one if those anyway.

if this is just excel or stock tickers or anything that's not 3D like games, you just need to drop a couple low end gpus in...

sapphire flex would be the easy way. each of these cards can support 3 monitors. if you are concerned it wont be powerful enough (it will be for productivity) there is a 6770 version as well with more horsepower

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102960&Tpk=6450%20flex

Anything but a flex card you have to use a display port adapter to connect the 3rd monitor to each card which is about 30 bucks. And higher cards are going to require pcie power connectors etc. you can only run. 2 monitors on nvidia consumer card except GTX 6xx

Bingo it is Stock tickers. I see alot of people helping. Im not worried about heat, or Power. I just need a low end Gpu that can do 6 different screens. Now that card is a great start, but I need another 3 outputs. I cant find a low end Nvidia card that does it. but if anyone would like to post one please do. I could buy another board. Thank you.

 

[inanition02]

Bingo it is Stock tickers. I see alot of people helping. Im not worried about heat, or Power. I just need a low end Gpu that can do 6 different screens. Now that card is a great start, but I need another 3 outputs. I cant find a low end Nvidia card that does it. but if anyone would like to post one please do. I could buy another board. Thank you.

None of the low-end cards can do 6 screens alone. You can install two of the ones linked (no crossfire needed).

Cheapest single card that can do 6 alone? That would be $419 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131474 ...and you need either miniDP monitors or adapters.

 

[lightshinobi]

Best answer selected by lightshinobi.