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ATI Radeon Xpress Crossfire Edition chipset or compatible (Intel 975X).
NVIDIA SLI certified chipset. Currently nForce4 SLI family only.
Motherboard Availability
Still limited.
Plenty of models around.
Graphics Cards Requirement
One MVP/Crossfire-compatible Master card and a second one that is at least equally good
Two equal SLI-compatible graphics cards
Dual Graphics Facts
Best performing scenario uses MVP/Crossfire Master graphics cards. These come with an additional chip that composes the imaged rendered by the two graphics chips.
SLI has some more overhead due to image composition that is done by the GPUs. In exchange, the GeForce 7 series top model is slightly faster today.
Dual Graphics Modes
SuperTilingScissorAlternate Frame RenderingSuper AA
Alternate Frame RenderingSplit Frame RenderingSuper AA
Graphics Card Interlink
DVI-type interlink cable
SLI bridge connector
Graphics Card Flexibility
Using ATI's 5.11 Catalyst driver (and up) eliminates the need for a Crossfire Master graphics card and allows running entry-level MVP setups without the interlink cable.Highest end models still in short supply.
Using ForceWare driver versions 80 and up eliminates the need for identical graphics cards and allows running entry-level SLI setups without the SLI bridge connector.
Driver Requirements and Details
ATI graphics driver with Crossfire/MVP mode enabled. Dual core CPU support to be added with release 5.12
Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.