# Running 3 monitors. Two Video Cards... Question!



## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

Okay I have Dual Monitors setup with an ATI Radeon X1600 Pro Video Card (PCI Express). I run an online business and get extremely busy. I have around 15-20 FireFox Tabs open along with 4-10 AIM conversations open almost always. I want to set up 3 monitors now. (I'm using the DVI and Regular monitor slot on the Video Card for the two current monitors) Right now I can drag my mouse from screen to screen. I have to get another Video Card now to setup the 3rd monitor. (I don't believe a splitter would work because it'd just shoot the same image to two of the monitors. Correct me if I'm wrong!) What I'm curious is to find out if I can get the same Video Card (So I'll have two ATI X 1600) and function them together to run three monitors. I know some Video Cards have bridges to connect two of the same type, but in this case the Video Card I have doesn't have any type of bridge. (My brother has a 256 card that has a slot for the bridge. The bridge piece came with my motherboard.) 

So if I get another ATI Radeon X 1600 Pro and hook both of the Video Cards up in my computer will they function together or function enough to get 3 monitors going? Like I said there's no where to connect the bridge on this video card. (I have two slots to connect both Graphics cards)

Also do the two video cards have to be the same card to get three monitors going?

*Below is a picture of the box front...
On the box it says this in the corner... "You need all 3 to complete your CrossFire Multi-GPU Platiform"
1+2+3
CrossFire Ready Motherboard (STILL REQUIRED)
CrossFire Read Graphics Card (IN THIS BOX)
Crossfire Ready or Edition Graphics Card (STILL REQUIRED)*

This above makes me think that I can run two cards, but of course I don't know. So anyone that can help me out here on getting 3 monitors setup that'd be awesome! Thanks!


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

do you have an onboard ati video then you can do it otherwise it has to be the same card


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

This is the motherboard I bought. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128321

It says I have no onboard Video Card. If it does have to be the same card I'm fine with that. So if I buy the exact same video card it'll run together when both are installed? Or are there any other pieces of hardware or software I need to get them to realize both are used? Kind of confusing but you get my basic point.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

if you buy a crossfire edition the second time and use the link between them

it provided with the crossfire edition one

but your motherboard is an nvidia so i am not sure if it will work

you should post a motherboard question about crossfire on an sli board ati and nvidia are competitors so it might now work in crossfire


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

Hmm, anyone else know for sure?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

i'll post somthing for you in the motherboards section


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

also the bridge you got with the motherboard is an sli bridge it will not work but you can just buy two of these http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2231768&CatId=1839 its only about $50 dollars more then buyin another ati card and you will have better preformance =)


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> also the bridge you got with the motherboard is an sli bridge it will not work but you can just buy two of these http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2231768&CatId=1839 its only about $50 dollars more then buyin another ati card and you will have better preformance =)


Hmm alright wasn't sure what the bridge does, but I know it'd connect two Video Cards. Alright well is that video card any good? Is it better than my ATI video Card? Is it still possible to get two ATI cards? Do I need a different motheroard?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

each one is the same if not alittle faster then yours and if you wanted another ati one you would need a "crossfire" motherboard


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

they will work together to be about 1.5 faster then one card


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> they will work together to be about 1.5 faster then one card


Awesome so it should work fine on my board? Will I use the bridge or does it automatically configure to work together? Also the $30 rebate expires on the 28th... Will I still get that if I sent it in on say the 27th? Two cards work with 32 bit Business Vista?

EDIT: Also I really like my ati card. What motherboard is considered crossfire? Any good ones?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

yes but what is your power supply (i think that rebates are counted at the time of purchase these are http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=2547& but you have a amd processor and they are all intel

yes they would be great for vista to :grin:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130057 this is and amd ati board but ati take up ALOT of power and you may need another power suply to run 2


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130057 this is and amd ati board but ati take up ALOT of power and you may need another power suply to run 2


So that board is considered CrossFire?


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Yes, it supports Crossfire.
North Bridge: ATI CrossFire Radeon Xpress 3200


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

but i forgot to mention when you switch out your motherboard you need to reinstall your operating system


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> but i forgot to mention when you switch out your motherboard you need to reinstall your operating system


I have a one time instalation of Vista. >:-(. Not that Vista is any good... Oh and another user told me about this, http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/cadgis/products/th2go/th2go.php

Does anyone know of any cheaper ones? $300 isn't worth it, but it sounds good.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

the only other thing that i can think of as being cheaper is buyin one used on ebay


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

the other thing is that it will take away from your proformance that is needed in vista as you would be running 1 3000 by 1000 pixils desplay instead of 3 different ones


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

and what power supply do you have


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## SmashedPumpkins (Jan 14, 2006)

Not sure what my power supply is. I'm leaning into getting a crossfire mobo and another ATI Video Card. The better performance etc.. sounds better.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

open up your computer and write down what the /side says such as +12= so many A and how many watts + the brand


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## rolinger (Dec 11, 2008)

When you install 3rd party video cards they somehow deactivate the onboard video card in the BIOS. If you go into the BIOS and re-enable the Integrated Video you can then use a third monitor.

What I found though, using this setup Nvidia monitors are labeled as 1 and 3, with the onboard monitor labeled as 2. Both windows and nvidia software see all three monitors and both graphics cards. I have the monitors physiscally ordered as nvid#1, nvid#2, onboard #1. The only nvidia option to use was Horizontal span...that allowed nvid #1 & #2 to act as one long logical monitor and the onboard as a second monitor. Using DualView with al 3 monitors changed the logical ordering to 1,3,2 - an no matter what logical configuration I used, dual view never came out quite right.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

does crossfire allow more than 1 display? I know SLI, you can only use the #1 display port successfully. Does CF allow all 4 ports to be active?


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## kfish (Dec 23, 2009)

did you ever get an answer to this? because i have a very similiar issue. 
i run the dual monitor set up too, where i can slide a window from one screen to the other using the ati x600 video card with one monitor vga and the other dvi. but i want to run a 3rd monitor to my bravia tv. i want to use the hdmi or component input so i can use the picture and picture feature. i am willing to use a switch to shut off one of my monitors and use the bravia in its place but the hdmi to vga cable i bought does not work. then i read something about my vidio card needs to support digital output in order for that to work. Will a hdmi to dvi cable work? this is where i get lost. ultimatly i would like to run 3 monitors, but i my mobo only has one video card slot. any suggestions?


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

The old x series is only capable of 2 monitors at a time so 3 at a time won't happen. Also , the x series is also pretty much to old to support a vga to hdmi cable.

A vga to component cable may work , or if the tv has composite or s-video you can also use those if your card has an s-video output.


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