Crossfire + multiple screens

Hey guys (Stang mostly, probably

As most of you know, I run a triple-monitor setup. Currently this is run by a GeForce 7900 GT and a Matrox g550 PCIe.

I'm thinking of a new system (to run Windows 7), and might get some new cards as well, probably two Crossfire capable cards (looking at the HD4850)

Now I was wondering about the following:

- Is crossfire compatible with multiple screens? Can you run 2 screens in crossfire at the same time (I'm thinking Supreme Commander here, for instance)
- Will I be able to run crossfire AND connect all three screens, or will that be problematic?
- And of course, how to best to connect them all?

I've been out of it all for a while (as you can see from the 7900 GT), so any advice is welcome.

Im not clued up on crossfire but i think u have a string of dvi cables to each card as well as the crossfire cable. u cud use a 4850x2 or a 4870x2, they usually work better than single cards in crossfire anyway. Crossfire 2x 4870x2s and u have 1 hell of a lot of graphics power!

I'm not really looking for graphics power, my 7900GT is fine for the games I currently play, and the 4850 is faster than that. My most important demand is being able to run a triple screen setup at 1600x1200 pixels at 85Hz. Any modern card can do that.

But since I need 2 cards for that anyway (overlooking Matrox for the moment as those are pretty expensive), being able to run crossfire at the same time would be nice for those times I DO want to game.

Noone with any experience on this?

what you're saying is you want 2 4850s in crossfire. You might as well get a 4850X2 coz they have 4 ports i think. Check out the X2 cards at www.scan.co.uk

Just checked, and you're right about the 4 ports. Thanks, I didn't know that!

I only kno these things because I get custom pc

Itsacon yes it will work but just for 2 screens, not 4 screens due to the way crossfire works. As a suggestion though can you hold out because the next generation 5800 series from Ati is coming out (no not nivida 5800s lol) and rumor has it is that the $300 card is going to be 1.6 times faster than the 4890 and aboutas fast or faster than the 4870x2. This might be the way to go. Also they will be dx11 compatable and once supreme commander 2 comes out you'll be set for ultimate destruction.

More reading on the 5800 series

Thanx for the heads-up on the new Ati cards (which I did). They'll all support triple-screen setups right out of the box. (2x DVI, 1x displayport).

I might just put in a preorder for a 5850, since my current card has crapped out on me...

Listen to the starwarskid . 5800 looks reeaaaaaaaaaallllllll sweet.

The fact that its coming in at 380 dollars is also quite good, considering such beats used to be in the 700+ range as far as price. Currently, though you can only run 3. So there is a bit of a wait until ATI releases the card capable of 6 screens.

If you had two 4850s, you could certainly run 3 monitors with crossfire disabled. However, once you enable crossfire, you are instructing your graphics power to come from one card with the other in support. So again, 3 monitors with full multi-monitor capabilities is possible with the new Radeon 5800 series. Personally, I'm going to wait til they come down in price. By that time, there will be watercoolers available and I'll trail my supercooled brine (glycol solution) to my graphix card too. Heck, the 5870x2 that I've heard about would be perfect for this.

I'll have to tune my chiller for near 500W chilling capacity though hehehe.

Im sure matrox make an adapter where you can have a three monitor setup, regardless of crossfire enabled. its expensive tho, £300 to enable crossfire+three monitors. thats not including new cards

I've already ordered a Radeon 5850.

As for the Matrox triplehead system, with that, the screens aren't seen as seperate screens by Windows, so moving windows between screens isn't easy. It also doesn't work very well with CRT screens. (very low refresh rate)

Nice choice on the 5850.