Dumb question...maybe.

[dreamnugget]

I'm not in a position to buy these new 'duo x2' type graphic cards...cant think of their names, but ATI and Nvida have those cards where two cards are basicly joined together in sli or crossfire type arrangement but only use one PCIE slot.  Can one of these 'duo' cards go into any PCIE slot regardless of the boards manufacturer or do the boards need to support either crossfire or SLI for their respective cards.......eg can the nvidia 9600 (i think thats one of the duo cards in sli mode..maybe not) go into a board that doesnt support SLI...and only seen as one card.  I hope I'm not being to vague with the descriptions, maybe someone could shed a little light on the subject.  I know ofcourse that potentially two of the Nvidia duo type cards would have to have an SLI board to use both PCIE slots, but I am curious on what the go is with only using one of the cards.

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I've confused the heck out of you .

[Tim Harris]

the GX2 (two cards in one) is not a SLI, it is seen as a single card

and it will fit in any PCI-E slot

however it is very long and will not fit in some cases

also I recommend a 650W+ power supply as this thing drinks watts like its at the pub on a Saturday night

of course if your crazy you can SLI two of these cards lol (total 4 GPUs....)

[dreamnugget]

Thanks for the reply...was curious about what the go was with one card (seen as one card or an SLI).

Cheers Jason

[maxter]

Actually slightly off topic but in the same area, I currently have a single 8800GTX.  I was wondering if I could get a hold of another one relatively inexpensively, is there any way of SLI'ing  the two together and would the two (if achievable) improve the performance?  Also will a single 800Watt power supply be adequate to drive the 2 video cards?

Cheers and thanks in advance,

[Iain Emms]

Im crazy i run 2x Nvidia 9800GX2 in SLI, i have a 1KW power supply to run these and im really pleased with the card set up, just installed new driver 177.92 a good improvement over the last driver.

[Tim Harris]

have a look at your card Chris, there should be a little SLI tab about 10-15mm long...At the top left hand corner of the videocard

if you have this then it is SLI compatible...of course you would need a motherboard with 2 PCI-E slots

about the 800 watt PSU.

high wattage does NOT mean it will be good enough

the Amps the PSU has on the combined +12V rails is way more important as almost all the power required for modern PC's comes from the +12V rail/s

a "good" 650watt should be enough for SLI

something with at least 50A minimum is desired

this is what I use and its also SLI certified plus gives 52A http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=23650

read this Wiki for some great info on selecting a "good" PSU http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=psu

enjoy

[maxter]

Hi Tim, thanks very much for your extremely informative answer.

I will check your suggestions.  Any comments re expected perf improvements?

Cheers,

[Tim Harris]

in your situation I would get a better CPU and sit back and watch the prices fall on the graphics cards

FSX is a CPU hog, no question about that

but of course more graphics power is always going to be better than less, just depends on your wallet