2nd graphics card = computer unstable!

[busydude]

Display port? Does that mean Analog?

Nope, its digital. The only draw back is its not as popular as DVI/HDMI. You need an adapter for it to work with HDMI. There are 2 kinds of adapters passive and active. Passive only supports max res of 1080P and does not stream audio.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

Nope, its digital. The only draw back is its not as popular as DVI/HDMI. You need an adapter for it to work with HDMI. There are 2 kinds of adapters passive and active. Passive only supports max res of 1080P and does not stream audio.

Either way, all monitors have to be the same resolution?

 

[busydude]

Either way, all monitors have to be the same resolution?

yup.

Currently Eyefinity technology is restricted to a maximum resolution of 8000 pixels on any one axis. This restriction prevents such configurations as 5x1 or 6x1 of most current display panels. CCC detects the native resolution of the attached display via EDID and provides a list of supported configurations for you. All displays currently must be the same resolution, color depth and rotation, and higher resolution panels will use the lowest common resolution of panels in the group.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

yup.

Interesting..

But if I have 2 cards, its not limited to this? I hope?

 

[busydude]

But if I have 2 cards, its not limited to this? I hope?

Yes, you can setup dual monitors with different resolutions. Also there is hope of running 3 monitors with different resolutions, eyefinity is still taking its first steps but only time has the answer.

 

[blanketyblank]

You may not be able to do eyefinity (three monitors acting as a single monitor), but I think you can use an extended view to get a monitor with a different resolution working.

So looking at ATI site I think you can run 3 monitors with different resolution, but just can't combine them into a single group.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk.../Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5850-specifications.aspx

ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology2,3
Three independent display controllers
Drive three displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays
Display grouping
Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display

 

[busydude]

You may not be able to do eyefinity (three monitors acting as a single monitor), but I think you can use an extended view to get a monitor with a different resolution working. So looking at ATI site I think you can run 3 monitors with different resolution, but just can't combine them into a single group. http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...fications.aspx ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology2,3 Three independent display controllers Drive three displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays Display grouping Combine multiple displays to behave like a single large display

Did I just confuse the OP and myself regarding eyefinity. Based on logic its clear that eyefinity need same resolution to run a game across all the monitors. For it just to drive 3 monitors will be a no issue. Sorry for the confusion OP.

It will drive 3 monitors with different resolution but at least one should be using the display port.

 

[ViRGE]

Nope, its digital. The only draw back is its not as popular as DVI/HDMI. You need an adapter for it to work with HDMI. There are 2 kinds of adapters passive and active. Passive only supports max res of 1080P and does not stream audio.

The problem with sending him down this route is that a passive DP adapter doesn't work if the DVI ports are already in use. He would have to use a $100 active adapter to drive his monitors, since he has 3 DVI/HDMI-type monitors. He's better off with 2 cards right now.

 

[RKS]

I had a similar problem when I tried to cross-fire 2 5770s. One of the GPUs was actually pushing the boot drive from out of the SATA slot.

 

[busydude]

The problem with sending him down this route is that a passive DP adapter doesn't work if the DVI ports are already in use. He would have to use a $100 active adapter to drive his monitors, since he has 3 DVI/HDMI-type monitors. He's better off with 2 cards right now.

Thanks for the clarification super mod.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

I finally figured this out...

Turns out that my mobo just doesn't supply enough power to the 2nd PCI express card slot.. ON ITS OWN. This goes for BOTH slots. Even a low end card like a 210. This may be because I have 2 PCI slots, all 4 slots filled with ram and an OC cpu. Under a lesser load it probably isn't an issue.

Thus, when I put my 8800GT in the 2nd slot and it ran no problem I was extremely confused.. not a bad slot? REASON: 8800GT has a 6pin power adapter directly to my PSU while the low end geforce 210 only draws power from the mobo.

Strange as hell right?

So unfortunately I just have to buy cards with 6pin adapters. Im going to go with a 5750 for now from newegg for $110 which will let me crossfire it later. Keep the 8800GT for now

Thanks for all your help guys!

 

[evolucion8]

I recommend you upgrading your powersupply sometime, your quad core overclocked to 3.4GHz can consume easily up to 135W, plus your Asus motherboard which is the same as mine, can take a lot of power to share to USB devices, Sata devices etc. My system currently taxes considerably my current Power Supply and I just have two hard drives, but in the other though my Crossfire setup is a power hog.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

I recommend you upgrading your powersupply sometime, your quad core overclocked to 3.4GHz can consume easily up to 135W, plus your Asus motherboard which is the same as mine, can take a lot of power to share to USB devices, Sata devices etc. My system currently taxes considerably my current Power Supply and I just have two hard drives, but in the other though my Crossfire setup is a power hog.

I know you're trying to be honest here but all this busines about powersupplies is totally a myth.

My system with 5 hard drives, 2 PCI cards an 8800GT at 100% load (WoW playing), 4 sticks of ram uses a grand total of....

Drum roll.....

220W

At idle it uses about 140W.

How do I know this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-001-_-Product


Power is the MOST consumed at boot. FIRST instant you press the power button. It uses about 300W for about 2 seconds.

All these manufactuers say "use a 600W supply in crossfire" because its about the voltages on certain rails.. but unless you're using a database server you'll never ever use all 4 cores at 100% with 5 HDs all reading at their max speed while pushing tons of data over the ram bus, etc.

If your computer boots with all your devices you are over the hump.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: Not debating that the 5750 isn't a good card but since you have an 8800GT, why not just get a second one? That would make it a lot easier on things like compatibility.

 

[ViRGE]

I finally figured this out...

Turns out that my mobo just doesn't supply enough power to the 2nd PCI express card slot.. ON ITS OWN. This goes for BOTH slots. Even a low end card like a 210. This may be because I have 2 PCI slots, all 4 slots filled with ram and an OC cpu. Under a lesser load it probably isn't an issue.

Thus, when I put my 8800GT in the 2nd slot and it ran no problem I was extremely confused.. not a bad slot? REASON: 8800GT has a 6pin power adapter directly to my PSU while the low end geforce 210 only draws power from the mobo.

Strange as hell right?

So unfortunately I just have to buy cards with 6pin adapters. Im going to go with a 5750 for now from newegg for $110 which will let me crossfire it later. Keep the 8800GT for now

Thanks for all your help guys!

You seem sure of your technical analysis so I'll just go with that. But with that said, this is certainly one of the weirder problems I've ever seen.