ASRock 4CoreDual with two Graphic Cards

[rbonon]

Maybe my previous topic about this was too long and nobody bothered to read, so straight to the point:

1) Can I run two graphics cards at the same time on the ASRock 4CoreDual-Sata2?
2) If yes, would it be possible to run one Sapphire AGP X1950 Pro and one Sapphire PCIe X1950 Pro?
3) Should I expect lots of hassle regarding compatibility, drivers, etc?
4) Will there be serious bottlenecking by using two fairly good cards at the same time?
5) Would the AGP slot pose a further bottlenecking on the already stressed PCIe 4X ?

Thanks for your answers & best regards

 

[bigsnyder]

Using two graphics cards shouldn't be a problem. Asrock at one time even advertised the ability to use three cards (PCI-e, AGP, and PCI).
If you are wanting to setup a crossfire configuration, then that is not so easy. It not officially possible, but someone did devise a hack that
supposedly works on the 939Dual board. The same hack is suppose to work 4coreDual/775Dual too. Good luck finding it, I unfortunately
do not have the bookmark.

 

[imported_stickboy]

crossfire between the agp and pcie cards? that sounds impossible

 

[bigsnyder]

It can be done with a driver hack. I need to find that link. Remember, crossfire can be done in software without
a master card so it really is not that far fetched.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Crossfire running from a AGP slot AND a PCI-e slot?!

HERESY!!



Sounds pretty interesting. Can it be done? im keeping an eye on this. Could SLi possibly work too?

 

[imported_stickboy]

But the cards are bridged as in SLI. The AGP has no such bridge. Or does it?

 

[KarmaKiller]

The biggest problem you'll run into doing the hack is the PCI-e slot on the board only runs at 8x, or maybe it was 6x, I don't remember for sure. I have owned a couple of those boards, and I had one running a x1650PRO AGP card and a 6600GT PCI-e card. Really the only problem I had was clearance between the cards...

 

[bigsnyder]

Originally posted by: stickboy
But the cards are bridged as in SLI. The AGP has no such bridge. Or does it?

I don't believe SLI from Nvidia will work, only crossfire since it can be done in software. The PCI-E slot runs at 4x bandwidth. Obviously crossfire on this family of boards is not an elegant solution, but the fact alone someone hacked drivers to make it work is just plain cool.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Here's a link to setting up SLI on another AGP+PCIe board. I would like to try this, but from the looks of it, I would need to cool the AGP card with something like Thermalright's HR-03, since it allows placement of the heatsink on the back of the vid card towards the CPU, but it is not compatible with my 7600GT (AGP HSI bridge chip not covered). Otherwise I don't think I can fit a PCIe card. If anyone has any ideas on overcoming this, pls share!

 

[bigsnyder]

I believe that is the link I have seen before, I just thought it was a crossfire setup
Oh well, my memory is not what is used to be!