Do both DVI ports work on 9800GX2 ?

phexac

Senior member
Jul 19, 2007
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I have read that one of the greatest drawbacks of SLI is inability to support dual monitors. Since GX2 is essentially internal SLI inside one card, do both DVI ports on it allowing to use dual monitors?

Thanks.
 

thilanliyan

Lifer
Jun 21, 2005
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I think you answered your own question. Since it is essentially SLI then dual monitors probably won't work in SLI mode.
 

phexac

Senior member
Jul 19, 2007
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Meh sounds like that is the deal breaker for me then. No can do without 2 monitors :(

Ah well, the 9800GTX and GTS should be plenty powerful enough for me when they come out...
 

Billb2

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2005
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Originally posted by: phexac
I have read that one of the greatest drawbacks of SLI is inability to support dual monitors.
SLI on dual monitors??? /fail ...perpetual motion is a similar concept.

The whole purpose of SLI is that one card supports only 1/2 of a monitor. Wouldn't two monitors in SLI kind of defeat that concept?
Wouldn't just using the output of each card on it's own monitor (and avoiding the overhead of SLI) offer better performance than the mythical "dual monitor SLI"?

Perhaps you mean "Can you run dual monitors in non-SLI with a 9800GX2"?
I would assume that there is a reason for the second DVI port on a 9800GX2, and that reason is to allow dual monitors in non-SLI mode... what other reason could there be for a second DVI output?

Now the real question is can you run two monitors, both in SLI, off two 9800GX2's?
That would be a true "dual monitors in SLI" solution.

And would there ever be/is there a driver that would let you switch between:
4 monitors, non-SLI......................<--- what? trade stocks?
3 monitors, 1 SLI, and 2 non-SLI...<--- an awesome concept!
2 monitors, both SLI.....................<--- what? game on two monitors at once?
1 monitor, quad-SLI.....................<--- awesome gamming