Multi-card/multi-monitor SLI nVidia/AMD question

[Lonyo]

Right now I have a 7800GT and 7200GS running on an MSI Neo4 SLI motherboard, with the PCI-e slots in SLI mode.

The pricing that the AMD HD 3850 seems to be in the UK is absurdly cheap (based on leaked numbers), so much so that I might have to consider getting one.
BUT
Does anyone know if it would be possible to run an HD3850 (ore any AMD/ATi card) in an SLI motherboard with SLI enabled and an nVidia card in the second PCIe slot?
I don't really want to lose my extra monitor support (I run 3 monitors), and buying a new motherboard is out of the question (since if I had the money to do that I might as well get an 8800GT).

Any ideas/experiences?

 

[Sylvanas]

Hmmm well I dont have any experiencing in that area however I would think that in order to have an Nvidia and an ATI card 'running in SLI' that is to say, *both* cards contribute to the display you are seeing- you would need to enable SLI in the Nvidia Driver, and obviously that wont work with an ATI card so you're back to square 1. I have also heard around the place that Nvidia drivers scan your hardware to see if it is appropriate to run SLI (thus why you cant run Crossfire on an SLI mobo), and with an AMD card in there I think a working SLI would be out of the question.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Does anyone know if it would be possible to run an HD3850 (ore any AMD/ATi card) in an SLI motherboard with SLI enabled and an nVidia card in the second PCIe slot?

I assune that when you run all three monitors you are not in SLI.
No, one ATI + one Nvidia = no SLI (or crossfire, for that matter)

Many posts have suggested that 2 Nvidia cards (in SLI) may work with an ATI card (PCI, prefered or PCIe, maybe). The thought is that the two drivers (Nvidia and ATI) may be able to coexist. I'd be very interested in knowing if that works.