SLI/CF with multi monitors.. Can You use four monitors while not gaming

[phaxmohdem]

I have no doubt this could be accomplished by turning on and off SLI/Crossfire in the BIOS for whatever task is at hand, but That would be insanely annoying to me.

I have a Quad monitor setup, ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe, currently with an 8800GTX driving the two larger displays, one of which I game on, and a 8600GT driving two smaller displays that I drag various windows and control panels onto while working. (Pretty much all 2D/Video work on these monitors)

It would be awesome if I could have say two 4850s or two 9800GTXs in CF or SLI mode that would switch automatically between being able to use all 4 monitor ports while not gaming, and auto switching to SLI/CF mode when gaming.

Do modern drivers do this? Or do you have to reboot every time?

 

[ChronoReverse]

ATI cards in CrossFireX don't need to disable it (and then reboot) when going from multi-gpu gaming mode to multi-monitor normal.

 

[aka1nas]

I use 3 monitors on my SLI rig atm, the Nvidia drivers have improved to the point where I can enable/disable SLI via the NV Control Panel about 90% of the time without being forced to reboot.

I was also using the 3rd card trick to get the the 2 additional monitors working with SLI enabled, but it's been somewhat unstable with the last few driver revisions so I've stopped doing it.