Why no cards that can be coupled without your mobo having to be Crossfire or SLI compliant?

[dennilfloss]

Why don't they make cards that you could just combine as long as you simply have two or more PCI-E slits to set them in? That would open a world of possibilities.

 

[Sylvanas]

Because they want you to buy their more expensive Crossfire/SLI capable cards along with their own Nvidia/AMD multi-GPU capable motherboard chipsets.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Because they want you to buy their more expensive Crossfire/SLI capable cards along with their own Nvidia/AMD multi-GPU capable motherboard chipsets.

I think the OP is saying. in essence, that he wants all motherboards/video cards to be like that.

To the OP:
Particular circuitry is required at the motherboard/chipset level in order to provide for two video cards operating a single monitor, without this circuitry it won't be possible.

Another option, instead of SLI/CF, would be multi GPU video cards. like 3DFX's 3DFX Voodoo 5000 (dual GPU) and 6000 (quad GPU) cards. But then if these cards were SLI/CF capable, two of them could be used for increased performance.

SLI/CF provides ultimate performance, and a convenient upgrade path to that ultimate performance. So, if you want to go there, SLI/CF is a good way to get there.