May
I hear some people are using two graphics cards at the same time. Why? Is that safe?
Answer:
Envision that you’ve to carry 100 boxes of Coca-Colas. Sure, you can do it alone, it's just a matter of how long you’re going to complete the task.
Now imagine if you have another friend to help you out, each only need to carry 50 boxes. The time taken might have been halved.
The same goes for Two Graphic Cards (they call it dual graphic cards/SLi/Crossfire). When you have 2, your graphics rendering will be a lot lighter because workloads are shared between the two. As a result you can afford higher graphics settings.
Answer:
Sure it's safe, if you have a motherboard that supports it. Basically, there are two forms of running multiple graphics cards: Nvidia's SLI, which works with an SLI-enabled motherboard and two (sometimes more) identical SLI-capable graphics cards, and ATI Crossfire, which works mostly the same way with a Crossfire-enabled motherboard and etc…
There are some caveats as to getting two not-so-identical cards working, i.e. different clock speeds, different memory sizes, but the general consensus is that two completely identical cards work best. Even if you do get two slightly different ones to work, you'll be limited to the speed of the slowest one.
The whole idea of this is to get superior graphics performance - more graphics cards=more graphics processing power=more frames per second and higher detail levels. I should add that if you're going to actually invest in such a system, you would do well to do much more research than I've provided you with in this brief overview.
Many people also use multiple video cards to use more than one monitor. Most add-on video cards have two outputs so you can use two monitors; more require more video cards. Speaking of multiple monitors, using two graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire mode will ironically prevent you from using more than one monitor. I mentioned SLI/Crossfire first though, since that's probably what you heard about. On the other hand, having multiple monitors is such a productivity booster that I can't live without it!
Answer:
Nvidia has SLI and ATI has Crossfire which I have yet to see actually work.
I run SLI, basically it lets me take two graphics cards and run them together which makes them faster. When SLI first came out, the benefit would be up to 80% faster, usually 40-60%, but with current improvements, it's literally 99% faster.
This means I have the ability to run more demanding games such as Crysis at higher quality settings and they are playable when they might not be with a single card.
Answer:
Is is only safe if you have the proper wattage and colling system to run it effectively, otherwise you can easily cause your computer to overheat. You need to have a board with the right technology to do it (if you run nvidia the tech is called SLI, I don't know what it is called for ATI) and they do it to get superior performance from games.
edit: Crossfire, that's what the ATI tech is called.
Answer:
Some cards have a special mode that grants it to share processing between two or more cards. Just like having a dual core CPU. It's perfectly safe but uses twice the power and can sometimes need extra cooling.
It's called “crossfire mode” on ATI cards.
Answer:
it is called SLI technology, so that both graphics card will work together. If you’re a gamer, you’ll need it. Please note that SLI motherboard are costly.
Now you might add 3 Graphics card at a time. Check the link:
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/…
Answer:
It's for gaming purposes.
Average users don't need to use SLi or Crossfire…
It's safe, there's motherboards that you need to use it, and drivers you can install.
Answer:
yeah its fine, nvida made this sli ready graphics card that you put two graphics cards in and connect them with a bridge it comes with.. kinda weird this question came up because i recently installed one of these myself 6 days ago
Answer:
it's safe.people do it because it sometimes give superior performance.
Answer:
It's mainly to get either great graphics, or to use 2 monitors at the same time.
Answer:
I use the second video card to clone my main monitor so it shows everything on the main one