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Cheap way to get Crossfire running on my PC ?

M-VickersM-Vickers Registered User regular
in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
Hi all.

The situation - I have a 2 monitor setup, but only 1 graphics card. I'd like to get crossfire enabled, as I want to start playing Civ 5 (and the upcoming Beyond Earth) across the two monitors in 3840x1080.

I don't think I'll need a powerful card, as I only want it for Civ, which isn't too power hungry.

My main card is a Geforce GTX 680 - can anyone help with the most affordable way to get Crossfire running ? Can I just throw in any old Crossfire enabled card, or will it have to be a similar specced card ?

Thanks for any advice.

Posts

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    Has to be another 680.

    Also, Nvidia calls the multi-GPU setup for their cards SLI. Crossfire is AMD's thing, and I believe it uses a slightly different process.

  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    You'd also need the little SLI cable thing.

    But I'm wondering if your single 680 could just do this job on its own.

  • TPSouTPSou Mr Registered User regular
    I'm pretty sure it could, I can run Civ 5 no problem without a GPU at all on my Surface Pro, I think if anything the 680 is overkill even at that resolution.

    One thing to note - you need a motherboard that supports it I think. I know my motherboard is crossfire ready but not SLI, just make sure which one yours is (unless that's just marketing speak and they actually all support both).

    Also if you do go for two 680s make sure you've got a fairly beefy power supply and cooling set up.

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  • M-VickersM-Vickers Registered User regular
    This is annoying - apparently my card is more or less unavailable. I can find a GTX 680, which is a refurbished one for £200.

    As much as I want to see Civ 5 spread across 2 monitors, this will have to wait. :(

    Thanks for the replies.

  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    M-Vickers wrote: »
    This is annoying - apparently my card is more or less unavailable. I can find a GTX 680, which is a refurbished one for £200.

    As much as I want to see Civ 5 spread across 2 monitors, this will have to wait. :(

    Thanks for the replies.

    Try it with the one you have - you probably don't even need 2 cards.

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  • M-VickersM-Vickers Registered User regular
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    M-Vickers wrote: »
    This is annoying - apparently my card is more or less unavailable. I can find a GTX 680, which is a refurbished one for £200.

    As much as I want to see Civ 5 spread across 2 monitors, this will have to wait. :(

    Thanks for the replies.

    Try it with the one you have - you probably don't even need 2 cards.

    I actually got Civ 5 working in 3840x1080 - there's a dx9.dll file you can get that forces your game to run across the two monitors.

    It's glitchy though, and the textures didn't load properly.

    The menu was also in the middle of the two monitors, so that was annoying.

    I've gone back to dreaming of a 2-card, 3-monitor setup...

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