How many video cards do you need for your computer system? It's been some time now and both ATI and Nvidia have technology that allows individuals to utilise more than one video card in a single machine, because of this reality there are many computer enthusiasts and computer gamers that are building power gaming machines. Are these types of machines of interest to you?
For people such as animators, video editors and multimedia professionals who have to deal with graphics on a daily basis, the difference of having more than one graphics card in the same machine can be immediately felt. Graphics looks and behaves better, applications seem to load quicker. For the average individual, your standard low-end solution has enough power to cover any stress that it may be put under.
Today, there are only two video card brands that allow you to hook multiple cards into one machine. These are ATI crossfire and Nvidia SLI graphics cards.
The SLI (Scalable Link Interface) technology was introduced in 2004 by Nvidia. At its inception, users were able to link a maximum of two graphics cards together. SLI technology has since grown from those days and now allows up to four cards to a single machine.
ATI introduced the crossfire in 2005 shortly after Nvidia released its SLI graphics cards. Similarly to SLi, ATI crossfire supports a maximum of four video cards per computer.
Issues of having a motherboard that lacks the necessary capabilities can hinder your ability to have two graphics card in the same machine. Only nForce and Intel x58 motherboards have support for SLI cards. Crossfire and SLI are two completely different technologies that are not cross-compatible with one another. ATI Crossfire cards tend to enjoy wider support especially amongst Intel branded motherboards.
Author Resource:-
Ike Ani has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. Not only does this author specialize in health, animals and computers, you can also check out his latest website on notebook power supply units which reviews and lists the best notebook power supply units available on the market today!
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