Multi-monitor and Crossfire Question

[Arthur Lipscomb]

Hi. I just purchased an ASUS EAH4670 video card (PCI-E 2.0, 1 gig of DDR3
memory with ATI Radeon HD 4670 chipset) for a new system I'm building (using
an ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard) and I'm wondering I can still get some
use out of my current card which is an ATI Radeon X1600 (PCI-E 1.0 with 512
megs of memory).

I would like to use both cards at the same time to expand my multi-monitor
capabilities from 2 monitors to 3 or 4. Will it be possible to have both
cards installed at the same time for multi-monitor? Is there anything
special I need to do or is it just plug and play?

My understanding is that both my current card and the new card are crossfire
compatible. Can they be combined for crossfire?

The ASUS M4A79T Deluxe has 4 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 slots with ATI CrossFireX
support (@ dualx16, tripple x16/ x8, or quad x8 modes). I have absolutely
no idea what any of that means but hopefully you guys do!

I'm currently running Windows Vista 64-bit but will be upgrading to Windows
7 64-bit.

Thanks in advance!

 

[GRiZLOC]

I dont think you can use both the x1600 and 4670 with four monitors let
alone both of them in crossfire that just doesn't work.
What you can do is if i'm not mistaken you'll get 2 dvi ports on the ati
4670 you need two monitors with dvi or you van use one with dvi and one with
an dvi2vga adapter or if you only have 2 monitors with vga use 2 dvi2vga
adapters to use 2 monitors.
I have an ati 4890 with 2 dvi ports with only 1 monitor attached to it. If i
would like to have a second monitor with dvi i can plug in a second monitor
with dvi

 

[Arthur Lipscomb]

Plug and play. The Catalyst installation program will automatically run
twice to cover both cards. Note: the driver needs to support both cards,
so Catalyst 9.3 is the latest driver you will be able to use. It may be
worthwhile to download Catalyst 9.3 and put it on a CD or USB key before
booting the system up for the first time.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/9-3/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx?&lang=English

Thanks. I'm glad to know it will work. But I am concerned that my 4670
will be limited to outdated drivers. Especially when I move on to Windows
7. I just checked and AMD doesn't even have Windows 7 (beta) drivers for
the X1600. Although the upgrade advisor doesn't indicate any issues with
the X1600 so I'm assuming Windows 7 drivers for the X1600 won't be an issue.

After everything is installed and working, If I update the drivers for the
4670 will the X1600 stop working?

What if instead of installing Catalyst I just go plug and play with the
default Windows drivers?