Can I run a Crossfire mobo with two ATI cards in separate mode?

[Mastiff]

The board is AOpen i975Xa-YDG (http://global.aopen.com.tw/Promotion/i975XaYDG/i975Xa.htm), and I'm gonna run this in a carputer. I would like to know if it's possible to have two different ATI cards in this thing (one midrange, perhaps the X1600 Pro, and the lowest I can go and still get dual display support, X1300. The X1600 Pro will go to the two back seats, so my kids can play games. The X1300 will go to the front seat, where it will be doing NetRemote control of the carputer, GPS software and at times a movie for my wife in the passenger seat (if I can keep my eyes on the road...). I don't yet know if I can use games in the back seat while doing other stuff in the front seat, but that's not important. Most of the time the back seat graphics card wil be used for DVD videos, and I know that I can play three movies at once while still using GPS software or whatever.

So can I simply use two PCI Express cards as I would with one PCI Express card and one PCI card? Or is the extra PCI Express port for SLI stuff only?

[-=(86th)=-Night]

in order for you to run crossfire you have to have the same two cards. You cannot put a 1300 and 1600 and enable crossfire. They have to be the same number like 2 X1600's or 2 X1300's. they both have to be pci-express. The X1600XT is pci-express while the X1600 Pro is AGP only. Two completely different slots.

[Cobalt]

You should still be able to use the different outputs for different purposes even without running in crossfire. I would advise getting the same cards anyway to avoid driver problems but they will probably be fine and I can see no problems with this as long as you have the software to support it. You may need a decent processor though, I would suggest a dual core or hyper-threaded one to keep all these processes running at once. If you don't already have that seup then you can get the low end Intel dual core for £90 now (no sure how much it would be over in Norway though).

Might run a bit hot depending on what kind of cooling you've got in that car, it may get a bit overheated if lef to warm up a lot in the summer.

[Mastiff]

-=(86th)=-Night, I didn't say that I wanted to run them in Crossfire mode, I said "separate mode" in the thread heading. It's probably not the correct expression, but I don't want to run them to double graphics speed, I want more screens. As for the Pro being AGP only I must say that either you are wrong or Asus (and Powercolor, Sapphire and a few other manufacturers) are wrong. They marked X1600 Pro cards for PCI-E, like this one: http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=2&l2=8&l3=0&model=812&modelmenu=1
I think I'll take their word over your word, if you don't mind... ;) Oh, I understand that you're trying to help, and I appreciate it.

Cobalt, thanks! The heat isn't a problem, I have AC in my car, and summers in Norway seldom get that warm anyway. As for the CPU I'm gonna go with an Aopen mobo with a T2400 mobile Core Duo CPU and clock the heck out of it, so that should be able to take it! I will first try with one X1600 and one X1300, but if I have problems I'll follow your advice, shell out the extra dough and upgrade the 1300 to a 1600.

[-=(86th)=-Night]

yeah sorry i guess i didnt read it all. BUT in my opinion the X1600XT is way better than the Pro so idk, you can chiise whatever you want. Hope it works out.

[Mastiff]

OK, thanks! I'll see if I can afford the XT instead of the Pro. The price isn't that much higher, around 40 dollars.