SLI = Crossfire?

[OLBY]

hello guys
today i saw a nice mobo ga-ep45-dq6, and it has a nice specs, 1 of the specs that it supports the cross fire tech, and i have a nvidia card xfx9600 gso 1.5GB ,so if i want to upgrade my pc in the future (normally) i will buy another vga card

the question is : are crossfire and sli the same? or will i be able to set 2 sli vga on that mobo? (there is nothing about sli in the overview page in GB website)

am confused
pl'z answer :suspiciou
and thanks

 

[mailpup]

No, they aren't the same. Crossfire only supports multiple ATI graphics cards and SLI only supports Nvidia cards. There are some motherboards that support both Crossfire and SLI but of those cards that support multiple graphics cards, most support only one or the other.

In your case you would have to buy two ATI cards and get rid of your Nvidia card.

 

[OLBY]

thnks mailpup,
can u give me a name of a mobo sounds like that ep45-dq6 supports both sli and cross fire (but gigabyte)?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The P45 chipset only supports Crossfire. The P55 and X58 chipsets support SLI & Crossfire on the same board, but this varies from board to board; some manufacturers enable support for both, and some only enable support for one of them.

 

[OLBY]

so there is no sli supported gigabyte mobo? (i mean ddr2 and 775 socket)
i liked tht mobo

 

[mailpup]

You will have to look for a Gigabyte motherboard with an Nvidia chipset for socket 775 and SLI support. I think those would be older model boards.

 

[dividebyzero]

You will have to look for a Gigabyte motherboard with an Nvidia chipset for socket 775 and SLI support. I think those would be older model boards.

Correct. Gigabyte stopped supporting Nvidia chipsets on Intel boards with the GA-N680SLI-DQ6 - top of the line for its day (2006-07) but wouldn't support your processor even if you could source one.
You would need to find a 750i, 780i, 790i or 790 Ultra board to support your 45nm processor- although I'd have to say it would be a very poor upgrade path- Much simpler to invest in a P55 chipset - Gigabyte's UD4/UD5/UD6 series all support SLI (and Crossfire)