How do I hookup a dual video card Crossfire rig to a single monitor?

Posted by Alexed on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Alexed
Published on 2011-03-30T06:29:17Z Indexed on 2014/08/24 22:24 UTC
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graphics-card

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amd-catalyst

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crossfire

I just received a new Alienware box preinstalled with two nice shiny ATI 6950 graphics cards. My goal is to use both of them to give me really good resolution and frame rate on my single monitor.

There's zero documentation with the Alienware box and nothing I can find online.

Do I just plug the monitor into one of the cards, and expect the two cards to do magic internally?
The ATI Crossfire website indicates a need for an "external crossfirex connection cable". Do I need to buy one of these? If so, what kind of cable is it?
The AMD Catalyst Control Center shows the second card as "Linked" but when I go to the AMD Overdrive section, the second card is at zero temperature, and clock, suggesting it's not actually doing anything. What do I need to do to make use of both cards? Is it something that doesn't kick in until I do something graphically intensive?

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