Badger asks, "My motherboard supports 2 PCI-e x16 cards. Should I go out and buy a second graphics card to use in that second PCI-e x16 slot?"

There are a couple of reasons why you might add a second graphics card to your computer, and not all of them have to do with gaming:

• You want to add one or more monitors to your current desktop configuration.
• You want to use one machine as a "multi-seat" machine, allowing one computer to service multiple people at the same time.
• You want to increase the performance of your games by adding a second card.

Most gamers are going to identify with the third option, and that's achieved through SLI or CrossfireX.

SLI and CFX are actually two different technologies created by nVidia and AMD to help video cards communicate with each other so they can perform the same task at the same time. The trick is that your motherboard and both video cards must support this technology.

The other caveat is that you cannot use two different cards in this type of setup. That is, you cannot use one nVidia card and one AMD card - nVidia doesn't support CFX and AMD doesn't support SLI.

There are also some physical hurdles to overcome (like how you're going to cool and power two video cards) as well as some technical ones (like figuring out why your Windows system crashes every 27 minutes when you put your cards in SLI of CFX mode).

If you ARE looking to upgrade on the cheap, adding a second video card is the way to go. Just remember that both video cards must use the same technology, and the motherboard must support that technology.

Do you have a question you need answered? E-mail me! lordkat@gmail.com

Click here to check out How to Build a Gaming Computer for Under $1000.

Be safe,

Jason