Which display output to use?

[8HRR52J]

Hi guys, I am new to OC, and am in the development stage of a very strange and (I think) the first ever type of build!

I am a newbie to custom builds as I usually only repair and replace hardware in laptops so my knowledge is lacking, however, I am curious as to what display output you would use if you had 2 Nvidia discrete GPUs in SLI config?

For example; If I were to buy the Asus deluxe Z97 ATX board, attatch 2xGB GeForce GTX 770's, and plugged in a monitor to the motherboard's HDMI or DVI-D out; would I be using the full power of my SLI GPUs, or, the onboard graphics (as part of Intel's processors for this socket), or both? I would have thought you would be using all of the graphic utilities attatched to the mobo, but I am probably wrong!

Unless (God forbid I am right) could somebody please tell me why I am wrong, and which output I should use to utilize the power of both of my GPUs?

thank you!

 

[8HRR52J]

Thanks petey,

So if i were to connect a display to the motherbouard HDMI out, which graphics card would that output use?

Thanks

 

[8HRR52J]

Thanks Ian! That was what I was dreading

Why do they even have motherboard display outputs for ATX then? Surely with all the PCIe slots they assume you're gna add a discrete gpu!? V. Strange

So, just to sum up, if using SLI or crossfire, you can connect your desired display to either one of the graphics cards' display outs, and it will use the power of both of the cards?

Thanks guys

 

[8HRR52J]

Thanks for clearing that up. Do you think a single gtx770 would be enough for current games (BF4 etc) at standard 1920x1080, stock clock and what kind of fps would I be expecting?

Thanks