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6 monitors, 1 PC

K

Knytestorme

Member
Hopefully a fairly simple question 🙂

I currently have an evga 780 SLI mobo with 3 PCIE slots in it. I'm running 2 7800GTX's to run 4 monitors on it, and then another 2 on a second PC but it just occurred to me that I could perhaps place a third card in the free slot and run the final two monitors off it.

Is this feasible to do, given I'm not running them in SLI and would I be able to slot a more current card (eg a 9800GTX+ or GTX260) in with the 7800's and have it play nice or will I have to upgrade all 3 cards at once?
 
Wow. what does your desktop look like? Please to post a link to a photo.

I would THINK you could just pop an 8800GT or something in there without any other changes, but I'm no expert in multiGPU.
 
Any videocard with 2x dvi out will do. Look into a 9500gt or something like that. No need for something like a 8800gt.

If you do buy a 9800gtx+ or gtx260, it should work as well, just realize that when you want to game, it will be on 1 monitor, the other one will go blank afaik. Leaving you with a measly 5 monitors instead of 6 😉
 
Thanks for that, makes buying parts tomorrow easier.

Mainly need it for 3 things....dev work, audio work and running 5 instances of WoW (main reason for looking into adding a 9800 now and then replacing the 7800's after xmas if it works as I want) on one monitor each so looks like my concerns are sorted.

@Dadofamunky, desk has extra bracketing coming up out of the back with a 3 wide, 2 high configuration with 6 VESA adapters for holding the monitors. If I could find monitors without surrounds so the screens just meshed into one I'd be a happy camper. Will put a pic up once I things slow down here and I move my office around.
 
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
 
Originally posted by: Qbah
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
Click to expand...

Ahh, you simply haven't lived until you've played a game on one monitor and watched a movie on the other. It's a beautiful thing. The other night I was playing WoW and watching Superbad.

 
Originally posted by: JimiP
Originally posted by: Qbah
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
Click to expand...

Ahh, you simply haven't lived until you've played a game on one monitor and watched a movie on the other. It's a beautiful thing. The other night I was playing WoW and watching Superbad.
Click to expand...

Sounds fun, will have to try it out! But if playing a FPS and watching a movie...I wonder how many times I'll die...:laugh:
 
Originally posted by: Knytestorme
Thanks for that, makes buying parts tomorrow easier.

Mainly need it for 3 things....dev work, audio work and running 5 instances of WoW (main reason for looking into adding a 9800 now and then replacing the 7800's after xmas if it works as I want) on one monitor each so looks like my concerns are sorted.

@Dadofamunky, desk has extra bracketing coming up out of the back with a 3 wide, 2 high configuration with 6 VESA adapters for holding the monitors. If I could find monitors without surrounds so the screens just meshed into one I'd be a happy camper. Will put a pic up once I things slow down here and I move my office around.
Click to expand...

Forget the 9500GT then. Not sure what resolutions you play your >>>>>5<<<<< instances of WoW on, but you may want something a bit more beefier than the 9500GT that marc suggested. But he didn't know you were playing WoW at the time of his post.

You might consider a 9600GT for your third slot.
 
Originally posted by: Qbah
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
Click to expand...

How do you guys get the second monitor not to go black while playing a game on the first monitor? I've been trying to figure it out so I can do the same!
 
Originally posted by: smithrwon
Originally posted by: Qbah
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
Click to expand...

How do you guys get the second monitor not to go black while playing a game on the first monitor? I've been trying to figure it out so I can do the same!
Click to expand...

I think with ATI, you have to make sure the desktop is extended to your HDTV, instead of cloned on your HDTV. I could be wrong though, I just recently got ati vidcards, and haven't tried gaming + watching a movie at the same time ...
 
Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Originally posted by: Knytestorme
Thanks for that, makes buying parts tomorrow easier.

Mainly need it for 3 things....dev work, audio work and running 5 instances of WoW (main reason for looking into adding a 9800 now and then replacing the 7800's after xmas if it works as I want) on one monitor each so looks like my concerns are sorted.

@Dadofamunky, desk has extra bracketing coming up out of the back with a 3 wide, 2 high configuration with 6 VESA adapters for holding the monitors. If I could find monitors without surrounds so the screens just meshed into one I'd be a happy camper. Will put a pic up once I things slow down here and I move my office around.
Click to expand...

Forget the 9500GT then. Not sure what resolutions you play your >>>>>5<<<<< instances of WoW on, but you may want something a bit more beefier than the 9500GT that marc suggested. But he didn't know you were playing WoW at the time of his post.

You might consider a 9600GT for your third slot.
Click to expand...

would your CPU and RAM even handle moving some WOW instances over to the main PC? maybe it is better to have 3 on one computer, and 2 on another for better performance.
 
Yeah, I use the extend option. No clue why anyone would want to clone their desktop... Unless perhaps you have a laptop with a small/weak screen and have an extra LCD for it. Or perhaps you're doing a presentation or something. But in a regular case at home? No idea.
 
Hm well my second monitor isn't an HDTV. It's just a regular 19" CRT. I do have my desktop extended to the CRT. But no go, boo!
 
completely off topic, your title caught me off guard, 6 monitors 1 pc sounds like something in the adult section of a movie store... they still have movie rental stores, right?

Off Topic is that way <--------- Please keep that in mind in the future.

-Thanks
ViRGE
 
Originally posted by: JimiP
Originally posted by: Qbah
No idea how it looks for nVidia, but on my rig (ATi) I can watch a fullscreen movie (or whatever else actually) on one monitor and game on the other (none of the two go 'blank', I got a 24" Samsung and a 40" HDTV via HDMI from Samsung too). Doing so pretty often actually (Wall-E in HD and Fallout 3 recently 😛). Everything is buttery smooth and looks amazing (and relaxes me a lot 😀).
Click to expand...

Ahh, you simply haven't lived until you've played a game on one monitor and watched a movie on the other. It's a beautiful thing. The other night I was playing WoW and watching Superbad.
Click to expand...

Turns out I put all my eggs in one basket and got a 40 inch... it was cool at the time, but i never thought of simultaneously doing both, ARGH

 
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