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SLI and dual monitor DVI - let me get this straight

I

imported_BIOSMonkey

Member
I've been struggling with the idea of going SLI or just getting a single X850XT. But I read recently that dual monitor through the DVI ports in an SLI setup does not work.

As it is, this is exactly the config I will have - two Dell 2001FPs hooked up via DVI.

In one post I read, it is a driver problem but Nvidia may not fix it for several months!

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...AR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

I can't believe they would not have this working. I realize I can go with a single dual DVI ultra for now, but I don't like the idea of "hoping" they get it fixed in the future.

Anyone else in the same situation? Should I get an ultra and wait or just get the x850xt?
 
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
 
Originally posted by: Naustica
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
Click to expand...

I agree. If you want dual monitor support, your only real solution is the single card solution.
You can disable SLI to support up to 4 monitors, but this defeats the purpose.

 
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Why not just buy two Dual-DVI nVidia SLI cards? 😀

- M4H
Click to expand...


Because it's the same problem, as I understand it. No matter where the monitors are connected, using two DVI ports when in SLI mode doesn't work.
 
Originally posted by: Naustica
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
Click to expand...



Sigh.

I would love to (re)play Far Cry at 1600x1200 + eye candy and get around 60fps, but I just don't know about this SLI thing.

In my mind, eventually single cards will come out that equal sli performance, plus support new directx features etc. In two years I'd rather replace a single card than buy an old card to add to an SLI config.
 
Well I have two BFG 6800GTs and they each have two DVI ports. I have a Sony G520 21" monitor right now and a 24" on the way. I will hook them both up and see if they work.
 
Originally posted by: BIOSMonkey
Originally posted by: Naustica
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
Click to expand...



Sigh.

I would love to (re)play Far Cry at 1600x1200 + eye candy and get around 60fps, but I just don't know about this SLI thing.

In my mind, eventually single cards will come out that equal sli performance, plus support new directx features etc. In two years I'd rather replace a single card than buy an old card to add to an SLI config.
Click to expand...

so wait 2 years to get the performance thats avalable now? i think if ya got the money, why not sli.

JB
 
Originally posted by: Naustica
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the new sig 🙂
 
Hi,

Yes, I can verify and after some research dual monitor support is not yet supported in SLI mode. Not even DVI + Analog. If you turn off SLI then it works no problem. Also digital display resolution scaling does not work with this driver release. They said it is suppose to be released soon and they are working on it. Also in SLI mode my computer has random crashes in windows and sometimes the screen would just become distorted and freezem, but in standard mode I can use each monitor on each card no problem and machine is stable with DVD running and decoding on each monitor. I'm guessing alot of problems people are having with SLI is driver related and not hardware related. I'm assuming that my 2nd ultra was defective becuase of the random crashes in SLI but I'm now running non SLI mode with one monitor on one card and one monitor on the other and the machine is completely stable. I think that proves that the 2nd card is actually working fine and the crashes are from Nvidia drivers. I actually a few times after a crash Windows Error Reporting would report that the crash was Nvidia Driver related. SLI is still in BETA form for sure. If you want cutting edge tech and don;t mind being a beta tester then go with SLI, otherwise stay away!

Michael



 
Originally posted by: Naustica
sli still has long ways to go. lack of dual monitor support and very, very few supported games being the biggest ones. don't be a beta tester. say no to sli.
Click to expand...

That's really, really too bad. NV *could* have an absolutely killer multi-mon/SLI "surround gaming" thing going on for their high-end cards, if they could set the "split" between the protions of the viewport/surface rendered, to match each connected display. Hell, you wouldn't even need to use the "SLI" connector, all you would really need is the proper shim driver layer and a couple of fast cards. (ATI *or* NV.)

That would be a killer feature for Windows' itself, to cement itself as the gaming OS, if MS added that directly to the low-level DirectX subsystems.

Metabyte/Wicked3D used to have omething similar, a DirectX shim driver, that allowed you to play ordinary Direct3D-using games using LCD glasses and double-refresh/AFR features.
 
Originally posted by: michaeldorian
Hi,

Yes, I can verify and after some research dual monitor support is not yet supported in SLI mode. Not even DVI + Analog. If you turn off SLI then it works no problem. Also digital display resolution scaling does not work with this driver release. They said it is suppose to be released soon and they are working on it. Also in SLI mode my computer has random crashes in windows and sometimes the screen would just become distorted and freezem, but in standard mode I can use each monitor on each card no problem and machine is stable with DVD running and decoding on each monitor. I'm guessing alot of problems people are having with SLI is driver related and not hardware related. I'm assuming that my 2nd ultra was defective becuase of the random crashes in SLI but I'm now running non SLI mode with one monitor on one card and one monitor on the other and the machine is completely stable. I think that proves that the 2nd card is actually working fine and the crashes are from Nvidia drivers. I actually a few times after a crash Windows Error Reporting would report that the crash was Nvidia Driver related. SLI is still in BETA form for sure. If you want cutting edge tech and don;t mind being a beta tester then go with SLI, otherwise stay away!

Michael
Click to expand...
Ok, so let me make sure I'm understanding correctly:

I have 2 -PCIe cards in my PC (SLi capable). SLi capable motherboard. In the nVidia driver, I set them up to run in SLi mode, and it disables all but 1 of the 4 monitors I have connected. I toggle again in the driver application, and the 4 monitors come alive.

Is this correct? Or can you not yet accomplish this through software, and instead have to physically remove the SLi bridge?

 
My second monitor is sitting idle because of this issue. The only way to get Dual View back is to disable SLI and REBOOT the system (SLI mode requires this whenever it's enable/disabled). With SLI disable, my two monitors show up in Device Manger correctly, and Dual View works as it should. However, with SLI enabled Device Manager reports no les than six monitors connected, and Display Properties reports 3 connected, but only one works.
 
Originally posted by: vetteguy
Originally posted by: michaeldorian
Hi,

Yes, I can verify and after some research dual monitor support is not yet supported in SLI mode. Not even DVI + Analog. If you turn off SLI then it works no problem. Also digital display resolution scaling does not work with this driver release. They said it is suppose to be released soon and they are working on it. Also in SLI mode my computer has random crashes in windows and sometimes the screen would just become distorted and freezem, but in standard mode I can use each monitor on each card no problem and machine is stable with DVD running and decoding on each monitor. I'm guessing alot of problems people are having with SLI is driver related and not hardware related. I'm assuming that my 2nd ultra was defective becuase of the random crashes in SLI but I'm now running non SLI mode with one monitor on one card and one monitor on the other and the machine is completely stable. I think that proves that the 2nd card is actually working fine and the crashes are from Nvidia drivers. I actually a few times after a crash Windows Error Reporting would report that the crash was Nvidia Driver related. SLI is still in BETA form for sure. If you want cutting edge tech and don;t mind being a beta tester then go with SLI, otherwise stay away!

Michael
Click to expand...
Ok, so let me make sure I'm understanding correctly:

I have 2 -PCIe cards in my PC (SLi capable). SLi capable motherboard. In the nVidia driver, I set them up to run in SLi mode, and it disables all but 1 of the 4 monitors I have connected. I toggle again in the driver application, and the 4 monitors come alive.

Is this correct? Or can you not yet accomplish this through software, and instead have to physically remove the SLi bridge?
Click to expand...


Actuall, Yes this can work in hardware but I had to phyically remove the connection to the DVI port or windows just freezes upon boot. The way I have it done is both monitors plugged in DVI to Port 1 DVI to Analog Port 2 and SLI is disabled and all is good. Dual screen real estate. Now if I wan to go to SLI I switch to SLI mode, its ask me to restart upon restart I remove analog monitor from port 2 and then all is fine. If I left monitor 2 connected the system just freezed upon entering windows.
 
You may be too early by seeking dual SLI/dual monitors for the current applications out there. I currently run dual DVI from a single Nvidia 6800Ultra and am very pleased with the results. Adding a third monitor would be nice, if an application (or game) supported such a configuration. I think that flight simulator does provide for 3 monitors; but what about the big time games that support 3 of 4 monitors?

Deskstar
 
Let me make sure I'm getting this correctly (forgive me of the stupidity), currently nV does not yet support 2 monitors or more for use of gaming, apps, etc (like running UT2K3 on 3 monitors for surround gaming)? Or can surround gaming be achieved by just switching the system back to non-sli mode and removing the bridge?
 
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