Trible Monitors

[khicon]

Hi all, I currently have 3x 2005FPW monitors and was wondering how to hook up the 3rd one? What do I use? Thank you.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You can get a PCI card with DVI out and hook it up to that. Just a basic one should be fine if you're not doing anything 3d with it.

 

[khicon]

YOyoYOhowsDAjello can you point a link to it? Also is there any other choice beside PCI add on card?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Unless I'm forgetting something, a basic card like a radeon 7000 should run that just fine.

Besides a PCI card, you'd have to have a single card that could support 3 displays. Afaik, there aren't any good options for that.

 

[Addikt]

For 3 displays, and I honestly don't know why you would need 3 displays, you should go wtih a separate card. I agree with jello, get something cheap that you will use simply for text if you are using it for coding or something. After all I don't think you will need the added performance of a good card for your 3rd monitor.

On the other hand if all of your other cards are mediocre and you are looking for something better. Then keep what you have and buy a new card and use the older ones, or older one that supports dual monitor display for other purposes. That is if you are a gamer of course.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Addikt
For 3 displays, and I honestly don't know why you would need 3 displays, you should go wtih a separate card. I agree with jello, get something cheap that you will use simply for text if you are using it for coding or something. After all I don't think you will need the added performance of a good card for your 3rd monitor.

On the other hand if all of your other cards are mediocre and you are looking for something better. Then keep what you have and buy a new card and use the older ones, or older one that supports dual monitor display for other purposes. That is if you are a gamer of course.

If I understand what you're saying, you're suggesting that he could get a new card and use his current one to drive the third monitor (or second and third).

This would only really be an option if your current card was PCI already. If it's AGP, you're only going to be able to run a single one. If it's PCI-e then you're probably still out of luck still using it and buying a new one unless you board has multiple PCI-e slots.

 

[khicon]

u guy lost me... but anyhow.. I'm building a new rig and its almost done. I will be going SLI with 2x 6800gt utral (Dual DVI). With that in mind, what do I need to hooked up the 3rd moniotr or what not?

I will just be using it for normal use. No 3d stuff or anything. My mobo is DFI. Thank you.

 

[XBoxLPU]

No games?

 

[khicon]

XBoxLPU:

Yes I games. HL2 & CS

ALSO:

Can I play game on one monitor and surf on the other?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Wait... I forget... can you run dual monitors in SLI mode?

 

[khicon]

I believe so. I'm not so sure as I haven't hooked it up and running yet.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I thought there was something about you could only run a single display in SLI mode and had to take it out of SLI mode to run duals. (I could easily be wrong on this though)

 

[sniperruff]

i got a spare video out here on my video card that you can hook that up to =)

 

[XBoxLPU]

If you don't run SLI mode, you could run 4 monitors with two 6800Gts

 

[khicon]

what are the benefit to go SLI and lose the ability to go 3+ monitors?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Again, I could be totally wrong on the only 1 monitor in SLI mode, but even if that's the case, you could just get two PCI videocards and hook one monitor up to each of them for a total of 3.

You got SLI without knowing the benefits of it?

 

[khicon]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Again, I could be totally wrong on the only 1 monitor in SLI mode, but even if that's the case, you could just get two PCI videocards and hook one monitor up to each of them for a total of 3.

You got SLI without knowing the benefits of it?

HEHE yes, I just get it and know the benefit of it later... now is not too late. Can you please tell me what are the benefit of SLI? Thank you.

 

[XBoxLPU]

lol

Go Nvidia

 

[Addikt]

If I were you, I wouldn't go with two 6800GTs SLI. They do not perform as well as they should, the only cards that are worthwhile to SLI are 6600GTs.

Also jello is right, if you do choose to use the cards SLI then you aren't going to be able to use 2 monitors. SLI doesn't support nView and therefore two desktops cannot be viewed.

The good news is that this is only due to lack of software support, currently Nvidia is working on allowing one of the cards to support dual displays but you won't have the added benefit of SLI in this case. I assume you can switch back to SLI mode for gaming if you want to.

Again I would not suggest that you use SLI, and if you have a 6800GT then it's not like you need it anyways. For now it's not worth it too...the software just isn't there it was a leap of faith on nVidia's part without any testing or consideration for those users who need dual display support.

Also if you want to know, SLI is just the use of two video cards to render images, they both work on image processing at the same time and thus this speeds up the screen refresh times...in essence it's using 2 video cards at the same time as you would use two Xeon or Operton processors to speed up processing for CPUs.

 

[khicon]

Addikt: Thanks for explaining... I guess whenever I want to play game I can always switch to SLI mode.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Here's some SLI info.

I actually have the opposite opinion as Addikt about it. I think 6600gts in SLI is a waste unless you're under some very strange circumstances where you can only afford one 6600gt at first...can afford the beefier powersupply needed for SLI... and afford the more expensive SLI motherboard... but cannot afford to bump up to a X800XL or 6800gt. I think a single faster card is a much better option than 6600gts in SLI.

I do think SLI is a viable option if you want the best money can buy right now and go with 6800gts or ultras. It might be kind of a waste though considering the next generation of videocards should be coming out shortly.

 

[Addikt]

Originally posted by: khicon
Addikt: Thanks for explaining... I guess whenever I want to play game I can always switch to SLI mode.

Actually what I meant is they are developing the software for this, they have not yet and who knows when it will be available. Also, the only reason that I said two 6600GTs is best is for the cost to performance.

You get a performance boost by putting two 6800GT or Ultras SLI but it's not a worthwhile increase, not worth the money, heat or extra power consumption. There is a lot of graphics overhead and SLI is still a fairly new process and not very efficient.

Both jello and I can agree on suggesting a single good quality card than putting two in SLI (correct me if I'm wrong jello).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Addikt

Originally posted by: khicon
Addikt: Thanks for explaining... I guess whenever I want to play game I can always switch to SLI mode.

Actually what I meant is they are developing the software for this, they have not yet and who knows when it will be available. Also, the only reason that I said two 6600GTs is best is for the cost to performance.

You get a performance boost by putting two 6800GT or Ultras SLI but it's not a worthwhile increase, not worth the money, heat or extra power consumption. There is a lot of graphics overhead and SLI is still a fairly new process and not very efficient.

Both jello and I can agree on suggesting a single good quality card than putting two in SLI (correct me if I'm wrong jello).

I agree with a single faster card instead of the 6600gt option. I do think if you've got money to burn then 6800gts or ultras in SLI is a good option. If you're going to crank all the settings up and run high resolution, the 6800 series in SLI can't be beat in the newest games.

 

[khicon]

Originally posted by: Addikt

Originally posted by: khicon
Addikt: Thanks for explaining... I guess whenever I want to play game I can always switch to SLI mode.

Actually what I meant is they are developing the software for this, they have not yet and who knows when it will be available. Also, the only reason that I said two 6600GTs is best is for the cost to performance.

You get a performance boost by putting two 6800GT or Ultras SLI but it's not a worthwhile increase, not worth the money, heat or extra power consumption. There is a lot of graphics overhead and SLI is still a fairly new process and not very efficient.

Both jello and I can agree on suggesting a single good quality card than putting two in SLI (correct me if I'm wrong jello).

You are not saying that if I go SLI, I can't go dual or triple monitors? If its true then hell with SLI.

 

[Addikt]

What I am saying is that if you buy two cards and put them in SLI now you will not be able to use dual monitor or triple monitor displays unless you buy more cards for the displays.

If you want three displays you would need either 3 or 4 cards. The two in SLI powering one monitor, and one other card that supports dual display or two cards that support one display each.