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 Posted: Thu, 28th May 2009 03:46 Post subject: best way to hook up 3 monitors to the same machine? |
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^^ topic.
i'm running out of screen real estate lately, so i'm thinking about adding a 3rd monitor.
from what i've read, 2 gfx cards on a sli/crossfire mobo should support up to 4 monitors. i'm not a big fan of sli, so i'd rather go with one top notch gfx card and some "small" quadro in the other slot - would this config work?
or should i just bite the bullet and install a sli system, especially when considering that i'm probably going for a 30" screen?
side note: no multi-monitor gaming, just work stuff.
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LeoNatan
☢ NFOHump Despot ☢
Posts: 73348
Location: Ramat HaSharon, Israel 🇮🇱
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| Posted: Thu, 28th May 2009 04:01 Post subject: |
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As long as they are from the same manufacturer (ie nVidia or AMD), it should be fine. With Windows 7 you are also able to mix manufacturers. 
What I'm not sure is how the primary GPU will be decided; the higher-end for gaming and the cheaper, lower-end only for desktop extension.
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| Posted: Thu, 28th May 2009 22:12 Post subject: |
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i have a geforce 8600 as primary card, which serves two of my monitors, and a geforce 6something to serve my third monitor
the cards do not require any special setup like sli/crossfire to add screens to it in normal non-accelerated use
moving an accelerated window from a screen ran by one card onto another card's screen might cause problems though on software that hasn't been properly tested for compatibility
mediaplayer classic and some games will crash or severely slow down for example, the same data having to render over two videocards at the same time
i use my three monitors to do editing stuff so adobe products are ok, and use softth for multimonitor gaming (essential for flightsims and games like arma and driving games)
with softth, the primary card does all the rendering and secondary card is only used to copy-paste the rendered screen, so that's why it's a gf6 for me
but this is just for softth - in normal windows usage, a card takes care only of the stuff on the monitor connected to it
the most competent solution ofcourse would be the veteran of multimonitor stuff, matrox
they sell stuff specifically designed to support multiple monitors from a single card and can create a native virtual monitor spanning several screens (nvidia and ati only fake this functionality)
i set up matrox systems at the local hospital spanning four monitors and can say the multimonitor software is quite well thought out
but matrox is not the cheapest nor the fastest performing card
if it's only non-high performance work stuff you do, you should just go with the cheapest possible solutions
only check the the cards fill your specs requirements (cheaper cards can't render very high resolutions over dvi)
nvidia cards have traditionally been better at multimonitor stuff than ati so that's what i would (and did) personally go for, but there is no really strong distinction these days
having cards from different manufacturers MIGHT work, but the drivers of both assume exclusivity, and there's bound to be some problems there somewhere along the way
i'd advice strongly against mixing brands
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| Posted: Fri, 29th May 2009 00:09 Post subject: |
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thx for the elaborate answer, shole.
yeah matrox is great for workstations/office, i had a triple 21" crt system hooked to a parhelia years ago - worked superb, but lacked gaming perofrmance.
i mainly use my rig for DTP + web dev as well as a lil bit of maya and sound/video edits on the side, so i don't really need high gfx performance there, but i want to be able to play games on 2560x1600.
probably just gonna throw in a sli/crossfire or a highend card + a small, cheap quadro/firegl (same manufacturers, just to be on the safe side), depending on whatever floats my boat when i build my new system.
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atf300
Posts: 170
Location: Slovenistan
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Jun 2009 12:54 Post subject: |
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if i understand correctly the new matrox products arent a gfx card but a sort of a wrapper so the 3 monitors look like a single a monitor to the gfx card , so its still your card running the gfx
that would be the tripple head 2 go tech .
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Jun 2009 13:45 Post subject: |
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yes, that is a seperate matrox product
i have no experience with that
but for office non-game use you wouldn't want it to be one screen anyway
windows maximize awkwardly and taskbar becomes huuuuuuge
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atf300
Posts: 170
Location: Slovenistan
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Jun 2009 15:51 Post subject: |
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yea, TH2go is optimal for ease of configuration in gaming
but not cheap - and i'm pretty sure it only works on matrox cards
edit: sorry, apparently i was way wrong
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/
| Quote: | | Uses your system's existing graphics card to deliver a stable platform for office, 3D design, and multimedia applications |
that's probably the easiest way to get it for sure
just make sure the videocard can run resolutions that high
i'm fairly sure some resolutions have to be manually forced though - card vendors don't plan for every possible res
checked prices online.. it's 320 euros here
i'd personally rather fiddle around a bit more before spending that money
it's all a balance of ease of install versus price
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atf300
Posts: 170
Location: Slovenistan
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| Posted: Mon, 1st Jun 2009 15:59 Post subject: |
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nope it works on most gfx cards , no need for a matrox gfx card
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