Triple-Screen Set-ups

GT VIRUS

GT VIRUS

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Apologies if this has been covered (did try searching). I'm currently looking to go triple-screens for iRacing and other games. I currently have the 3 screens (22" 1680x1050), and looking now for the graphics cards/motherboard combo. I currently have an Dual-core E8400, and might be thinking of upgrading it as well.

Anyone have an experience with triple-screens? I haven't even decided if i should go nVidea or ATI. I'ld be looking at some medium-spec card(s) to do the job, Don't imagine I'ld need the latest highest cards for most games I play.

Also, I'ld be hoping to have at least one auxilary monitor. Proberly doesn't change things.
 
i5-2500k and an AMD Radeon HD6950/6970 :)
 
i think with sli you are only alloved to use the main gpu's connectors, but i think some nvidia gpu's supports 3-monitors.
But ati defenately supports max 6 or 5 as its now the hot multimonitor gaming thing :p (5x1 in vertical so its somthing x1920).

edit. Also displayport-adapters FTW
 
Cold Fussion said:
I'm not sure if the mid-range nvidia cards have 3 video outputs so you might be forced into picking AMD.
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I'm not sure that their high end ones do either.

My GTX 470 (okay, so last generation) has two DVI outs and a HDMI out, however one of the DVI ports shares it's... rendering or whatever with the HDMI port meaning I can only run 2 monitors at once AFAIK.

I was just going to use a second video card (my old 8800 GT or something) if I ever got around to finding the desk space for my spare monitor.
 
I went HD6950 w/ 2GB of vram. It should be more than enough for my future tri-monitor setup.
 
All Radeons from 5xxx up do three monitors natively. One thing you have to keep in mind though, is that one of them has to go through DisplayPort - which means either getting an adapter or a screen with DP support (of which there aren't many, afaik). Some Radeon models also only have DP outputs - at least the 5870 had an Eyefinity edition with 6 DP ports and nothing else on it.

I run my triple setup with a HD5850, however, I only use the main 24" for games, because all my screens have different sizes and there is no reasonable way of getting Eyefinity to work. Two big screens (20" and 24") are connected via DVI, and the third small one (old 15", turned vertical to match big ones' height) is connected via an active DP-VGA adapter. The setup works like a charm in Windows, once I got used to it, I can barely do any work on my laptop, with its puny 13" screen (although virtual desktops help a lot there).

An upside of having a game only on the center screen is having the messenger, widgets etc. still visible on both others. Some games even support moving the mouse out of the game screen without having to minimize, so I can chat with people or change playlist in Winamp while gaming without alt-tabbing.
 
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Hmm, so Nvidia is being fail?
 
leviathan said:
An upside of having a game only on the center screen is having the messenger, widgets etc. still visible on both others. Some games even support moving the mouse out of the game screen without having to minimize, so I can chat with people or change playlist in Winamp while gaming without alt-tabbing.
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I have had this stuff running on a 2nd screen up till now, which is why I want to go 4 screens. I've setted on getting a newer radeon 6 series (6870 or simular) with 2 active DP converters, should be able to run the 4 screens. Nvidia required 2 cards in SLI for triple-screen gaming, which adds the expense of 2 cards and a new motherboard, so not worth it at this time. Something to think about in my next upgrade.
 
Btw what monitors do you guys plan on running with? I'm really tempted to buy a 24" Dell UltraSharp for monitor #1 and then some reg Dell 24" LEDs for monitors #2 & #3.
 
You can plug in another card (doesn't matter what it is), if you just want an expanded desktop. If you want multiple-screen gaming, though, you need SLI.
 
And you don't need it. Supreme Commander has a dual screen mode that worked on my single 9800GT.
 
What is the point of Xfire or SLI anyway aside from wasting more electricity and creating more heat in your case?
 
Cellos88GT said:
What is the point of Xfire or SLI anyway aside from wasting more electricity and creating more heat in your case?
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To run games at max quality with tits awesome framerates.

I can get up to 80-85 fps on Crysis:Warhead with an overclock on my SLI 570s at enthusiast graphics detail. Buttery smooth. Also so my e-peen can be bigger than other peoples.
 
GT VIRUS said:
Apologies if this has been covered (did try searching). I'm currently looking to go triple-screens for iRacing and other games. I currently have the 3 screens (22" 1680x1050), and looking now for the graphics cards/motherboard combo. I currently have an Dual-core E8400, and might be thinking of upgrading it as well.

Anyone have an experience with triple-screens? I haven't even decided if i should go nVidea or ATI. I'ld be looking at some medium-spec card(s) to do the job, Don't imagine I'ld need the latest highest cards for most games I play.

Also, I'ld be hoping to have at least one auxilary monitor. Proberly doesn't change things.
Click to expand...

If you are an iRacing member, there's a HUGE FAQ on stickied in the hardware forum that goes over all this.
 
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