Nvidia.... three monitors..

L

lordsegan

Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
624
OK... wow. I just bought a GTX580, and now I learn it can only run two monitors on this card. Crap. I was accustomed to AMD cards where I could run three monitors per card.

So.... here is the configuration I want...

I want to be able to run three monitors and launch a WINDOWED 3d program and have it run on the 580, but span across all three monitors. So two monitors connected to the 580, and one monitor connected to some crap card (NV 240) ?

Is that possible? I assume I can mix and match the 580 and another lowpower card for desktop work.. that is 100% correct right? So can I also do what I suggested above?

I want to do as the OP in this thread suggested: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=193866
 
Last edited:
from what I just read, you are most likely going to need to get another 580 and SLI them.
Adding a regular card will give you the 3rd screen but you will be in Extended Desktop mode which is 3 independent resolutions and games will run on one screen of the primary card.
one of the only games I have tried that works in extended desktop mode across multiple screens was an RTS game that I can't recall the name of off hand.

I briefly had a GTX285 and 9600GT in my machine before going with a 5850.
When I added the 9600GT to the system, I was unable to play more than 3 videos at the same time (I use a program called Zoom player to play my media files). videos would start to play at half the frame rate.
With the 285 alone I could play at least 12. Never did figure out the problem since I sold the 285 and bought the 5850 to run the 3 screens on 1 card.
 
I haven't tested lately, but what you're describing probably won't work. When the window is re-sized and dragged onto the 3rd monitor running on the auxiliary video card, that portion of the window will likely be blank, as the 580 can only provide the rendered overlay onto it's own display outputs. The only way around this would be to use SLI with a matching card, or perhaps a software emulation solution like softTH.
 
NVIDIA Surround takes two matching cards.You will need another 580.

You might be able to play with SoftTH and a second cheaper card, but your performance will likely be severely limited. SoftTH is here => http://www.kegetys.net/SoftTH/
 
lordsegan said:
OK... wow. I just bought a GTX580, and now I learn it can only run two monitors on this card. Crap. I was accustomed to AMD cards where I could run three monitors per card.

So.... here is the configuration I want...

I want to be able to run three monitors and launch a WINDOWED 3d program and have it run on the 580, but span across all three monitors. So two monitors connected to the 580, and one monitor connected to some crap card (NV 240) ?

Is that possible? I assume I can mix and match the 580 and another lowpower card for desktop work.. that is 100% correct right? So can I also do what I suggested above?

I want to do as the OP in this thread suggested: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=193866
Click to expand...

SoftTH is what I'm using for gaming on threee monitors. I have a 570 that I have connected to the center monitor. The two side monitors run of a 8800GTS640mb. Don't expect miracles though. You'll probably have to lower the resolution. The 8800 with SothTH is not being used at all for games. It's all on the gtx570.
 
Is returning the 580 an option? If so, send it back and maybe run 2 560's since you have an SLI mobo, or get a single 6970 and use that. No need to get another $500 video card, IMHO.
 
That happens to be the model of the GTX 580 I won this month during the Galaxy christmas giveaway!
I see retail stores are finally listing it as there were none online when I searched around the 19th.

I'm still anxiously awaiting for it to appear at my door!
It should pair nicely with a Q6600 and 1680x1050 22" monitor, haha
I might have to jump on SB sooner instead of waiting for IB. :p
 
You'll want a second one if you plan on playing at 5760x1080.

I have two 580's and have been using a single screen for all of this Christmas' games. I'm waiting on the next gen of nVidia cards so I can go back to Surround again. I haven't even bought Skyrim as I want to wait to play it properly in Surround on max and don't have the time needed to devote to it anyway.
 
Are you using it to play games or strictly for your 3d packages? I ran a similar setup and for the same purpose (Maya / Max) and I had 2 480 gtx's in SLI to power my center monitor for gaming in PLP. The side monitors were powered by a cheap card (8600 gt) that sat outside the SLI configuration of the 480's. And yes, it spans across all 3 monitors fine. Make sure you use a desktop management program like Ultramon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top