Quad display?

O

only1brian

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Messages
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I just was wondering:
When using SLI/Crossfire, do you have the capability to use 4 displays, or just dual (as if you just had 1 video card)?

And if so:
Would it still be running as SLI/Crossfire, or as 2 different video cards running both on dual display?
 
No. When you enable SLI and CrossFire, multi-monitor support goes away.
 
To get a little more specific, it is only 1 monitor that you can use when SLI/Crossfire is enabled.. Not even two.

However you can switch between SLI/Crossfire enabled and not to be able to use 4 monitors and 1 monitor.

But really for most people, a PCI 2d card in addition to your SLI rig is the best option. (so that your icons on the extra monitors don't get moved around etc.)
 
Lazn_Work said:
To get a little more specific, it is only 1 monitor that you can use when SLI/Crossfire is enabled.. Not even two.

However you can switch between SLI/Crossfire enabled and not to be able to use 4 monitors and 1 monitor.

But really for most people, a PCI 2d card in addition to your SLI rig is the best option. (so that your icons on the extra monitors don't get moved around etc.)
Click to expand...
Okay, so if i understood correctly. With SLI/Crossfire enabled you only get 1 display. And if you dont have it enabled and with 4 monitors hooked (2 per card) you can be running 2 dual displays (4 total).

But for the best result: Run SLI/Crossfire, then get another gfx card as dual?

Wow, i feel like uber noob with these questions :confused:
 
only1brian said:
Okay, so if i understood correctly. With SLI/Crossfire enabled you only get 1 display. And if you dont have it enabled and with 4 monitors hooked (2 per card) you can be running 2 dual displays (4 total).

But for the best result: Run SLI/Crossfire, then get another gfx card as dual?

Wow, i feel like uber noob with these questions :confused:
Click to expand...

You got it right. Kinda silly to have two cards to run just one monitor.. But most people who run 3 monitors and do a lot of gaming, do just that, with the 3rd video card running the two 2d only monitors.
 
Lazn_Work said:
You got it right. Kinda silly to have two cards to run just one monitor.. But most people who run 3 monitors and do a lot of gaming, do just that, with the 3rd video card running the two 2d only monitors.
Click to expand...

It's really the best option if you have an SLI or Crossfire equipped machine.
 
If you were to use the pci card, would it still be your main gpu that that does all the video rendering?
At the mo i have one x1900xt and it can have two displays at a time, however i have three, these being two monitors and a tv, but if i want to enable the tv i have to disable one of the monitors, which is less than ideal.
So can i just buy one of these third cards and have that running as a clone display?

Enabling me to have, my main display, then my second monitor as an extended display, and finally the tv hooked up to the pci card as a clone of the main display,

Ta
 
Slo Gun said:
If you were to use the pci card, would it still be your main gpu that that does all the video rendering?
At the mo i have one x1900xt and it can have two displays at a time, however i have three, these being two monitors and a tv, but if i want to enable the tv i have to disable one of the monitors, which is less than ideal.
So can i just buy one of these third cards and have that running as a clone display?

Enabling me to have, my main display, then my second monitor as an extended display, and finally the tv hooked up to the pci card as a clone of the main display,

Ta
Click to expand...
Ditto.

When you say "2d" what does that mean exactly?
 
only1brian said:
Ditto.

When you say "2d" what does that mean exactly?
Click to expand...

2d as in desktop, displaying video, web browsing etc. If you want to use all 3 displays in a game (like surround for ms flight simulator) then you need 3 powerful graphics cards not in SLI.. But most games only use one monitor, so you setup 2 cards in SLI to drive the game monitor, and one card to drive the other two monitors that don't get used by the games.

As for the TV-out question, that would depend on the specific card used to provide TV - Out.. most will treat it as one of the two displays that can be used at a time by the card though, because most cards only have two ramdacs, and every display needs it's own ramdac.
 
Lazn_Work said:
As for the TV-out question, that would depend on the specific card used to provide TV - Out.. most will treat it as one of the two displays that can be used at a time by the card though, because most cards only have two ramdacs, and every display needs it's own ramdac.
Click to expand...

Sorry i dont quite understand this explanation.
Say i were to have the x1900 driving the monitors and the pci card driving the tv would this work?
 
Slo Gun said:
Sorry i dont quite understand this explanation.
Say i were to have the x1900 driving the monitors and the pci card driving the tv would this work?
Click to expand...

Yes, if the PCI card has a tv out. The x1900 can display two devices at once (two monitors, or one monitor and a TV) but not three. This is true of most video cards, very few can display 3 at once, you could probably also put one monitor on the x1900 and one plus the TV on the PCI card. (like I said two total per card, for most cards)
 
You could always do what I did ... 8 displays :D

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1038069

wall1.jpg


But, I also had to do this ...

vid1.jpg


But, to actually contribute to this conversation, your best bet is, like others have said, get a gaming card, and a cheap PCI card for the other two displays.
 
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