Anyone know if its possible through either eyefinity or nv surround to have two 30" monitors plus an additional three 1920 panels for an eyefinity/surround group at the same time? Basically I want to be able to run 3 monitors on my sim racing setup without having to un/replug my two 30" work monitors.
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5 monitors? Eyefinity/surround + 2 30"?
- Thread starter AMoody
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what's in your rig as far as video card?
jeremyshaw
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you would need at least 3 nVidia GPU to pull that off. I know you can have one aux monitor off the side of a nV surround setup, but I don't know about two. AMD Eyefinity, I had a wee bit of trouble with 3+1, but that was because I constantly switched between multiple desktop profiles (and this was a while ago, on 10.8?? drivers? The old stuff) It should be much better, now (nvidia on the other hand... switching profiles, lol... not a nice task for my desktop placements). [edit: I have 3 22" HP monitors, and one U2311h and one U2711h. Only two GTX570 cards right now and (formerly) one HD5870 E6 card)]
der_jackal
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This. nVidia's solution will require 3 cards at worst. Two in SLI for the sim racer and the third "floating" for the two 30"s
Get two ATI cards, run the Eyefinity grouping off one and the 30's off the other.
You're actually going to have just as much of an issue managing the desktops across the two cards as you would swapping out the connections. Switching back and forth between primary and secondary desktop configurations is a pain in the tooshy.
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AFAIK Nvidia only supports 3 monitors in either portrait or landscape...
AMD also does not support 5x1 on screens larger than 1920x1200/1080 so your 30s would need to be 1920 in res...
Honestly i would just get 3 30s and do them in portrait Or 5 like 23s or something and do that...
Remember 5 monitors is alot to drive so expect ALOT of games to be slideshows.
AMD also does not support 5x1 on screens larger than 1920x1200/1080 so your 30s would need to be 1920 in res...
Honestly i would just get 3 30s and do them in portrait Or 5 like 23s or something and do that...
Remember 5 monitors is alot to drive so expect ALOT of games to be slideshows.
der_jackal
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He is not talking about a 5 grouping, a three grouping plus two not in the group. So you can use nvSurround for the 3 grouping and a second card for the 30's. But in nVidia land that's going to require three cards or a dual GPU card and a second card..or that horrific ZOTAC with the Quadro display head tacked on to it and a second card.
Swapping between primary work spaces takes the FPS issue out of the equation. Only three will be used for gaming.
Or an Eyefinity Edition card with a shload of active adapters.
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I don't believe he's trying to do 5x1 eyefinity. More like 2 30" in one group and 3x1 in the other group. With the Asus 6950/6970 DirectCu II, it's possible to use the two DVI as DL DVI and the 3 DP. I'm not sure if AMD can handle seperate groupings like that.
He is not talking about a 5 grouping, a three grouping plus two not in the group. So you can use nvSurround for the 3 grouping and a second card for the 30's. But in nVidia land that's going to require three cards or a dual GPU card and a second card..or that horrific ZOTAC with the Quadro display head tacked on to it and a second card.
Swapping between primary work spaces takes the FPS issue out of the equation. Only three will be used for gaming.
Or an Eyefinity Edition card with a shload of active adapters.
haha derp... maybe i should interpret what people mean
EDIT: nvm im just dumb...
der_jackal
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haha derp... maybe i should interpret what people mean
EDIT: nvm im just dumb...
No blood no conviction. Let he who hath not done the same type the first word...
Yeah thats exactly what I want to do.
I have 3 30" monitors right now but I have long term concerns about how practical it is to push 12mp without dropping $600-$1000 on video cards every year.
If I go the 3 NV card route will the 30" monitors running off the third card be at a performance disadvantage? Also can I make one the the thirties my primary display? Some of my software (especially 3ds max) gets pissed if its not running on the primary display. It sounds like the support for this kind of setup is really limited right now so for the time being I should just deal with performance issues of running 3x30"
It looks like for now 2 6950s with cores unlocked is my best reasonably priced solution for powering the triple 30s
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well when I was running 2x6970's for my 3x30 setup, I ran an extra 2007fp for poops in giggles
2x30 hooked up via duel link mini dp adapter, 1x30 Duel link DVI, and 1x2007 Single Link DVI
I'm sure you can hook up all 6 on the 6990 w/ eyefinity plus 2...but I doubt it will run smoothly as when I ran 4 monitors, the 4th monitor always blinked out when going in and out of a game
2x30 hooked up via duel link mini dp adapter, 1x30 Duel link DVI, and 1x2007 Single Link DVI
I'm sure you can hook up all 6 on the 6990 w/ eyefinity plus 2...but I doubt it will run smoothly as when I ran 4 monitors, the 4th monitor always blinked out when going in and out of a game
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For nv cards, you'll need to get the ones with 3gb vram. That's money.
AMD is better about running more monitors. You can run four off a single 6950. Or five off a 6990. The problem with five monitors on a 6950/70 CF setup is that CF only works for monitors that are attached to the top card. So one monitor will need to be plugged into your second 6950/70, which means your CF profile will need to be broken/inactive anytime you run all 5 monitors at once.
Also, if you ever want to go Tri-Fire at 3x30", AMD is apparently terrible because the way their CF works (explained above) causes a big PCIE bandwidth bottleneck that kills framerates at resolutions bigger than 1080px3.
Honestly 6950x2 is not enough for 3x30" anyway. Maybe 6990+6950 will work without the PCIE issue. Otherwise your only solution is 3GB GTX 580 x 3, maybe x 2 for starters. Problem is that shit is rare and expensive.
Also, if you ever want to go Tri-Fire at 3x30", AMD is apparently terrible because the way their CF works (explained above) causes a big PCIE bandwidth bottleneck that kills framerates at resolutions bigger than 1080px3.
Honestly 6950x2 is not enough for 3x30" anyway. Maybe 6990+6950 will work without the PCIE issue. Otherwise your only solution is 3GB GTX 580 x 3, maybe x 2 for starters. Problem is that shit is rare and expensive.
my primary 3 monitor use would be iracing- which isn't as demanding as new titles and from what I have read I should even be able to run some new releases at lower settings with something like 6970x2
Obviously its not ideal but I got these monitors on the cheap and I can't justify the money for 2 580 3gb cards. I certainly agree that in the long term 6950/70 x2 isn't enough GPU and that's where my desire to run a 3x1080p setup in addition to some 30" monitors comes from (i'm not willing to give up working on the 30"s)
I guess that means there isn't a good option in my budget.
Obviously its not ideal but I got these monitors on the cheap and I can't justify the money for 2 580 3gb cards. I certainly agree that in the long term 6950/70 x2 isn't enough GPU and that's where my desire to run a 3x1080p setup in addition to some 30" monitors comes from (i'm not willing to give up working on the 30"s)
I guess that means there isn't a good option in my budget.
One other option here is to run the Eyefinity group on 2x6950 CF (top card) and then buy a third cheap card to run the other two monitors. I am not clear on how well you can position the monitors, though.
For instance, with four monitors hooked up to my top 6950, I tried hooking up a fifth monitor to an Nvidia GT 240. If you install full Nvidia drivers alongside AMD ones, you get BSOD. But there was a way to install just the minimum drivers needed to have the GT 240 run that fifth monitor without incident. The problem here was that it was annoying because I had to keep manually repositioning that fifth monitor in display properties every time I switched desktop profiles. Maybe that's because AMD software couldn't see it in CCC since it's not an AMD card. Or maybe it's because the support for it just sucks: even now, with just the four monitors, every time I switch from making Eyefinity primary to making the 30" primary, I have to reposition the monitors in display properties.
In other words, the "simplest" solution to your problem is likely an AMD 6990.
For instance, with four monitors hooked up to my top 6950, I tried hooking up a fifth monitor to an Nvidia GT 240. If you install full Nvidia drivers alongside AMD ones, you get BSOD. But there was a way to install just the minimum drivers needed to have the GT 240 run that fifth monitor without incident. The problem here was that it was annoying because I had to keep manually repositioning that fifth monitor in display properties every time I switched desktop profiles. Maybe that's because AMD software couldn't see it in CCC since it's not an AMD card. Or maybe it's because the support for it just sucks: even now, with just the four monitors, every time I switch from making Eyefinity primary to making the 30" primary, I have to reposition the monitors in display properties.
In other words, the "simplest" solution to your problem is likely an AMD 6990.
Parja
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It would require at least one mini DisplayPort splitter and a few active DisplayPort adapters, but you should be able to get all 5 setup with a single 6950/70.
Though after shelling out all that dough, it would probably just be cheaper to get a second video card for the 2 30" monitors.
Though after shelling out all that dough, it would probably just be cheaper to get a second video card for the 2 30" monitors.
If you're concerned about pushing the megapixelage, 3x30 @ 1920x1200 is no worse than 3x24 @1920x1200. you're not obligated to run at native, and IIRC from some of the benches [H]'s done in some cases you'd need to drop the resolution even with 1080p panels.
There are several more cards which support the OP's configuration.
Sapphire 6870 Flex supports 5 Monitors. Two of them need to be DisplayPort connected or use active adapters. But it probably lacks the punch to drive 3x1080p in non-CF configurations (second card for CF can be any 6850/6870 though).
ASUS EAH6950 2Di4S will probably do better at that resolution. For non-DisplayPort monitors you need active adapters.
Then there are the 5870 and 5970 Eyefinity6 editions but they are slower and usually more expensive than 6950 and 6990.
Sapphire 6870 Flex supports 5 Monitors. Two of them need to be DisplayPort connected or use active adapters. But it probably lacks the punch to drive 3x1080p in non-CF configurations (second card for CF can be any 6850/6870 though).
ASUS EAH6950 2Di4S will probably do better at that resolution. For non-DisplayPort monitors you need active adapters.
Then there are the 5870 and 5970 Eyefinity6 editions but they are slower and usually more expensive than 6950 and 6990.