Dual Monitor: 2 PCI-E or 1 PCI-E and 1 PCI GPUs?

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brom42

2[H]4U
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Mar 1, 2004
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I currently am running dual LCDs on my system. My main LCD is a Dell 3007FPW running on a 7900GTX GPU. My secondary monitor is an old 15" LCD that is basically just for menus (think Photoshop) and other crap I don't want on my main screen. I am torn with how I should drive the 15". I had been running it off of a PCI ATI 9700 card without problems. Currently I changed it to a PCI-E ATI X300 card. Neither one has seemed to make a difference in performance, but want to know which secondary card will use less resources in the end.

So the question is do I:

1) Run the 7900GTX and X300 or
2) 7900GTX and ATI 9700 PCI?

All my system stats are in my sig, this question concerns my main rig.
 
Umm...the 7900 can drive both those monitors...you don't need another card...

It's just the two LCDs right?
 
Tigerblade said:
You'll only need a PCI card if your planning on using SLi and not disabling it.
Click to expand...

Even through I don't run SLI, running both off of the 7900GTX really effects gaming. For example I have been playing HL2 Lost Cost in a 2560x1600 window while chatting at the same time on the other screen. There is no difference in frame rates between having only one LCD, and having the 2 LCDs running off of separate cards. However if I run both off of the 7900, it effectively cuts my FPS nearly in half. That isn't acceptable. I wish it was that easy.

Even though I gave it as an option, using only the 7900 doesn't really work. It takes every ounce of power the card can put out to drive the 3007 at a decent resolution. I can't even spare the power from it to display a static desktop on the other, it cuts too deeply into the FPS.
 
I agree with you. So this subject is basically which interface is better for the second non-SLI monitor: PCI or PCI-E.

My opinion is to go with PCI since you don't need any "performance" from your secondary. Especially since your board shares PCI-E lanes between the 2 PCI-E X16 slots. That way, the main card doesn't have to share bandwidth to drive that 30" monitor (can you post some in-game pics? :D ). I'm guessing less conflicts, which might be caused by confused drivers, too.
 
Have you tried switching the multi-monitor mode in you nvidia control panel to compatibility mode?

When you're running the windowed app, is the window creeping over the edge of the screen at all??
 
I run dual monitors with one card, I just disable my second monitor on my control panel when I want to game.
 
i'm actuall considering a pci card for my sli setup

Wondering if itll allow me to use SLI on and keep dual monitors
 
^eMpTy^ said:
Have you tried switching the multi-monitor mode in you nvidia control panel to compatibility mode?

When you're running the windowed app, is the window creeping over the edge of the screen at all??
Click to expand...

I'll try the compatibility mode when I get home. I do make sure that there isn't any window creep, because if there is, my frame rate really hits the crapper.

lopri said:
...(can you post some in-game pics? )...
Click to expand...

I don't have any, but there are a bunch in this thread
 
Ruffy said:
i'm actuall considering a pci card for my sli setup

Wondering if itll allow me to use SLI on and keep dual monitors
Click to expand...

That's what I do. Works a treat. Be sure to get a non NV PCI card tho otherwise the forceware will most likely disable it when SLi is enabled.
 
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