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Multiple Monitors from SLI?

S

srstudios

n00b
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
49
I'm not sure if this should be in motherboards or video cards, but here it is.

As a casual gamer, I have little interest in SLI for gaming. What I wonder, is if it is possible to use two video cards in the SLI PCIe slots for use with two or more monitors in non-SLI? I've read that one slot will operate at 16x, and the second drops to 2x. Is there a way to run both at 8x?

I've also seen on the DFI NF4 Ultra-D something called DXG (Dual Express Graphics), although some of the reviewers, (Kyle and Morry), were unable to get two cards to work. Anybody using DXG successfully? And do both cards actually run at 8x?

Anybody know what happens if you run two cards, non-SLI in the new dual x16 boards like the ASUS A8N32-SLI? 16X for each card? What about Crossfire with non-linked cards?

I am looking for a new build for Photoshop use, and for that I will never go back to a single monitor. The option of more than two monitors could be quite interesting. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
You can use boards like the asrock board, to use agp and pcie both, or you can use boards like I have. The EVGA nf4 sli has the ability to run both slots at 8x to be used independently.

The asus board is supposed to be able to do the same thing, with both slots at 16 as my understanding is. Almost all motherboards out there, when in sli, run the slots at 8x which I don't even think is a big deal. I don't even think the agp 8x bus was saturated, except it apparently wasn't full duplex? I read this somewhere .. so I'm not sure if I'm right about that or not. I thought thats why windows vista will run better on pcie because its going to cache the graphics into the paging file.. nutty stuff..
 
AFAIK, SLi is a driver enabled setting. So you would be running two cards at 8x in SLi config but unless you enable the option(in windows), you are effectively running two separate cards.
 
For multiple monitor support, the second card slot doesn't need to be run at full speed. If you wanted to, you certainly can run them at dual x8 mode if need be. Assuming your board supports it. That covers the hardware portion of SLi or multi monitor mode. Installing the SLi bridge won't be necessary, but you could if you wanted to. The main thing is to not enable SLi in the driver when it prompts you to do so. Then they work in multi monitor mode.
 
Thanks for the feedback. What SLI mobos will allow 8x for each card in non-SLI? Is there anybody with DFI NF4 Ultra-D that is able to run DXG?
 
why not just get a PCI card for the extra monitors? Im using a 7800GT and a radeon 7000PCI and im running 4 monitors.
 
I am a freelance designer and use my machines for heavy Photoshop, Design, Web and Video work.

I was recently running an AGP ATI Radeon 9600Pro and a PCI Radeon 9200, which would support 2 Digital and 2 Analog displays on a dual Athlon MP. It worked great, with the minor annoying issue of the displays on the 9200 being darker. Not a big deal since all color sensitive work was done on the Digital 9600 display.

I am just putting the finishing touches on a new Tyan Thunder K8WE with a 7800GT and plan to add another shortly so all 4 displays look identical. Not cheap, but it provides all the horsepower Photoshop can use and plenty of room for the RAM it desires. It will support 2 PCIe cards at full x16.
 
Looks like that will be a great PShop rig. Tyan lists 16x for each slot to "support SLI". Are you sure you will get 16x for each in non-SLI?

I've got no experience with SLI mobos, so I don't know what BIOS/software options might be available, and on which boards. I want to have the option to run 4 digital monitors, and have the same quality on each screen. If anybody knows which SLI boards can run dual cards in non-SLI, with both cards at 8x or both at 16x please reply.

The Tyan Thunder K8WE is most likely beyond my needs and budget, so I am thinking more along the lines of a dual-core 165 or 170 Opteron.

So halofx, how much improvement in PS with dual CPU? How much memory are you planning to run, and how much can PS actually make use of?

Thanks for your replys.
 
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