Requirements for Triple Monitor Setup

M

maxamillion

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Messages
162
What are the requirements for triple monitor setups?

Here is my plan in terms of monitor sizes:
(20 inch) (24 inch) (20 inch)

The middle 24 inch being the primary.

If anyone can give a quick tip on the requirements for moderate performance, please do let me know. My current stats are in my signature if required.

P.S. I occasioning play PC games but nothing too draining in terms of graphical requirements.
 
maxamillion said:
So you're sending me a referral to another forum to post a similar question. Better yet, make me use the "search" function"?!?! I feel applaud! :)

Anyway, just to be head of myself. Would two 8600GT SLI disabled be a feasible solution?

For example, would two of these work for a triple or quad setup?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085
Click to expand...

Yes they would. I used to use 2 7600GTs to drive my 3 monitors and then turn on SLI when I wanted to game on my centre monitor.

But why would you buy 2 of them? You already have a 7800GT, so why dont you just get one and be done. Did you want to SLI them? I think that is a bad idea because 1 7800GT is probably faster than 8600GT SLIed.

Also, you could probably go with a cheaper card, since if you are gaming your 7800GT would be used and the 2nd card does not need to be a high performance since it will likely only be used with 2D apps.

Whatever you do make sure you buy a card that uses the same drivers. Lot lets headaches.

Good luck.
 
I had a 7800gtx and a 6800gs setup to drive 4 monitors, worked great for 2d apps then would use the 7800gtx for gaming :) no sli but everything ran fine

also you can get a dual dvi to to 2 single dvi adapter, so you could technically run all three monitors off the same card, im not sue of the max resolution of single link dvi tho
 
SpeedyVV said:
Yes they would. I used to use 2 7600GTs to drive my 3 monitors and then turn on SLI when I wanted to game on my centre monitor.

But why would you buy 2 of them? You already have a 7800GT, so why dont you just get one and be done. Did you want to SLI them? I think that is a bad idea because 1 7800GT is probably faster than 8600GT SLIed.

Also, you could probably go with a cheaper card, since if you are gaming your 7800GT would be used and the 2nd card does not need to be a high performance since it will likely only be used with 2D apps.

Whatever you do make sure you buy a card that uses the same drivers. Lot lets headaches.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I ran an ATI card right along with an Nvidia card for about 6 months and had absolutely no problems with it.

Also his 7800GT will not be faster than 8600GT SLI'd its not even faster than a single 8600GT... Where the hell did you get that idea? Realistically for the most part the performance will be about the same between 8600GT and 7800GT with the exception of newer shader heavy games this is where the 8600's shine.

OP if your not intending to game with all 3 monitors just get 1 good card and a cheap one to drive the third monitor.

If you are planning to game with all 3 i would look into the triple head to go and get the best graphics card you can afford. No need for 2 if you go that route.
 
So it is possible to use both 7800GT and 8600 GT at the same time for a quad monitor setup without much driver conflicts? If so, I'm go get a 8600GT card and drive quad monitors for a productivity powerhouse :O
 
rhansen5_99 said:
also you can get a dual dvi to to 2 single dvi adapter, so you could technically run all three monitors off the same card, im not sue of the max resolution of single link dvi tho
Click to expand...
Yeah, that won't work... no such adapter exists, that isn't how dual-link DVI works...

Check out this recent thread for more info, or do a search on wikipedia (or your favorite tech info site) for DVI and DMS-59.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1234914

Kevin
 
First off are you gaming? If so your going to need some software like SoftTh... With that you Can run 3 monitors up to just about any resolution you want(or i guess i should say until your gpu's cry uncle).... You can use a triplehead2go but they have a max resolution of 3840x1024... So with your monitors- it wont work... For just dinking around as a work computer-- yes i think you can do quad monitors with the 2 cards but you'll have to have dx10 i believe.. Cause with dx9 and before max resolution isn't that wide.. Speedyvw can tell you what it is.. i forget... But it think its like 4280x1600... and with 4 monitors- your going to go way over that... Maybe that link above and the idea of using the search butting isn't such a bad one... also do a search around here.. There was a multi monitor thread around here a while back that talked about -- well, multi monitor setups...


I dont think it will work either dfgnfang---- though you can just either use a very strong card or sli 2 cards-- then run a single dvi out to a triplehead2go unit like talked about above-- that would work.. but again your stuck with low resolution...
 
drgnfang said:
Yeah, that won't work... no such adapter exists, that isn't how dual-link DVI works...
Click to expand...

Some quadros do support it. First card on this page below the 8x monitor setup comes with a Y adaptor. Farther down is a card with 2 of them. None are likely to be useful for gaming, however, and for just running extra monitors for non gaming use you'd be much better off hunting up PCI/PCIe1x cards instead.

http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-atlas19s.shtml
 
DanNeely said:
Some quadros do support it. First card on this page below the 8x monitor setup comes with a Y adaptor. Farther down is a card with 2 of them. None are likely to be useful for gaming, however, and for just running extra monitors for non gaming use you'd be much better off hunting up PCI/PCIe1x cards instead.

http://www.digitaltigers.com/zenview-atlas19s.shtml
Click to expand...

The Quadro NVS uses the DMS-59 I listed in my original post (see here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_14605.html). You HAVE to have the adapter to get even 1 monitor plugged in. There is no DVI/VGA plug on the card it self.

Here is more info on the DMS-59: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMS-59

Once again, there is no such thing as a DVI-Dual Link -> two DVI-Single link adapter.

I've been trying to figure out how to get 4 monitors out of SFF box (thus limited expansion slots)... The NVS 440 (with 2x DMS-59 = 4x DVI or VGA) seems to be the best option... For a whopping ~ $450+

slideways666 said:
I dont think it will work either dfgnfang---- though you can just either use a very strong card or sli 2 cards-- then run a single dvi out to a triplehead2go unit like talked about above-- that would work.. but again your stuck with low resolution...
Click to expand...
See Dan's link to the Atlas, good example of the quadro's being used for large scale multi monitor goodness.

Kevin
 
pfunkman said:
Also his 7800GT will not be faster than 8600GT SLI'd its not even faster than a single 8600GT... Where the hell did you get that idea? Realistically for the most part the performance will be about the same between 8600GT and 7800GT with the exception of newer shader heavy games this is where the 8600's shine.
Click to expand...

You could be right, i dont own those cards, but here are the numbers from Tom's:

Prey 1280x1024 4aa 8af, Overall Games FPS
7800GT: 33.1, 1071.7
8600GT: 25.7 962.0
7800GT: 62.8 1584.5
8600GT SLI: 26.4 1188.7

Uhmm looks like you are right about them SLIed faster than a 7800GT. The reason I said it was not was I quickly checked the Prey numbers, but just now it looks like overall SLI is faster than a single 7800GT

But overall the 7800GT seems a lot faster.
 
SpeedyVV said:
You could be right, i dont own those cards, but here are the numbers from Tom's:

Prey 1280x1024 4aa 8af, Overall Games FPS
7800GT: 33.1, 1071.7
8600GT: 25.7 962.0
7800GT: 62.8 1584.5
8600GT SLI: 26.4 1188.7

Uhmm looks like you are right about them SLIed faster than a 7800GT. The reason I said it was not was I quickly checked the Prey numbers, but just now it looks like overall SLI is faster than a single 7800GT

But overall the 7800GT seems a lot faster.
Click to expand...

If you would look at all of toms comparisons at 1600x1200+ the 8600GT is almost always right behind the 7800GT in older games. In newer games they are nearly dead even with the 8600GT pulling ahead of it in shader heavy games by a decent margin.

You should be wary of using toms to compare at such a low resolution you will be much more CPU limited at 1280x1024 its not until 1600x1200 and above that it comes down to more of a GPU vs GPU comparison.

The other problem is the GPU comparison chart at toms is made up of old games. With newer games coming out the 8600GT is showing its strength over alot of 7 series cards.

Keep in mind nearly all recent benches have shown the 8600GT putting up a hell of a fight against the 7900GS and beating it in many new games especially shader heavy games and the 7900GS is a bit faster than the 7800GT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top