Dual Monitor Question
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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12-11-2007 09:49
I'm getting ready to order a new system but I have a question I'm hoping someone here can help me with. I'm interested in getting an SLI capable system, but dual monitor support is more important to me. It would just be nice to be able to do both. Now I know that dual monitors aren't supported in SLI mode, but that you can switch between the two modes in the driver (at least that's what I've read). What I need to know is this... when not in SLI mode, is each monitor being driven by a different card, or do the cards need to be dual head and dual monitors are only driven by a single card? It seems worth going with dual graphics cards if each is driving a single monitor (even if it involves a cable swap), but it seems a complete waste if when using dual monitors both are being driven by the same card. Here's the system I'm thinking of ordering: From: someone CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Tower 420W Case W/ Side-panel Window (Original Color)
POWER SUPPLY: CoolerMaster 1,000 Watts Real Power Pro - Quad SLI Ready
CPU: (Quad-Core) Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @ 3.00GHz 1333FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
COOLING FAN: Vigor Gaming Monsoon II Lite CLT-M2LI LGA775 CPU Air Conditioner Cooling System
MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core FSB1333) Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader (I know 1.5GB of this will be idle since Vista counts the video RAM as part of the 4GB it'll address, but I'll upgrade the system to a 64bit OS eventually and add two more 2GB sticks)
VIDEO CARDS: 2X NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA)
HARD DRIVE: High Performance with Data Security (RAID-1) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (150GB (150GBx2) Gaming Western Digital Rapter 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache WD1500ADFD)
Data Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Optical Drive: LiteOn LH-20A1H 20X Double Layer DVD+-RW Super Allwrite + Lightscribe Technology
Optical Drive 2: 16X DVD ROM
SOUND: High Definition On-Board 7.1 Audio (not being an audiophile I figure this will be more stable than a seperate sound card?)
SPEAKERS: Logitech R-20 2.1 Configuration Subwoofer Speakers System (I really don't need surround sound).
NETWORK: On-Board 10/100 Network Card
WIRELESS: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card
KEYBOARD: Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 w/ Wireless Internet Keyboard & Laser Mouse
FLASH READER: Internal 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
IEEE CARD: IEEE 1394 Card & Driver
CABLING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU
Round Cable Upgrade for Hard Drive, Optical Drive & Floppy Drive
POWER PROTECTION: Opti-UPS ES1500C 1400VA/980W Uninterrupt Power Supply
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit
SERVICE: Standard Warranty: 3-Year Limited Warranty Plus 24/7 Life-Time Technical Support
PRICE: $4359.00 Any system experts out there want to give that setup a look-over and tell me of any flaws in my plan? It's been a few years since I bought a system (pre-SLI and multi-core CPUs). This system is replacing a 2.4GHZ xeon system with 2GB of RAM, XP Pro, and a nvidia 7800 (stuck in a 4x AGP slot). It's my gamining system, but my priorities are dual monitors and good rendering horsepower for 3ds Max.
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Heather Rau
Registered User
Join date: 7 Feb 2007
Posts: 100
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12-11-2007 10:22
Both monitors are attached to the same card on an SLI setup. The cards are "bridged" with a special connector that physically connects their buses inside the case to increase throughput and processing power. The alternative is to simply attach one monitor to each card, but that is not a true SLI setup, I do not believe.
I have a single evga 7900 GT that has two outputs on the back. It drives two 19" 1440x900 LCD panels very nicely. In Nvidia's control panel, you can set up so you have one desktop, mirrored desktops, or independant desktops. I find the last one to be the most useful as it allows me to easily maximize two different applications, one in each window.
SLI is a waste of money unless you do some seriously hard core gaming, I think. I'm not sure that it will add anything of value to working in a 3d authoring program.
Also these are all gaming cards. You might want to get a a real pro graphics authoring card instead, but that will set you back more money. Whether it is worth it depends on what kind of rendering you are doing.
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DrDoug Pennell
e-mail is for old people
Join date: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 112
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12-11-2007 10:31
From: Chip Midnight I'm getting ready to order a new system but I have a question I'm hoping someone here can help me with. I'm interested in getting an SLI capable system, but dual monitor support is more important to me. It would just be nice to be able to do both. Now I know that dual monitors aren't supported in SLI mode, but that you can switch between the two modes in the driver (at least that's what I've read). What I need to know is this... when not in SLI mode, is each monitor being driven by a different card, or do the cards need to be dual head and dual monitors are only driven by a single card? It seems worth going with dual graphics cards if each is driving a single monitor (even if it involves a cable swap), but it seems a complete waste if when using dual monitors both are being driven by the same card.
Hi Chip, Each monitor is (can be) driven by it's own card. Chosen could give you lots more details, and this thread might be of some interest. /8/1a/208632/1.htmlI'll be upgrading after the first of the year so I'll be interested in how you like the new system. Have fun  Doug |
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Debbie Trilling
Our Lady of Peenemünde
Join date: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 434
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12-11-2007 10:59
From: Chip Midnight Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard I too have a Striker Extreme (can be temperamental to set-up and/or upgrade but once properly configured it is like lightning!). This motherboard comes with three PCI-E slots (Two 16x and One 8x). One solution is that you could use the two 16x for your SLi monitor, and plug the second monitor into the third 8x slot. Ofc this means you'll need three graphics cards but it does mean you can have SLi and Dual Monitor running simultaneously, and indeed this motherboard was designed with that in mind for gaming. Suggest that you research this solution on the Net first; this thread on the NVIDEA Forums is a good start: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=6269In summary, the third card (which runs the 2nd monitor) should *not* be a NVIDEA. This is so that the NVIDEA drivers can not control the card, and therefore can not shut the second monitor down when SLi is activated. One further thing if you are opting for a Asus Striker Extreme motherboard, I suggest you look over the ASUS Forum for this motherboard, as you are likely to spend time ironing out little niggles to big problems. In fairness, the latest BIOS releases seem very much more stable than the earlier ones, and hopefully you'll not encounter some of the problems many experienced. Unfortuantely the Asus Forums are down at the moment or I would have included a link. Doesn't sound good, does it? |
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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12-11-2007 11:08
From: Heather Rau SLI is a waste of money unless you do some seriously hard core gaming, I think. I'm not sure that it will add anything of value to working in a 3d authoring program.
Also these are all gaming cards. You might want to get a a real pro graphics authoring card instead, but that will set you back more money. Whether it is worth it depends on what kind of rendering you are doing. I'm really not all that interested in SLI, but I am interested in having each monitor driven by its own card. That would be of considerable benefit when doing things like running 3ds on one monitor and PS with a lot of large documents open on the other. Or Max and SL at the same time, etc. I've been running dual head cards for years, but they tend to choke under heavy load (running two 1600x1200 displays). So it's worth it to me to get an SLI capable system even though I'd rarely use the SLI feature itself. As for the high end cards, honestly I think they're a total scam. The consumer cards run exactly the same chips as the FX cards, just with a few features disabled. I've gotten acceptable performance with gamer cards so I can't see justifying paying four times more for an FX card with the same chip set and only a bit more ram. 5 years ago the difference between consumer and high end cards was huge, but now, not so much. From: DrDoug Pennell Each monitor is (can be) driven by it's own card. Chosen could give you lots more details, and this thread might be of some interest. /8/1a/208632/1.htmlThanks for the link, Dr. That sounds very encouraging and sounds like it'll do exactly what I want with an appreciable benefit.
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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12-11-2007 11:15
Debbie, thanks for the info. I'd read that while googling about running three cards. I think I'd like to avoid going that route since I have a history of having graphics cards bite it due to heat death.
Good to know about the Striker Extreme. I don't want to be a beta tester for my mother board, hehe. My other option would be the Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard. All the others they offer that'll support that CPU are crossfire boards and I'd like to stick with nvidia cards.
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Debbie Trilling
Our Lady of Peenemünde
Join date: 17 Oct 2006
Posts: 434
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12-11-2007 11:32
From: Chip Midnight I'm really not all that interested in SLI...it's worth it to me to get an SLI capable system If I understand you correctly Chip, there appears to be a confusion here about the difference between SLi and a motherboard capable of supporting two (or more) graphics cards. These are two quite different things. SLi is a special configuration of two NVIDEA graphics cards and is only avaliable on specific motherboards. However, the ability to independantly run two graphics cards (without SLi) is readily avaliable from a number of manufacturers and neither is it confined to NVIDEA cards. For example, the ASUS Striker Extreme is a SLi capable motherboard but the ASUS P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi AP motherboard still allows two PCI-E graphics cards, but does not run them in an SLi configuration. That is, the ASUS P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi AP treats both graphics cards completely independantly and does not try to bridge the two cards as in done in SLi. Therefore, you do not need SLi to run dual monitors on independant cards, so long as you buy a motherboard with two PCI-E 16x slots. SLi is a special case of this. Furthermore there is a healthy price saving to be made between a motherboard with two 16x slots and an SLi board. Particuliarly so in the case of the Striker Extreme, which is probably the most expensive motherboard on the market In summary, you can get what you need without SLi and the accompanying additional cost, and perhaps without the hassle that a Striker Extreme may well bring with it. Hope that helps |
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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12-11-2007 11:49
That does help a lot. This is the problem with ordering pre-built systems in general. There's not a whole lot of options unless you build it yourself, and I'm hoping to avoid that hassle. I wouldn't mind having the option of using SLI for some things so I don't so much mind the additional cost. I just don't want to be limited by going with an SLI capable system if it would be less capable for how I'd be using it most of the time.
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