adding a third.. or forth? monitor

jkingscott

jkingscott

jkingscott

Associate
Joined
14 Sep 2009
Posts
18
Hi

Trying to attach a third monitor to my pc... in addition to the LG L226WTQ and a Benq FP937s.

I have one of these: BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

on one of these: Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Would like to run a second Benq FP937s properly if possible, bit of flight simming maybe.

Given the x4 limitation on the 2nd PCI-e slot what card would be worth buying to add to the system? Not another 880 GTX I assume?

tar
 
U can run any card in the second PCIe slot, no need in it being as good as the 8800 as it wont run in sli (but helps if it is also nvidia to avoid driver clashes). To run triple screen gaming u can (i) use software called softth, (ii) purchase a Matrox TH2G or (iii) wait for the new ATI cards to come out on 23 Sept (as they support 3-6 monitors).

The cheapest solution would be to get a cheapy second card and try softth but this has less game support. The TH2G will probably be rendered an absolete and expensive alternative to the new ATI cards. Personally, I 've tried TH2G but didnt get on with it well enough to justify the price so i'm waiting for the ATI release :D

Note, softth is the only one of those solutions that will let u run the monitors at different resolutions (only a problem if they are different sizes).
 
Last edited:
Hey,

I run 4 screens off my two nvidia cards. I used to have an 8800GT runnign at 16x and a 9500GT running at 8x for secondary and PHYSX. I don't put much load on my secondary card so the 8x seemed to suit it fine.

I upgraded to a P55 this week and so I now have two 8x pcie 2.0 slots, both cards run at 8x now which is (16x pcie 1.0)
 
Cheers

I suppose its that constant problem of when to draw a line in the sand...

I'm not looking to upgrade the lot just yet - had this rig of the last 2 years and I'm not a huge gamer, it runs far cry 2 etc no problem, so I'm happy for the minute.

Keeping the same board... I guess its down to either getting another card, say £60 odd on ebay...? or selling the GTX and getting 4 dvi card. The TH2G isn't cheap as you say... still relies on the one card too.

Any ideas on price for these ATI cards?
 
ATI 5850 rumoured to be ~£180 and the 5870 ~£270.

You wouldnt need to spend £60 on a second nvidia card, pick up a second hand one for £20-30 - remember it wont be doing the gfx processing it is just providing a link to ur 3rd monitor.
 
Hmmm as far as I knew I thought the second card would do processing for anythign it displays on its respective screens?

I'm not sure what minimum spec for a flight sim would be :S.
 
well that's what I would have thought...

I'm guessing a lesser card than the 8800 GTX, but argh, do I splash out on a better primary card and move the current one down? Wait for a 4 dvi out thingy...?

Decisions decisions...
 
Getting a better card and moving the 8800GT sounds like a plan (For this forum anyway :D).

Though I use 4 screens and I'm VERY interested in the new ATI cards, I'd imagine it to be much more seamless, less power consumptiont han two cards as well as less heat.

The 8800GT idles at 50c and the 9500GT at 40c, thats 90c of heat, whereas a single new card could Idle at what, 50/60?
 
ha..

I have a Antec P182... I tend to work on the 'if its making too much noise wack up one of the fans and hope the thing doesn't overheat... ' method. No idea about power usage. Sorry icecaps. I do care, really.

Cheers all
 
Sod it. Think I might just indulge myself and get a nice new card.

Bottom line - is it worth finding a 4 dvi out card or just get something like this and not worry about it.

The new ATIs sound great but I can't find much on them, or any cards with more than 2 outs.

Any pointers?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom