Four TFT screens with two PCI-e cards ?

[Shackley]

Many modern graphics cards are able to support two TFT screens at the same time. Some motherboards can support two graphics cards - typically used in SLI or Crossfire mode.

If I place two PCI Express graphics cards (e.g. BFG GeForce 7600 GT) in a suitable motherboard (e.g. Abit AN8-32X), would I be able to attach four TFT screens ?

I do not want to operate in SLI mode and the system will not be used for playing games.

 

[deko]

if you dont want it for gaming, you could just get an old rubbishy pci card and the 7600GT... no point getting 2 expensive cards if your not gaming with them

 

[Shackley]

. . . no point getting 2 expensive cards if you're not gaming with them

Sadly not true. The system does need speedy, high quality graphics. However, that isn't really the point. The question is can I run 4 discrete TFT screens off two graphics cards.

 

[DAVEM]

Sadly not true. The system does need speedy, high quality graphics. However, that isn't really the point. The question is can I run 4 discrete TFT screens off two graphics cards.

I can't see a problem, my setup uses an onboard ATI Rad, and a ATI rad from the PCI-E slot to run 3 TFT'S. The only annoying thing is that it doesn't like it when I run different graphics apps on different screens.

Cheers

David

 

[PinkFloyd]

Yes you will be able to.
Make sure you use the software Ultramon as its really usefull with multiscreen setups.
I'd also recomend NVidia over ATI for this. I've just changed over to NVidia, and it has much more native support for a multi screen setup.

 

[m3csl2004]

you cannot run them in sli however

 

[Shackley]

To DaveM, PinkFloyd & m3csl2004 - many thanks for the feedback.

I specifically want to use two PCI-e cards. I have previously done this on earlier systems with a single PCI-e or an AGP card and a PCI card - I know that this works fine. Going forward, I have issues with the availability of spares, particularly of PCI cards; hence, I want to try using dual PCI-e cards.

I don't want to use the two cards in SLI mode - doesn't mean I wont experiment along the way

Again, thanks for your feedback.