• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

SLI Experts - Lend Me Your Ears :)

Space Monkey

Space Monkey

Space Monkey

Man of Honour
Joined
8 Nov 2007
Posts
16,573
Location
Outer Space
Hi guys,

I'm sure this question may sound simple to some of you wizzes but I'm a total SLI Noob with a Noob on top, so please bear that in mind before replying :D

Theoretical setup:

2 x 27" (2560 x 1440) Monitors
3 x GTX Titans

Now, what I'd like to do is:

• Monitor 1 is run by 2 GFX cards in SLI
• Monitor 2 is run by 1 GFX card only (NOT connected to other GFX cards)

And for both monitors to be running and working at the same time? So I can be playing my game on monitor 1 (SLI) and have other progs open at the same time on monitor 2 (xfire, web, email, etc etc).

Hope that makes sense? And thanks for any replies :)
 
Yes you can, just use a normal sli bridge instead of the 3 way one, though a titan for desktop is a complete waste, and you'll still need to alt tab out of the game or run windowed to get your mouse to move off the first screen
 
andybird123 said:
Yes you can, just use a normal sli bridge instead of the 3 way one, though a titan for desktop is a complete waste, and you'll still need to alt tab out of the game or run windowed to get your mouse to move off the first screen
Click to expand...

Ah right, so if I was to run the 2 screens off of the SLI cards, I guess you'd still need to ALT/TAB out of a game to use the other screen?
 
Why would you need a 3rd Titan to run xfire, web, email, etc etc?
You could run the 2nd monitor without almost any impact on the games that you are playing.

but If you still want a different card for that, why a titan and not something simple?
 
Drangueos said:
Why would you need a 3rd Titan to run xfire, web, email, etc etc?
You could run the 2nd monitor without almost any impact on the games that you are playing.

but If you still want a different card for that, why a titan and not something simple?
Click to expand...

At this stage its a project in mind, but I thought of getting 3 decent cards, so I've got some extra power in the future when 2 cards don't cut the mustard. Also I wasn't sure how much impact the 2 screen would have on the game and I don't want any glitches, delays or frame skipping etc :)
 
I have 2x 7950 in crossfire using 3 monitors and I use my onboard video to watch movies on my TV, I wish I coulduse only the 7950s but I dont have any connectors left :P
 
Last edited:
Space Monkey said:
At this stage its a project in mind, but I thought of getting 3 decent cards, so I've got some extra power in the future when 2 cards don't cut the mustard. Also I wasn't sure how much impact the 2 screen would have on the game and I don't want any glitches, delays or frame skipping etc :)
Click to expand...

You can run both without any glitches or anything like that, but if you still think that you need another card to that.. you can buy 2 titans now and a really simple card and when the time comes you can buy the 3rd titan much cheaper.
 
Drangueos said:
You can run both without any glitches or anything like that, but if you still think that you need another card to that.. you can buy 2 titans now and a really simple card and when the time comes you can buy the 3rd titan much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good point :)

I thought the Titans are limited runs though? But I guess I could just use a normal GTX for the 2nd screen........

Thanks for the info chaps, much appreciated :)
 
So, if I'm running a game in SLI, then ALT-TAB out to the 2nd monitor to, say, read an email, then I ALT-TAB back into the game on monitor 1, will the SLI re-engage or will I have to close and re-start the game each time for SLI to activate?

If I'm on the 2nd monitor I won't need SLI to be working at that time, only when I'm back in full screen mode on monitor 1.
 
Last edited:
Space Monkey said:
So, if I'm running a game in SLI, then ALT-TAB out to the 2nd monitor to, say, read an email, then I ALT-TAB back into the game on monitor 1, will the SLI re-engage or will I have to close and re-start the game each time for SLI to activate?

If I'm on the 2nd monitor I won't need SLI to be working at that time, only when I'm back in full screen mode on monitor 1.
Click to expand...

SI works fine in windowed mode. Some games will lose some performance (reports of up to 25%). Crossfire is a different kettle of fish and playing in windowed mode, it makes the other card redundant.
 
2 X Titans is more than enough for any current game.. By the time it isn't there will be new cards out with much more power, (Maxwell) (Volta).

(A third Titan just to run a single screen is pointless, could build an entire separate system with the same money and run that on the other screen lol.)

Two Titans would be the best bet for now, or even two GTX 780's if you wanted to save some money..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom