[Redstreblo]

I just installed a second GTX 560 Ti in SLI in my PC and I have a dual monitor setup. I want to know if plugging both monitors into the Primary GPU affects performance any. Would plugging one monitor into each GPU improve performance?

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R MB
Intel i7 960 Quad Core CPU
12 GB RAM
EVGA GTX 560 Ti (2 in SLI)

Primary Display - 1920X1080

Secondary Display - 1680X1050

[Klaustrophobia]

i would imagine nvidia should have this information somewhat readily available on their website.

[Redstreblo]

Nvidia has nothing about this on their website or FAQ section, this is why I was asking the all knowing internet.

[pecenipicek]

as far as i know, doesnt matter in the slightest where you plug it in.  plug em in one or the other.

Also, klaustrophobia is correct, its somewhere on their website.

[edit] a minute of looking around the website reveals this

[Redstreblo]

as far as i know, doesnt matter in the slightest where you plug it in.  plug em in one or the other.

Also, klaustrophobia is correct, its somewhere on their website.

[edit] a minute of looking around the website reveals this

Ok, so what it looks like to me is that you have to have your monitors plugged into the same graphics card with a SLI setup. After reading that I don't think that the second card will actually output any signal - strange because I thought with this I could set up 4 monitors if I wanted to (apparently I would need a third GPU for that).

[LHN91]

^As far as I know and if memory serves, the only cards that support more than two monitors at a time on anything like a matched multi-card setup are Radeons with Eyefinity, which can do three screens per card.

[pecenipicek]

as far as i know, doesnt matter in the slightest where you plug it in.  plug em in one or the other.

Also, klaustrophobia is correct, its somewhere on their website.

[edit] a minute of looking around the website reveals this

Ok, so what it looks like to me is that you have to have your monitors plugged into the same graphics card with a SLI setup. After reading that I don't think that the second card will actually output any signal - strange because I thought with this I could set up 4 monitors if I wanted to (apparently I would need a third GPU for that).

forget more than 2 screens with a SLI setup. you can use the 4 outputs just fine if you dont use SLI however.

[Astronomiya]

forget more than 2 screens with a SLI setup. you can use the 4 outputs just fine if you dont use SLI however.

Not so.  You can use three DVI monitors with SLI in NVSurround.  One of the advantages of Eyefinity over NVSurround is that it doesn't require SLI/Crossfire.  Just plug the first two monitors into the primary card and then use one of the DVI outputs on the secondary.  This is exactly what I did with my GTX 460's before I bought my current Radeon 6970's, and it worked like a charm.

[pecenipicek]

forget more than 2 screens with a SLI setup. you can use the 4 outputs just fine if you dont use SLI however.

Not so.  You can use three DVI monitors with SLI in NVSurround.  One of the advantages of Eyefinity over NVSurround is that it doesn't require SLI/Crossfire.  Just plug the first two monitors into the primary card and then use one of the DVI outputs on the secondary.  This is exactly what I did with my GTX 460's before I bought my current Radeon 6970's, and it worked like a charm.

as i have never owned a SLI/Crossfire setup, and i only do a dual-monitor setup, i honestly couldnt say yes or no to this. if it works, great, if it doesnt, oh well.

[Redstreblo]

I am interested in this because I have seen videos of people playing games with three monitors where the primary monitor is in the center with the crosshair and the other monitors on each side giving a better periferal view of the battlefield or whatever (Like a flight sim where you are looking in all directions at once). I'm wondering if you need some sort of special set up for that.

[LHN91]

Just did a quick bit of research over on Nvidia's site, apparently with NVSurround you can do that but only with an SLI setup and only on windows 7.

[Astronomiya]

Correct.  With Eyefinity you only need one 5 or 6000 series card and at least one monitor that can take DisplayPort, or an active DP-DVI adpater - these cost about $100 (Win7 is probably required too, but you already have it anyway).  However, Eyefinity has one drawback in that you will unavoidably get screen tearing on at least one monitor due to the mismatched output types.  Unlike NVSurround, in Eyefinity all monitors in a single display group must be connected to one card.  Either multi-monitor solution will work very well, and playing games on three monitors is quite a treat.  I will caution that some games/game engines don't play nice with it (UE3, I'm looking at you), but the rest tend to run beautifully if you have the graphics horsepower to run at ridiculous resolutions.

[pecenipicek]

there's also the ever-lovely X11 stuff for linux fanatics...

[Redstreblo]

....(Win7 is probably required too, but you already have it anyway)....

Who told you I was running Windows 7!? 

[Davros]

Correct.  With Eyefinity you only need one 5 or 6000 series card and at least one monitor that can take DisplayPort, or an active DP-DVI adpater - these cost about $100

not so, more like $25
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=sapphire+displayport+to+dvi&hl=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1591&bih=823&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=4459337367729226641&sa=X&ei=ToeiTsaqOcjLtAbJ3dXnAg&ved=0CFsQ8wIwAA

[Astronomiya]

Who told you I was running Windows 7!? 

Call it a lucky guess.  Or maybe I'm just psychic.

Davros, I stand corrected on that front.  However, that particular one only does single-link DVI.  The dual-link DVI adapters are still more expensive.

[pecenipicek]

Who told you I was running Windows 7!? 

Call it a lucky guess.  Or maybe I'm just psychic.

Davros, I stand corrected on that front.  However, that particular one only does single-link DVI.  The dual-link DVI adapters are still more expensive.

you dont need better than single link for 1920x1080@60Hz per screen

[Redstreblo]

Who told you I was running Windows 7!? 

Call it a lucky guess.  Or maybe I'm just psychic.

Davros, I stand corrected on that front.  However, that particular one only does single-link DVI.  The dual-link DVI adapters are still more expensive.

you dont need better than single link for 1920x1080@60Hz per screen

Not if you want to use 120Hz monitors. I wonder about those, the human eye can only perceive about 30 FPS I think and VSinc takes care of screen tearing issues  (How badly does VSinc affect your performance?) so why go the expensive route?

[KyadCK]

^As far as I know and if memory serves, the only cards that support more than two monitors at a time on anything like a matched multi-card setup are Radeons with Eyefinity, which can do three screens per card.

Three is aiming a little low, Radeons can put out up to five screens each.

Not if you want to use 120Hz monitors. I wonder about those, the human eye can only perceive about 30 FPS I think and VSinc takes care of screen tearing issues  (How badly does VSinc affect your performance?) so why go the expensive route?

I think its 30fps for TV because of motion blur. Otherwise I hear 60fps is the limit, but people claim to see the difference for 120, so who knows.

[pecenipicek]

Who told you I was running Windows 7!? 

Call it a lucky guess.  Or maybe I'm just psychic.

Davros, I stand corrected on that front.  However, that particular one only does single-link DVI.  The dual-link DVI adapters are still more expensive.

you dont need better than single link for 1920x1080@60Hz per screen

Not if you want to use 120Hz monitors. I wonder about those, the human eye can only perceive about 30 FPS I think and VSinc takes care of screen tearing issues  (How badly does VSinc affect your performance?) so why go the expensive route?

i've bolded the important bit in my post.

in short, if you need better than 60Hz, you're a wanker, end of story.

(refresh rate on CRT's != refresh rate on LCD's, if anybody tries doing that argument...)