SLI multiple monitors question

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nascent

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Sep 12, 2013
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Hello all,

I have a question regarding how SLI works when you have multiple monitors. So I have 2 GTX 260 (yes, old, and soon to be replaced) and I have 3 monitors. When I go to the NVIDIA Control Panel on SLI I get these options:

- Maximize 3D performance
- Span displays with Surround
- Activate all displays
- Disable SLI

The problem is if I choose "Maximize 3D performance" then only 2 displays work, but if I choose "Activate all displays" it doesn't seem to be using SLI at all. I'm not sure though, I just know when I launch BF3 it displays the game on my primary monitor, but my other 2 monitors still show my desktop (which is pointless.)

What I basically want is that when I enter a game like BF3 it would activate SLI for my primary monitor, but when I'm on my desktop it would do whatever it needs to do to display all 3 monitors. I'm a little confused as to what it's doing and if there's a way to make it support both 3 monitors on the desktop and one SLI activated monitor in game. Is that possible?

Thanks!
 
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Q


Ancient post, but needs to be said considering the rude and extremely *wrong* last post.

What he wants CANNOT be done and SLI is NOT enabled in that scenario. Anyone who has ever used SLi surround would know this. If you don't know don't post answers.

There are ONLY four options for multimonitor. This is an area where Nvidia sucks quite frankly...

1) maximize 3d. SLI is enabled, but ONLY ONE monitor will be active. A second monitor can be configured as an accessory display. This will give a two monitor desktop and a single monitor...
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nascent

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Sep 12, 2013
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That's exactly what I want but it won't let me do that. If I choose "Maximize 3D performance" it will only let me extend my desktop to ONE other monitor. The 3rd monitor is forced disconnected.
 
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N

nascent

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Sep 12, 2013
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Thanks ihog,

I'm not really sure what I'm looking at but the results show "GTX 5xx/4xx/2xx" with what looks like two cards with 2 connections each, 3 have a green dot labeled "surround display" and the 4th has a gray X labeled "unused", then there's 3rd card labeled "accessory display" with 2 connections labeled "accessory display".

What's "2-Way SLI" and "2D Surround"? Forgive my ignorance... :)
 
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ihog

ihog

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May 22, 2012
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Ignore "accessory display." That is for a fourth monitor.

"2-Way SLI" is two Nvidia cards in SLI. "2D Surround" allows a supported game to be played on 3 displays. "3D Surround" is the same thing, except the monitors have to be 3D capable.

Okay, before I continue, let me clarify:

You want to be able to game on all three monitors?
And they are all the same resolution, correct? (You also want them to be the same size, because it looks better.)
And you are not trying to use 3D Vision?

If so, look here:

c15-a.png


You want to plug the DVI cables into those specific ports. The center display needs to be connected to the top card.

I'm pretty sure the instructions for this are under "Span displays with Surround."

 
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N

nascent

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Sep 12, 2013
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Interesting info, thanks.

What I am going for is simply 2 things:
1. When on the desktop, I want 3 monitors. Nothing fancy here.
2. When in a game, I want 1 monitor running 2-way SLI. The reason I want 1 monitor is because (correct me if I'm wrong) I will get better performance. When I upgrade my GPUs I will probably explore multiple monitors in-game.

I just haven't been able to find a setting that seems to be using 2-way SLI in-game, since it still displays my desktop on my other 2 monitors. Maybe I'm wrong about that?

Cheers.
 
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Q

Qflux

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Nov 28, 2013
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Ancient post, but needs to be said considering the rude and extremely *wrong* last post.

What he wants CANNOT be done and SLI is NOT enabled in that scenario. Anyone who has ever used SLi surround would know this. If you don't know don't post answers.

There are ONLY four options for multimonitor. This is an area where Nvidia sucks quite frankly...

1) maximize 3d. SLI is enabled, but ONLY ONE monitor will be active. A second monitor can be configured as an accessory display. This will give a two monitor desktop and a single monitor plus accessory monitor gaming setup

2) SLI disabled. Each card is discrete and runs the monitor attached to it. 3 monitors in a desktop, 1 monitor for gaming and no SLI (only the Windows "active display" will be the focus when a game is launched)

3) activate all displays... This is THE SAME as SLI disabled. Why, I do not know. Activate all displays allows the maximum configurable panels to be used, but NO SLI and, as above, games will run on the default windows display

The OP was doing either 3 or 4 as those are the ONLY cases where TWO monitors show a desktop and a game is on the third. In both cases SLI is most definitely OFF

4) span with surround...this creates a big desktop surface WITH SLI. If you want to game on one panel you have to set the games res to a single panel res and hope for the best. 2 panels will go dark and ideally one will run the game. Unfortunately there are cases where it won't work out well. A fourth accessory display can also be added.

It is worth noting that with Windows 8.1 NOTHING is working right with surround and it is a disaster. This has been acknowledged by NVidia but I'll believe they can fix it when I see it honestly.
 
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