graphics card for multiple monitors

mystero3 · Aug 10, 2014

I would like to know what kind of graphics card in sli or crossfire would be best for running games for the following scenarios:

3 2560 x 1440 screens
3 1920 x 1080 screens
and the following under not as intensive loads
3 2560 x 1440 and 2 1920 x 1080 screens
5 1920 x 1080 screens

I've heard that AMD gpus are better for multi-monitor support but I'm not sure about quantity and quality.

k1114 · Aug 10, 2014

Sli/cf will lower the number of monitors that can be used. It's usually cheaper to get multiple cards running more than 4 monitors but you would not enable sli/cf. Without knowing your budget, we can't really suggest anything. But even the lowest end integrated can do 3 nowadays for non gaming purposes.

hunter315 · Aug 10, 2014

Three screens is fairly straight forward these days, an R7 250 or GTX 750 would both be capable of running them but not playing games smoothly on them. For the multiscreen setups you are generally looking for the beefier cards like 780(Ti) or the R9 290(X) with the most VRAM available and even then you may struggle with 3x2560x1440.

For 5 screens you can either run 2 separate cards, though that won't let you spread an application across all 3 screens, or you can get one of the special cards with enough display port outputs to support 5 screens, you will need display port screens or a bunch of active converters though so it gets more expensive quickly.

mystero3 · Aug 11, 2014

k1114 :

hunter315 :

I didn't know that you could have multiple cards running without sli/cf. Based off what hunter said, the only major difference is that I can't run an application across all the screens.

Basically what I am trying to do is run a game across 3 monitors (either 1080p or 1440p, still comparing prices and stuff) and then use the 4 (or 5) monitors for lighter non gaming work such as fruity loops, unity and photoshop. It sounds like the only option is it turn on sli/cf for when I want to game and just disable the 4th and 5th monitor but then when I'm done gaming, I'd just disable sli/cf and enable the other monitors? yes? no?

As far as actual cards go, running 2 780 ti would be awesome but it is a bit pricey especially considering that I still need to buy the monitors. I think when it comes to price I could do either 2 780 or 2 R9 290x

k1114 · Aug 12, 2014

Sli/cf has nothing to do with running an app across all screens, that's surround for nvidia and eyefinity for amd. Even a single card supports that although game performance could be questionable. Sli/cf is for more performance for the software that supports using multiple gpus in tandem. Some software can use multiple without sli/cf but afaik it's only gpu renderers. You can enable/disable sli/cf from a simple option in the gpu's control panel. Most nvidia kepler cards can do 4 monitors but if you sli, you have to be in surround to use the second card's outputs which only supports 4. For amd most of their cards support 6 with a mst hub. In cf, only the first card can be used. So essentially you get the same numbers of monitors supported by a single card in either cf/sli.

You do have 2 other options rather than having to enable/disable it all the time. With amd, you can just leave those 2 monitors out of the eyefinity group but mst hubs are pretty costly; $130. A cheaper option would be to just get a third card or even use the igpu, then that gpu won't be sli/cf with the other cards so can be used for more monitors. Any cheap card will do because the primary cards are used for any gpu work so performance is not an issue.

mystero3 · Aug 12, 2014

k1114 :

Ok, that helps a lot. So say I just use 4 monitors instead of 5 to keep the cost down. The best way to do this would be to get 2 cards, run in sli/cf and either connect all 4 monitors to it in surround/eyefinity but only use the 4th out of games or to connect 3 monitors to it in surround/eyefinity and 1 to the igpu (by igpu I'm assuming that your are referring to the the integrated gpu/apu on my motherboard). Does this sound right?

Also in reference to deciding what card to get, running 2 780 ti's would be awesome but it is a bit pricey especially considering that I still need to buy the monitors. I think when it comes to price I could do either 2 780's or 2 R9 290x's.

Another option I'm still debating on for price reasons is just buying a second card of the one that I already have (680). However, there are 3 minor problems with this. First is if I buy the exact same card that already have, it'll cost about as much as the 780 ti for some reason (see link at bottom for price) so I would feel a little cheated for paying the same for a worse card. The second is that I told a friend that I would sell it to him at a decent price. This will give me some extra money to buy the better cards though. Finally, due to my bad luck the specific card that I got just so happens to have an issue with one of my favorite games and with randomly crash every few matches or so. This was reported by other gamers and any of the possible fixes that were associated with it did not work.

Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/DisplayPort-Overclocked-Utilities-PCI-Express-GTX680-DC2O-2GD5/dp/B007ZT2E1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407850475&sr=8-1&keywords=ASUS+GeForce+GTX+680+DirectCU+II+OC+Edition+2048MB+GDDR5%2C+DVI%2C+DVI-D%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort%2C+Overclocked+GPU+and+GPU+Tweak+Utilities+PCI-Express+3.0+Graphics+Card+Graphics+Cards+GTX680-DC2O-2GD5

k1114 · Aug 12, 2014

When you setup surround/eyefinity, it will let you pick which monitors are in the monitor group (the monitors that the game will span across). The one not in the group would be perfectly fine with no extra setup. It can still display a browser, teamspeak, or whatever else you want to put on it like any other extended display. All 4 monitors will work like normal extended displays without setting up surround/eyefinity.

It doesn't matter if you go nvidia or amd but the 290x does average a bit better at 5760x1080.

You don't have to have the exact same card, it just needs to be a 680. I don't see why a specific card would have issues but if it's true and you want to fix the issue, then get new cards.

vulcangrey · Aug 12, 2014

I'm running games, like Assetto Corsa, iRacing, War Thunder, etc.. with two XFX Core edition R9 290's in crossfire at 7680x1440 (three 27" 60Hz monitors). I have changed the setting on the Catalyst 14.7 drivers to allow the R9 290 fan speed to go up to 100% if needed (they get loud!), while keeping the standard clock and 94C max temp settings.

My PC is a 3570K with 16GB ram on an ASUS Z77 Sabertooth, no overclock.

While running Assetto Corsa, If I turn off frame rate limits and v-sync, I can get up to ~120fps at times with lower settings for the AA & AF and reflections. But the R9's will go to full fan speed and 100% usage, along with the CPU cores. Also the frame rate will vary enough that it causes some lag on screen.

If I use v-sync in Assetto Corsa, then I get a constant 60fps and the physics and lag feel much smoother/better.

I did notice that I use 100% of the ram of the 4GB on the R9 290 (in crossfire).

If I try to run a race against other cars, then I really have to turn down the detail to get 60fps when other cars are on the screen!

One thing to keep in mind is that Display Port would require an MTS hub to run 3 monitors off the one plug... BUT!!! Display Port CANNOT do three 1440p monitors! DP can do 3x1080p monitors, but 3x1440p monitors requires too much bandwidth!

I have my 3 monitors hooked up, 1 to DP, 1 to HDMI-highspeed cable, 1 to DVI-dual link cable. You could try 2x1440p monitors on DP, but then you would have to buy a $100-150 MST hub, and then you could use the 2 DVI ports and 1 HDMI port (on an R9 290 for instance).

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