2 times Geforce 7950GX2 to drive 4 monitors

I have been reading and reading all about SLI but still didn't find a straight answer. Maybe you guys can help me out.

I am about to start a software project OpenGL based for which I need to specify the hardware. I need to power 4 displays simultaneously from a single PC. I am planning to have a Pc build with a Intel core 2 Due E6700 and two 7950GX2 cards inside.

I understand that quad SLI is not yet supported and that is fine but will such a configuration work to power four displays via the 2 x 2 DVI outputs?

What I did find, is this old article from 2004 http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/1 [...] age31.html which suggest this should be possible today.

What are your thoughts on this. Feel free to email me:

vandinther@gmail.com

You can run four monitors from two videocards

Thanks, but OK. four GPU's four screens. I don't need to have them running in SLI as long as all four GPU's are actually doing work. So how would that work? One GPU per screen?

I understand it is openGL but do all 4 or only 2 monitors have to be 3D. If 2 will be 2D then you can use a 7300GS for the 2D work and it is faster in 2D than the higher cards are in 2D I benched the 7300's, 7600's, 7800's.

If you need 4 in 3D then get a motherboard that has PCI-X slots such as the TYAN S2895. This AMD Opteron will give you more flexibility. Get some nice fast Matrox cards to do the 2D on the PCI-X bus and keep the OpenGL on the PCI-Express bus. You can even have a fast raid controller to speed up you disk access on the PCI-X bus. With this board you need 2 cpu's to run both PCI-Express slots.

Another choice but Intel based would be the ASUS - P5WDG2-WS down side is that when 2 x16 PCI-Express video cards are installed they become x8

This configuration is not for a game but a software project I am about to embark on. This thing is a simulator of some kind which needs 4 3D displays

I understand the SLI issue. If I don't use SLI then the second GPU on the 7950GX2 won't be utilised.

So basically I want 4 graphics cards each driving their own monitor.

Is there such thing as a 4 x PCIe 16X mobo?

The Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Quad Royal has 4 PCIe slots

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/ [...] ad%20Royal

As far as I know it is the only motherboard with such a configuration

I found it here for $252

http://www.compusun.com/detail.asp [...] ref%3D%27h

To run 4 monitors you should only need 2 video cards with 2 outputs each. You would probably not want to put them into SLI, any 2 cards should work fine.

The way it should work is as follows:

You install both cards SEPERATELY (i.e. not in Crossfire\SLI), Windows should recognize two discrete cards with 2 outputs each, then you plug in all four monitors Windows should see 4 monitors, you kick back and enjoy.

That being said I've never seen someone actually running a setup like that. What I have seen though is a guy who hooked 9 computers to 17 monitors and had them all running one copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

So to recap, any mobo with 2 PCI-e 16x slots, any two video cards with 2 outputs should work. Good Luck.

jesus fu.cking christ. how... where... what sort of frame rate was he getting???

How: a third-party program written for Flight Simulator designed specifically to allow multiple computers to run MSFS together (like a cluster)

Where: Maximum PC, Rig of the Month section (if I find the specific issue I'll post it)

Frame Rates: I assume playable since the whole point was a more realistic playing experience

EDIT: September 2003 issue
CORRECTION: 13 monitors (still impressive though)

Indeed, no need for a SLI gfx card setup (SLI is only for single-monitor setups), but you do want two slots (for whatever gfx cards you want to use) on the mobo (this might mean a "SLI" mobo, even though you aren't going to use it in that fashion, but it will have 2x8 lane or 2x16 lane PCIe slots).

Wow, that was a long sentance, I hope you understood.

Don't get the 7950's! Those cards aren't what you need (unless you need some SERIOUS horesepower running each seperate monitor). I'm guessing that each GPU on the 7950 would power a single monitor in a 4-way setup.

Be sure that the cards have 2 outputs each. Have you checked into the Quadro line from nVidia, or FireGL line from ATI. I'm not sure what you're gonna be using these for, but those are the workstation cards from both companies. It will depend on what you will be using them for as to what you need.

@Fred

He MUST get four cards because then one card would be running two of his OpenGL things. Yes, it would work, but the card would have to work twice as hard to do two different tasks at the same time.

The Gigabyte mobo should work and just a note: No need for two threads.

~Ibrahim~

instead of using one comp with 4 pci-e slots would it not be better to build 2 comps and network them. i do not know if that would work regarding what you want to do but i think it would be easier to build and would probably aput less strain on the cpu.

like i say not sure if it would be the best solution.

@Strange

That might be possible...It might be more expensive to have two computers, though?

@rvnarvarro

I think you have the perfect solution. It actually has four chips, one for each output. Only question: Is it strong enough? I mean, it is running thru PCI.

~Ibrahim~

it's at times like these i bet you wish AMD's 4 x 4 solution were available now. that would solve alot of you problems.

Not neccesarily, it depends on what he's trying to do. If he is doing high-end graphics then 4 cards may be worthwhile. On the other hand if he simply needs 4 monitors then 2 cards is enough (or even just the one with 4 outputs). A 7900GTX for instance has a LOT of power, if he is doing even mid-range graphical stuff 2 of them would probably be more than enough. In the end he should probably try 2 cards first before he buys non-mainstream hardware.

I think I am trying to be too close to the cutting edge. Maybe I should consider 2 x 7900GFX and be done with it. I am in total control of the graphics content and rendering complexity so I can tone it down to suit the available hardware if needed.

Bottom line is, I want the best possible graphics hardware solution available today to drive 4 monitors in 3D.

I hear the suggestions about stretching graphics across 4 monitors but I am not sure if I understand that. I need 4 different views on the same scene which are not nessesarily all aligned with each other. The software I am writing basically will provide 4 separate view windows where each window can be placed on a particular monitor.

How many mice are you gonna use?
You'll have to skid that mouse pointer all over the place XD

Yeah, it is a really good motherboard. The FSB supports Core 2 Duo which is a major part, but there are some voltage changes that might be needed. I looked in the BIOS updates, they mention something about CPU microcode or something. I'd ask with Gigabyte to make sure.. If you can get a Core 2 Duo, that thing will be blazing!

Yeah, 4 7950GX2's might need another mortage, lol...

~Ibrahim~

Curses! I checked the Motherboard CPU Support list, here, and they list that the Core 2 Duo did not work with their test. Damn, that would've been perfect, then..

Next month, nVidia is opening the 590 SLi to Core 2 Duo, but I haven't heard anything about any more Quad PCI-e x16 slots on a motherboard, though the Intel 590 SLi is capable of four PCI-e x16 slots. Sorry.

~Ibrahim~