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3 Displays at once?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - 3 Displays at once?

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BabySpiceEmma   09-16-2009 at 08:51:37 PM

I have two displays side-by-side, which is decent for games except "I" am split in half in the middle. I'd like to move to 3 monitors to 1. avoid this, and more importantly 2. get even better wrap-around.


Does anyone have a working setup they've done that works with, say, three 1900x1200 wide-screen displays? What video card(s) do you use?

And to throw caution to the wind, has anyone done this with 3D glasses? :)

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Bronze Graphics badge hunter315   09-16-2009 at 09:50:38 PM

You would need either one of the new 58xx series when they come out, the 5850 is supposed to support 3 while the 5870 supports 6, or you would need to have 2 cards, not in crossfire/sli, to drive all 3 monitors.

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BabySpiceEmma   09-16-2009 at 10:09:47 PM

How does 2 cards (non-SLI) work? Is the game somehow smart enough to use both to construct a unified 3D world?

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microterf   09-16-2009 at 10:13:40 PM

I have 4 monitors, I've tried to use 3 for games. I tried Softth with limited success. If you spend more time setting it up, it should work with most games. I am running a 4870x2 and a 4870 Crossfired, but you only get outputs from one card when crossfired or SLId, so I have to disable Xfire to use all 4.

There is also Triplehead2go, but The resolutions it supports, I don't think go anywhere near 1900x1200 per monitor. (and it's $300) wait for the 5870

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BabySpiceEmma   09-17-2009 at 10:39:11 PM

Hmmm. I have been loving the wonders of 2 displays for about five years now. I'm surprised the bleeding edge is still having troubles doing 3 monitors.

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mindless728   09-17-2009 at 10:55:19 PM

BabySpiceEmma wrote :

Hmmm. I have been loving the wonders of 2 displays for about five years now. I'm surprised the bleeding edge is still having troubles doing 3 monitors.



well soon bleeding edge will be at 6 monitors max (up from 2, at least for ati)

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Silver Graphics badge TheGreatGrapeApe   09-17-2009 at 11:48:36 PM

microterf wrote :


There is also Triplehead2go, but The resolutions it supports, I don't think go anywhere near 1900x1200 per monitor. (and it's $300) wait for the 5870



TripleHead2Go DP and Digital get near, 16x10, but only does higher on dual screen, essentially because it's scanning one big screen from a single output and that's usually tough for a single dual-link TMDS or even displayport which is limited to about 10Gbs of output, and most single RAMDACs couldn't support even that so the analogue model is limited to even lower.

It's not easy doing it, and really the best way is a card that supports multiple outputs from the get go.

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Message edited by TheGreatGrapeApe on 09-17-2009 at 11:49:40 PM
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BabySpiceEmma   09-24-2009 at 09:49:04 PM

Well, the 5870 wait is now officially over. Two more 24" monitors @1900x1200 + my current one in the middle, and we're good to go.

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microterf   09-25-2009 at 05:35:14 AM

TheGreatGrapeApe wrote :

TripleHead2Go DP and Digital get near, 16x10, but only does higher on dual screen, essentially because it's scanning one big screen from a single output and that's usually tough for a single dual-link TMDS or even displayport which is limited to about 10Gbs of output, and most single RAMDACs couldn't support even that so the analogue model is limited to even lower.

It's not easy doing it, and really the best way is a card that supports multiple outputs from the get go.



Exactly. That's why I"m excited. I'm looking forward to some racing games as well as fsx with 3 monitors.

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BabySpiceEmma   09-25-2009 at 11:38:09 PM

I wonder if you can hook up 3 120 Hz monitors and then use the 3D glasses and software with it. Or is that NVidia? :)


Some day...some day.

BTW, someone buy this thing and buy 3 1920 x 1200 monitors and try it out and let me know!

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microterf   09-26-2009 at 05:42:51 AM

BabySpiceEmma wrote :

I wonder if you can hook up 3 120 Hz monitors and then use the 3D glasses and software with it. Or is that NVidia? :)


Some day...some day.

BTW, someone buy this thing and buy 3 1920 x 1200 monitors and try it out and let me know!




I've got the monitors, now I have to wait for the 5870x2

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BabySpiceEmma   09-28-2009 at 09:34:37 PM

Best Buy still doesn't list it, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=radeon+5870&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3365624815&ref=pd_sl_56a0vojdoe_e">Amazon does</a>.

...though the individual items say "not released yet" or "out of stock", depending. Prices range from $379 to $399.

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microterf   09-29-2009 at 06:23:30 AM

BabySpiceEmma wrote :

Best Buy still doesn't list it, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=radeon+5870&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3365624815&ref=pd_sl_56a0vojdoe_e">Amazon does</a>.

...though the individual items say "not released yet" or "out of stock", depending. Prices range from $379 to $399.



right now they have some in stock at newegg.

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BabySpiceEmma   10-06-2009 at 10:26:22 PM

Ok here's one of several links at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-RADEON-5 [...] B002Q5V704

In the picture, if you enlarge, you can see four ports. Is this how you would hook up 3 (or four (!)) monitors?

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