How will SLI affect my 4 monitor GWS setup?

[Alvin Smith]

Hello Experts ! (and thanks!),

OK ... I have not purchased and built this system yet but please just pretend that I already did ...

Hi, Folks,

I have an X58 based 4 monitor edit/render engine for VEGAS and CS5 ... Works just great ...
... I have two of these cards in it ... they are currently not SLI'd but they are set up in a 16x16 config.

... I have TWO 1920x1200 DVI mons hooked up to the primary and TWO 120Hz 1080P HDTVs(HDMI) hooked up to the 2nd GPU (using appropriate adapters).

QUESTION: If I SLI these two cards, will it (in any way) affect my current 4-mon setup/layouts ???
... Will going SLI facilitate/enhance CUDA and/or other render/playback acceleration features?

Ok ... that is actually 2 questions ... points to bestest answer of *ALL*.

Assume a UD3 mobo and two of this card.

ZOTAC ZT-20109-10P GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500152&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

Model
Brand ZOTAC
Model ZT-20109-10P
Interface
Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16
Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPU GeForce GTS 250
Core Clock 675MHz
Shader Clock 1620MHz
Stream Processors 128
Memory
Effective Memory Clock 2000MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type DDR3
3D API
DirectX DirectX 10
OpenGL OpenGL 3.2
Ports
HDMI 1 x HDMI
D-SUB 1 x D-SUB
DVI 1 x DVI
General
Max Resolution VGA (Up to 2048x1536)
Dual-link DVI (Up to 2560x1600)
SLI Support SLI Ready
Cooler With Fan
System Requirements Power requirements:
450-watt power supply recommended
122-watt max power consumption
Dual-Link DVI Supported Yes
HDCP Ready Yes
Card Dimensions Height: 4.376in - 111.15mm
Width: 7.48in - 189.992mm
Features
Features ECO Edition
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts Lifetime limited
Labor Lifetime limited


Thanks! (in advance),

= Alvin Smith =

 

[Alvin Smith]

... dang! ... on to page 5 with nary a response ... plz chime in if ya "know"

= bump =

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2fwHjLvvk4&feature=related

 

[WR2]

SLI will disable monitors 3 & 4.
It's not clear if SLI gives any advantage for VEGAS or CS5. Probably want to ask those type of questions in the VEGAS and CS5 specific forums.
http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_cuda_learn.html
http://www.slizone.com/object/sli_multi_monitor.html

You could always get a Geforce 210 to run monitors 3 & 4.

 

[Lmeow]

AFAIK I don't think Vegas Pro 9 uses any graphical acceleration, although I could be wrong.

 

[Alvin Smith]

Vegas does not but CS5 does ... I was curious mainly because I wondered if CUDA benefits from SLI and also because it might be nice to game and edit (4 mon) without altering hardware or BIOS ...

That brings up another question ... Can I turn SLI "OFF" in the BIOS and have it be as if the two cards were not bridged? ... A sw switch and a reboot would not be too tedious. ... pulling the bridge (physically), to change modes is obviously not workable, tho shadow says he does that.

Thanks for the chimes ... still a very fuzzy subject. Hard to know who has "the good dope" ...

mobo manual may provide part of the answer, but I really would like to know how the whole thing would roll.

= Al =