3 Monitors please HELP!

[BigArn]

I recently had problems with 3 monitors - could not get 5760 x 1080 working at all.

I have two 22" monitors and one 24" in the middle. All at 1920 x 1080 so I thought it'd be fine.

Anyway, I managed to get 5760 x 1080 working by using a DVI to HDMI converter on the middle monitor. Works fine now for surround and looks great.

HOWEVER....

Say if I want to play in 3D (or even 120Hz) on my middle monitor only, I can't do it now, without swapping out the converter and plugging into DVI-D.

I don't want to keep swapping cables the whole smegging time!! Ideally I'd like them all to work with DVI cables.

They are connected as Nvidia recommends (monitors C and L to 'GTX 680 A' and monitor R connected to 'GTX 680 B'). All using the DVI ports on the 680's. Incidentally, the outer monitors are using plain DVI cables, not DVI-D. Does that matter? I didn't think it would because I only want 120Hz/3D on the middle monitor.

PLEASE - can anyone help me?!!? I don't want to shell out to replace the two outer monitors! (not yet anyway). Surely with two 680's it can be done somehow?

Many thanks in advance! I bow to your superior techno-knowledge!

 

[vmem]

HDMI do not have the bandwidth for 3D/120hz, hence why you need to swap monitors. you cant get 3 monitor surround with DVI cables? I would advise getting an active display port to DVI converter

 

[bucknutty]

All 680s I have seen have dual DVI. So just use dvi for all 3 monitors. Put the center monitor on the top 680 or gpu 1 and then the out side monitors on the lower 680 or gpu 2. Then run the multi monitor wizard from the Nvidia control panel. Should be good to go.

 

[BigArn]

Thanks for these replies. It still doesn't work though!

@vmem - I can get surround with 3 DVI's - it just came up as 3000 x 1000 or something rubbish, with two black bars in the middle monitor. The only solution I found was to use the DVI to HDMI converter. Then I had 5760 x 1080. But I don't want to keep swapping the cables everytime I want 120Hz or 3D on my middle monitor.

@bucknutty - good idea, worth a try. Although it went against what the Nvidia control panel recommended (it says to connect two DVI's to the first 680, one DVI to the second 680), I tried it anyway. But it just ends up forcing me into 3000 x 1024 or something as before.

I will try with an adaptor, or even a DP to DP cable for the middle monitor and see if that works...

 

[bucknutty]

Check your cables... I am running 3 asus ve248s at 5760x108 on 2 gtx470s. It runs great. I am using 3 regular old dvi cables that came with the monitors. I have them plugged in the way i mentioned, but ultimatly the 2 gpus dont care what DVI plugs I use. Some times i plug in an extra 4th 17 in monitor for core temp and steam friend list.

Rather than use surrround use the option that says enable all displays. That should allow each screen to run at its own native res and refresh rate. Then in windows check the resolution and refresh rate of each screen. The nvidia driver sort of freaks out when the 3 screens do not have the same native res and refresh rate. Once you have all 3 at the correct resolution and refresh rate then reboot. Go back to the nvidia control panel and enable surround.

If that does not work I would start swapping DVI cables. The fact that it gives the option of some low res like 3000x1000 suggests that the video cards cant read the EDID of the monitors propperly. The most common causes are either an issue with the driver maybe reinstall the newest driver and then in the nvidia help section hit get updates, or this is an issue with cables.

 

[BigArn]

Thanks for all the feedback and ideas!

I solved it in the end - this is how I did it - it's something to do with the drivers not handshaking the monitors properly. Anyone in the same boat as I was, try this fix:

Download the latest official drivers from Nvidia (301.42 at the moment).

Perform a CLEAN install with the drivers (select 'custom' install, then select clean install). Install everything.

Now download the newest BETA drivers from guru3d.com: (302.59 at the moment)

Nvidia BETA drivers

Now select a CUSTOM install and ONLY install the driver part, nothing else except the graphics driver. Uncheck all the other boxes.

Restart computer...

Sorted!

Now if there was only a way of swapping from Surround to Single Monitor on a HotKey, without having to setup up and configure Surround every time. Anyone?

 

[bucknutty]

Glad you got it working. I have been looking for away to make surround act more like a traditional desk top for like 2 years. None of the 3rd party programs work very well. And switching from surround to activate all displays takes a along time and is cumbersome. I just got used to the surround style desktop.

 

[BigArn]

I simply can't believe that Nvidia haven't sorted that one!

For all the fancy stuff you can do with GFX cards, just the option to immediately switch configurations to a saved preset on a HotKey, seems like a very small ask...

I'll look into it and have a go and whinging in the right places

 

[AdioKIP]

I havent used a nvidia card in years but interesting that they dont have a way to switch modes like ATI. For ATI cards you simply make a profile, I have one called "Standard Desktop" (all three screens independent) and another called "EyeFinity Gaming" which joins all 3 screens into one large display. Switching profiles takes all of about 10 seconds.

 

[bucknutty]

Its funny back in the old days the nvida driver had a profile page with an option for hot keys. But about 4 or 5 years ago when they rolled out the newer style control panel applet that tab was gone.

Switching from surround to standrad is ugly its like the driver has to stop, uninstall and then reinstall and startup or something... All the screens go black and then flash and then go black then all your desktop icons are all mixed up.
(I like to keep things on my desktop arranged in groups, work on the right, games and fun in the middle, system icons on the left.)