[Baasha]

So I just finished setting up my system which has EVGA GTX-590 Quad-SLI and three (3) Dell U3011.

I am running NVidia Surround and I had some questions regarding connectivity etc.

When I click on the NVidia Control Panel, it shows "Quad SLI" and have I have the Surround resolution @ 8100x1600 (which includes bezel correction).

The first problem is that I am unable to watch FULLSCREEN video where the video is supposed to stretch across ALL three screens! When I watch a video, like YouTube, and hit "FULLSCREEN", the browser window or player window stretches across all three screens but the actual video itself just plays on the middle screen and a small part of it bleeds onto the outer monitors. How do I make the video(s) stretch across all three screens? I know that the video(s) might look choppy (since the native resolution is so high) but nonetheless, I want the video to be stretched across all three screens.

I am able to game across all three screens so that is fine but even the game menus are like the videos where it shows up only on the middle monitor and bleeds a little onto the side monitors but does not stretch across the three monitors.

The other question I had was if I switch from "Sorround" mode and click on "Activate All Displays" in NVidia Control Panel, it only shows "3-Way SLI" instead of Quad-SLI. Why is this? And, when I click on that option, the arrows (showing the arrows for each GPU) are on specific outputs on the cards. What I mean is that when I connected my monitors, I just randomly plugged them into the cards. Is there a specific sequence/pattern I have to plug them into in order to get Surround/Activate All Displays modes to work well?

Please help!

*I have attached a couple of screenshots of the NVidia Control panel in both modes.

 

[croSSeduP]

I don't know how to help you, but I'm just sitting here drop-jawed at your machine specs. Holy... What'd it cost you??? Is it really worth it? How are you utilizing a machine like that? What do you do for a living where you can afford toys like this? With the $$ that you apparently have, maybe you should just pay someone to come in and set your system up like you want it.

 

[UrbanSmooth]

Video is "suppose" to stretch like that in surround mode. I get the same thing on YouTube. Oh well. I think there's a program that you can get that will allow you to scale DVD/Blu-Ray movies/TV shows, etc. across all monitors.

As for the connections, you should put one DVI connection on one monitor each and free up the last one to just help out with rendering. At least, that's how it's supposed to be done with 3-Way SLI.

 

[juano]

Yea I believe the "problem" you are seeing is intentional to preserve teh aspect ratio of the video as it was intended. I don't know if there is a way to do what you are looking for for things like Youtube, but you do realize that the stretching you desire would leave thing looking short and fat right?

 

[Razinhail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by croSSeduP;12986572
... I'm just sitting here drop-jawed at your machine specs.

This

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanSmooth;12986590
Video is "suppose" to stretch like that in surround mode. I get the same thing on YouTube. Oh well. I think there's a program that you can get that will allow you to scale DVD/Blu-Ray movies/TV shows, etc. across all monitors.

As for the connections, you should put one DVI connection on one monitor each and free up the last one to just help out with rendering. At least, that's how it's supposed to be done with 3-Way SLI.

Using the program you speak of, if I stretched a DVD/Blu-Ray, etc, over 3 monitors, I would expect it to be all stretched out and Carnival Funhouse Mirror like. If the program just zooms in and crops, at that rate I'd expect to lose a large portion of what I'm "supposed" to be seeing. Now, in a 3x2 monitor setup, I'd expect near full screen (with aspect ratio preserved I would expect some 'leterbox' on the sides)
Quote:

Originally Posted by juano;12986708
Yea I believe the "problem" you are seeing is intentional to preserve teh aspect ratio of the video as it was intended. I don't know if there is a way to do what you are looking for for things like Youtube, but you do realize that the stretching you desire would leave thing looking short and fat right?

I agree with this.

As for going from Quad to Tri SLI, I believe it is because you "only" have 3 monitors plugged in. If you had a 4th and clicked "Activate all monitors", I would think that it would stay in Quad SLI. Of course, I have no real world experience with Quad SLI so, yeah.

 

[UrbanSmooth]

As long as your cards are plugged into one monitor per card, and all four cards are showing up in your Device Manager, you should be benefitting from 4-Way SLI.

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by croSSeduP;12986572
I don't know how to help you, but I'm just sitting here drop-jawed at your machine specs. Holy... What'd it cost you??? Is it really worth it? How are you utilizing a machine like that? What do you do for a living where you can afford toys like this? With the $$ that you apparently have, maybe you should just pay someone to come in and set your system up like you want it.

lol.. thanks man..

The whole system is probably around $10-12k.. I don't know the exact amount. I actually have another Dell U3011 but I'm using that with my laptop in another room.

The current system is absolutely worth it and just fantastic. I am brand new to surround setups and wish I'd jumped in earlier. Surround gaming is just spectacular with 90" of gaming real estate. With the dual GTX-590s, I am getting about 85-110FPS on HIGH settings at 8100x1600 with 4xAA and 8xAF with HBAO OFF in BC2.

I am eagerly waiting for BF3!

Some pics of my rig:

 

[UrbanSmooth]

BEAUTIFUL setup, Baasha! Come join the Mountain Mods Club here on OCN!

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanSmooth;12987789
As long as your cards are plugged into one monitor per card, and all four cards are showing up in your Device Manager, you should be benefitting from 4-Way SLI.

I think you misunderstood. I have dual GTX-590s. That is a dual-GPU card so it's Quad-SLI on "two" cards. There are 3 DVI ports on each card and you can see that in the screenshot in my OP. Yet, it looks like aspect ratio is the culprit but I find that strange because for example, you can play an old movie on VHS on a brand new 65" LED TV and the picture still stretches across the whole screen. Yes, it looks pixelated but the picture still stretches across. In fact, in NVidia CP, it says one of the reasons for "Surround" is "Watching fullscreen video" and the other "usage scenario" is "Fullscreen gaming". So it must be possible but there is something weird about the setup etc.

Has anyone done this before?

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanSmooth;12988880
BEAUTIFUL setup, Baasha! Come join the Mountain Mods Club here on OCN!

Thanks man! I will post in that thread now.

 

[UrbanSmooth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baasha;12988901
I think you misunderstood. I have dual GTX-590s. That is a dual-GPU card so it's Quad-SLI on "two" cards. There are 3 DVI ports on each card and you can see that in the screenshot in my OP. Yet, it looks like aspect ratio is the culprit but I find that strange because for example, you can play an old movie on VHS on a brand new 65" LED TV and the picture still stretches across the whole screen. Yes, it looks pixelated but the picture still stretches across. In fact, in NVidia CP, it says one of the reasons for "Surround" is "Watching fullscreen video" and the other "usage scenario" is "Fullscreen gaming". So it must be possible but there is something weird about the setup etc.

Has anyone done this before?

Ahh, dual GTX 590s! I was thinking four GTX 580s, my bad. I think the system goes to 3-Way SLI when you're not spanning the displays because it does not need the fourth GPU to activate all three monitors. You can run three monitors off only two cards.

So, in a way, it's saving you power consumption.

 

[_CH_Skyline_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baasha;12986513
The first problem is that I am unable to watch FULLSCREEN video where the video is supposed to stretch across ALL three screens! When I watch a video, like YouTube, and hit "FULLSCREEN", the browser window or player window stretches across all three screens but the actual video itself just plays on the middle screen and a small part of it bleeds onto the outer monitors. How do I make the video(s) stretch across all three screens? I know that the video(s) might look choppy (since the native resolution is so high) but nonetheless, I want the video to be stretched across all three screens.

I only became aware of this recently, but now that I know, it's awesome! First you'll need to find videos that are supposed to span across three screens. Most of the time you can find videos uploaded by other gamers with setups like yours. I have uploaded a Crysis video that you can try.

1. Select the video quality, you'll want either 1080p or Original.
2. Next to the vid qual, you can hit the Pop Out selection.
3. Double click the top of the window or maximize it. You should be watching the vid across all three of your displays now.

The resolution is a bit smaller than yours, but you should still be able to span your monitors and watch the vid.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kFDTyjPsG4[/ame]

 

[Lostcase]

Nice system dude...I'm sure she will do you well for years to come.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _CH_Skyline_;12989088
I only became aware of this recently, but now that I know, it's awesome! First you'll need to find videos that are supposed to span across three screens. Most of the time you can find videos uploaded by other gamers with setups like yours. I have uploaded a Crysis video that you can try.

1. Select the video quality, you'll want either 1080p or Original.
2. Next to the vid qual, you can hit the Pop Out selection.
3. Double click the top of the window or maximize it. You should be watching the vid across all three of your displays now.

The resolution is a bit smaller than yours, but you should still be able to span your monitors and watch the vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kFDTyjPsG4

I tried to do what you said but it doesn't work. In fact, when I hit the "pop out" button, it stretches across the left monitor and part of the middle but is only about 1/4 of the height of the monitor. I then hit the "maximize" window and the left and right monitors were black and the middle one had the video but it was only like 1/4 the height of the monitor. It's really weird. I'm guessing it's some setting in NVidia Control Panel that's causing this to happen but I don't know which one(?).

Any other suggestions? Thanks for the help btw.

 

[_CH_Skyline_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baasha I tried to do what you said but it doesn't work. In fact, when I hit the "pop out" button, it stretches across the left monitor and part of the middle but is only about 1/4 of the height of the monitor. I then hit the "maximize" window and the left and right monitors were black and the middle one had the video but it was only like 1/4 the height of the monitor. It's really weird. I'm guessing it's some setting in NVidia Control Panel that's causing this to happen but I don't know which one(?). Any other suggestions? Thanks for the help btw.

You've got to try it a few different ways if that happens. Try double clicking the screen instead of the top bar. It does work, but you may need to play with it. Sometimes I have to double click the screen AND double click the top bar. YouTube is finicky with our resolutions, but I'm sure you can do it.

 

[Razinhail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baasha;12988855
lol.. thanks man..

The whole system is probably around $10-12k.. I don't know the exact amount. I actually have another Dell U3011 but I'm using that with my laptop in another room.

The current system is absolutely worth it and just fantastic. I am brand new to surround setups and wish I'd jumped in earlier. Surround gaming is just spectacular with 90" of gaming real estate. With the dual GTX-590s, I am getting about 85-110FPS on HIGH settings at 8100x1600 with 4xAA and 8xAF with HBAO OFF in BC2.

I am eagerly waiting for BF3!

Some pics of my rig:
Pics snipped out of quote by Razinhail to save space

You show off!

That is one insane system. I can sit here for hours and just

over those pics.

Sent from my insanely inferior system using a craptastic keyboard

EDIT - Just looked at the clock. Holy crap! I have been drooling over these pics for hours!

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _CH_Skyline_;12992107
You've got to try it a few different ways if that happens. Try double clicking the screen instead of the top bar. It does work, but you may need to play with it. Sometimes I have to double click the screen AND double click the top bar. YouTube is finicky with our resolutions, but I'm sure you can do it.

Hey man, I tried it many different ways and it still doesn't work. I even tried using 4k resolution videos to see if that would help. Nothing. When I "fullscreen" your video, it just shows up in the middle monitor and the other two are black. If I manually adjust the window size, it caps the video on the middle and right monitor (about 1/3 way in). The height also is still only 1/4 the height of the monitor.

ARRGH.. this is really aggravating.. any other ideas ? what is your NVidia CP settings? Is there a specific sequence to plugging in the monitors?

 

[_CH_Skyline_]

From left to right my displays are 1, 2, and 3 when I 'identify' them while setting up Surround.

All NVCP settings are stock with the exception of:

Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration = Multiple Display Performance Mode
Power Management Mode = Prefer Maximum Performance
Texture Filtering - Quality = High Quality

Is this how you've got your cards connected since you are running Quad-SLi?

 

[Baasha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _CH_Skyline_;12998473
From left to right my displays are 1, 2, and 3 when I 'identify' them while setting up Surround.

All NVCP settings are stock with the exception of:

Multi-display/mixed-GPU acceleration = Multiple Display Performance Mode
Power Management Mode = Prefer Maximum Performance
Texture Filtering - Quality = High Quality

Is this how you've got your cards connected since you are running Quad-SLi?

Hey, that picture is really clear. Thanks for that.

I have the same settings you have (multi-display/power management etc.) but my connections are quite different. I have attached a pic of it. I will try and change the connections today and try it again.

Pic: