triple/quad monitor support (as in, over two) on xp

743 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by the prophet of mephisto, Mar 12, 2009

the prophet of mephisto

Discussion Starter · Mar 10, 2009

so, i'm interested in running a 3-4 monitor system. i currently use two (a 22" widescreen and a 17" square) and want to expand to add at least one 17" square on the other side and possible another 22" or wall-mounted hdtv over the middle. i'm a composer, so having a zillion pages for spreading out my DAWs would be fantastic.

i currently run xp sp3 on a custom-built system that's relatively low-end in the graphics department (i'm a poor graduate student who got all of his components through castoffs and hard work). it's the system in my signature.

i'd prefer to do this without having to go with a software solution - i'd prefer hardware if at all possible. i don't want it to be tied directly to some configuration in windows.

i'll be honest - i know a lot about how components work, but i have no idea how i'd set up something like this. so, rather than just point me to some page that i've probably already read (like matrox's TH2G page, or the ultramon homepage), i'd prefer someone actually talk me through how to get xp to recognize more than two monitors. there's very little information on multi-monitor systems for xp (particularly sp3, most solutions seem to be specialized per sp) online, so i'm a little confuzzled =)

i WILL point out that i don't want to game across monitors - i just want to have the desktop on all of them. i'm not one of those crazy 5040x1050 people. i also would prefer to spend as little money as possible. if i need a new card, that's cool (i like new games, unfortunately), but i don't want to get a new card just for the hell of it. i do want to be able to game on whatever card i buy, though - my 9800gtx+ has worked nicely for me so far, and i don't want a solution that causes a drop in performance from it. it also only cost me 50$, which my wallet appreciated.

thanks for your help in advance

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billbartuska

· #2 · Mar 10, 2009

Multi monitor support is native to all windows operating systems as far back as Windows 98. When you install another video card and monitor, you set it up just like you did your dual monitor set up. The third (or 4th or 10th, 64th) monitor will show up in Device manager and you just check the Extend My Desktop To This Monitor check box. Windows will run as many monitors as you have slots to plug in graphics cards. So two cards supporting two monitors each will get you a quad monitor setup. Now, the added video cards don't have to match the format of the existing card (ie. you can mix PCI, AGP, and PCIe cards. the only caveat is that all the cards must run off of the same driver. It's a little complicated to verbalize, so bare with me.......

You can't run two different Nvidia drivers at the same time.
You can't run two different ATI drivers at the same time.
You can (and I have) run Nvidia drivers, 3DFX drivers and S3 drivers all at the same time though. I never tried an Nvidia driver with an ATI driver though (not an ATI guy).

Also those third and 4th monitors on the 2nd or 3rd video card don't need a lot of horsepower For just 2D apps, a cheep (you probably have some laying around) 16mb PCI card(s) will do fine.

Here's a set up I had with 2 x 6800 Ultras, an MX440 and a 3DFX 5500.

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the prophet of mephisto

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 10, 2009

i thought that, even with sli, you can't get more than two monitors on a set of cards. i must have missed that =) were your ultras in SLI or were they just coexisting? if i were to use a pos older card for the addon stuff, does all the graphics processing still run mainly through my 9800gtx+ and then the rendered video is exported, or what?

i'm not going to install an off-brand card into my system, particularly cards that are four or five years old. they're not worth buying now.

edit: theoretically speaking, i could get a gfx card that's on this list and it'd be fine, right? does it have to be in sli, or can it just be there? would having an old card on my system cause xp to clock down the 9800?

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T3hFurious1

· #4 · Mar 10, 2009

TBH, just get another GTX+ and SLi them, more power and quad monitors.

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the prophet of mephisto

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 10, 2009

my zalman doesn't have a side fan, so i'm worried about heat. and i don't have much money =) i WANT to, though.

if i did that, i'd want to stick a 250mm in the side of my case to provide more airflow directly onto the cards. the one i've got now runs pretty hot all the time, so i'm worried about overheating since they'd both be dual-slot models.

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T3hFurious1

· #6 · Mar 10, 2009

Just bump the fan speeds up. If you can't afford it though I can sell you my 8500GT, it runs on the same drivers (i'm pretty sure) and as long as you game on one of the monitors connected to the 9800, the 9800 will do the work.

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the prophet of mephisto

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 10, 2009

i used evga precision to bump speeds up, but they only let you lock it in at a higher speed...which would then let it overheat when i was in a game. i use rivatuner, but i don't know how to set the minimum fan speed higher, like to 50% or so. i can't even hear the fan until about 60%, so i don't mind if it's running higher. i just don't want my card to burn out.

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billbartuska

· #8 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by the prophet of mephisto

You're a little confused about what SLI is. SLI allows two video cards to run one monitor (one card draws the top and the other draws the bottom). So, no, you do not need (nor want!) SLI enabled when running two monitors.

When you use multiple video cards, each card runs the monitor(s) to which it is connected. The operating system (Windows) handles the distribution of the graphics processing to the individual cards (Video processing is not "sharred" by different cards).

As for cheep, old cards being a waste, I think that you will find that running 2D apps on a 9800 series card is a bigger waste of $$$.

As for "clocking up" or "clocking down" video cards, Windows doesn't do that.
The cards just draw the screens that windows sends to them at the speed that their GPU and memory are set at. That's why running 2D apps on a high end card is a waste. With a single card system, the card you use has to be able to handle anything you want to run, so it has to be able to handle high end 3D graphics. But then you have multiple cards, you can run the high end stuff on the high end card and the 2D stuff on the other, cheep card. I think you'd be surprised at just what an older card, like a MX440 ($10 on ebay), will actually do.

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the prophet of mephisto

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 12, 2009

i bought an 8400gs from one of the guys in the for-sale forum. we'll see how that goes. it should get here next week sometime if he mails it before the weekend. he lives near me.

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