Mike 2003-07-02 20:12
Hi Guys,
I am currently using an ATI 9700 Pro with a 20.1" Planar PL201M LCD (Digital) and a 22" IiYama (Analog) montitor.
I just ordered 2 more 20.1" Planar LCD's and need to run all 3 at 1600x1200 (Digital).
Any recommendations on which video card's I should use?
I can't go with the Matrox Pherelia to run all 3 (it will only run at 1280x1024 with 2 of the monitors being in analog) and I don't want the LCD's attempting to scale down out of their native resolutions.
I am also interesting in Surround Gaming. I'd like to use better 3d cards for this setup as I've heard the Matrox's aren't so good for 3d. I have my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (AGP) for gaming right now.
I spent about 6 hours last night reading through this forum and learning, but it looks like Surround Gaming is in it's infancy and I should probably give up on it for a year or two.
Any guidance would be really helpful.
Thanks guys!
Mike
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Barton 2003-07-04 11:58
Mike,
I'm running a triple DVI setup. My primary AGP card is a Gainward GeForce4 PowerPack! Ulta 750 based on the nVidia Ti4600 chipset. Googlegear carries the card. Excellent company.
I've also been reading about new ASUS V9520 based on the GeForce FX5200. Newegg carries this one. Also a good company. Both of these cards are AGP and suppport dual DVI out.
As far as the PCI card to provide the additional DVI out, I'm running the Inno3D based on the nVidia GeForce2 MX/400 chipset. I don't know who is carrying Inno3D right now. I got lucky and found mine on eBay. Maybe someone else on this board could recommend a good DVI-PCI card. I'm partial to nVidia.
I have had no problems with my setup. I just re-imaged my drive last night and am running nVidia's new 44.03 drivers and they seem to work fine. I'm an avid Microsoft Flight Simulator gamer and the surround gaming is cool. I'll just be glad when nVidia comes up with a driver that lets you "span" all three monitors with one window.
If you want to see a really wicked surround gaming system, check out this one.
Good luck in your quest. Read the posts here, review the gallery and study alot.
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Mike 2003-07-04 17:43
Hi Barton,
I saw that crazy Microsoft Flight Simulator setup, insane, I love it. :)
Will your video cards support all the DVI output at 1600x1200?
Have you tried surround gaming with any other games? Like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament 2003?
I'm not sure if there's a way to make multiple video cards do surround gaming where the games don't natively support it. From what I understand, that hacks on the Matrox site only work with the Parhelia because it works differently than the multiple separate video card setups.
I was thinking of getting the Matrox Parhelia just for that, but they don't come in PCI. I don't want to get rid of my ATI 9700 Pro (AGP) if I don't have to.
So now I'm on the hunt for the best PCI DVI video card. If it supports dual DVI digital output at 1600x1200, then I'm in luck. Otherwise I may have to buy two of them. Or Maybe I'll buy the Matrox Parhelia and the best PCI DVI card I can find, then sell my ATI 9700 Pro, but that's a downgrade in performance which I prefer not to do.
I'm still open to any suggestions that anyone out there has. I want the best surround gaming system possible. Too bad nVidia & ATI haven't jumped into the surround gaming idea yet. I really hope they do as I believe that will take gaming to the next level.
Mike
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Barton 2003-07-08 12:07
Mike,
Yes, both cards support 1600x1200. I have only tried surround gaming with "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault." I'm not that big into the first person games. FS2004 is more my style.
I've been looking for a PCI card that supports dual-DVI and 1600x1200 and the only thing I found is in the $600+ price range.
I think what I would do right now is just buy two PCI DVI cards and hold out to see what comes along in the next 6 months. Surround gaming is coming on strong. Surely, someone out there is working on something.
Barton
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Mike 2003-07-08 17:37
Hi Barton,
I did just that. From reading around, it sounds like the VISIONTEK XTASY RADION 9100 DDR VGA DVI PCI card is the fastest PCI card out there. I ordered 2 of the 128MB versions from a place called compuvest.com. They had the best price ($72.00 each).
I'll let you know how it goes.
Mike
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Barton 2003-07-09 10:24
Mike,
After re-reading your posts and realizing that my triple 15 setup was somewhat "wimpish," I decided to get something similar to what you have.
I just ordered 3-Viewsonic VP181b's from Googlegear and I decided to take this triple setup to the next step.
Check out this stand from Ergotron! After drooling over 9xMedia'a multi-display systems for the past year and realizing that I was never going to spend $8200 for a three-across system, I decided to build my own.
Take a hard look at that stand from Ergotron. Mine should be delivered next week and as soon as I get it all put together, I'll let you know how it comes out and post the pictures in the gallery.
Later...
Barton
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ecarlson 2003-07-09 12:27
Nice. How much is the Ergotron stand?
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Mike 2003-07-09 15:56
Hahaha! That's the exact stand I ordered! Except I bought mine here for $335:
http://www.touchscreens.com/vesa-ds103.html
Mike
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Barton 2003-07-10 08:24
I got mine for $335 as well. Actually, it was $348.18 including shipping. Delivery is scheduled for next Wednesday. Yee-Haw!
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Barton 2003-07-15 10:03
Mike,
My monitor stand, from Ergotron, showed up today. Needless to say, I didn't get much work done this afternoon.
This is a great stand. Your going to love yours. I can't imaging how much yours will weigh with those triple 20 inchers. Mine must weigh close to 50 pounds.
Check it out in the Gallery!
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Mike 2003-07-15 13:19
Mine was supposed to be here today, I even left work early to set it up, but UPS hasn't shown up yet. :(
My monitors without the original stands are 22 lbs each. and this stand is 20lbs. So i'm looking at 86 lbs total! Holy crap.. And I thought this was going to be easier to bring to LAN parties than my 22" iiyama crt. So much for that plan.
Well, I got everything hooked up without the stand and i'm not happy with the ATI drivers. Here's my setup (which is going to change, fast):
AGP Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
PCI Card 1: XTasy Radeon 9100
PCI Card 2: XTasy Radeon 9100
The reason I bought the 2 PCI cards was so I could have digital out to all 3 flat panels. All 3 of those cards support dual output, so I could hook up 6 monitors if I wanted to.
Anyway, the problem is the ATI drivers only accelerate the primary monitor. I bought these cards thinking I could run the games in windowed mode and stretch the window across all the desktops. Well, I can for Unreal Tournament 2003, but it draws at about 1 frame every 2 seconds. Quake 3 won't even display anything but gray on the side moitors. I thought buying the 9100 series cards would give me full speed on the 2 extra monitors, but the drivers are the limiting factor here. And the ATI site sucks for sending emails, I'd have to call them long distance and pay to ask questions (I'd rather not deal with it).
So, the new plan and I tested it last night:
AGP Card: Matrox Parhelia (128MB)
PCI Card 1: XTasy Radeon 9100
This will allow me to still use all 3 flat panels in digital mode at 1600x1200 (60hz) for normal use and I can swap cables to do the surround gaming all on the Parhelia.
The Parhelia isn't as good for the 3d games as the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (as expected), but when you drop the high detail, it is still playable in surround mode (as well as on the primary monitor only).
This solution is the best I can come up with right now for high quality & surround gaming. It looks like this is the best configuration until ATI and nVidia get into surround gaming support.
Hope this helps anyone else who's planning on venturing down this path. Had I known it would be this expensive for the quality, I may not have done it.
Anyway, once I get the stand I'll post a pic of the whole setup.
Mike
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Mike 2003-07-15 21:53
Wouldn't you know it.. 2 minutes after I send the last message, UPS is at my door with my stand. :0)
So it's finally all set up. Man, those 20" monitors really make it tough to line up the monitors.
Here's my multi-monitor setup
Mike
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Barton 2003-07-18 01:12
Very cool and looks great. Don't you just love that stand!
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Mike 2003-07-21 18:36
The stand is expensive, but it's a "must have" for a triple-monitor setup. I love it. :0)
P.S. Thanks for the replies and support during my search for the ultimate triple-monitor setup. :0)
Mike
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Nick 2003-08-27 18:33
How are your PCI Radeon's performing for games? I was thinking of doing something similar with 1 or 2 Xtasy 9200Se's but im worried that the PCI bandwidth will not be enough and the framerates will be poor .PCI bandwidth is 1/8 of AGP4x and 1/16 of AGP8x which seems like it could have a rather significant effect on performance (CPU cant send the instructions to generate the pictures fast enough through such little bandwidth), and that PCI bandwidth is also shared between all of your other PCI video cards and stuff, so i was thinking one PCI card may pull it off (and the other 2 monitors on an agp 9800). Whats your opinion on their gaming performance? particularly on higher res's such as 1280x1024 for an LCD
Nick
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Douglas 2003-08-28 07:53
Mike, we have our Xentera GT 4 AGP card coming out in October, it will support up to 4 1600x1200 DVI displays.
Click here for more information.
Douglas Jordan
Colorgraphic, VP Engineering
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SpeedT 2003-09-04 01:26
Impressive guys!!! I'm interested in buying a Parhelia 256MB for FS2004, but I'm worried about the performance and the fps. Any experience if you cant run FS2004 with high settings?
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Eugene 2003-09-18 05:33
Mike, thanks for posting your experiences. I was particularly interested in your negative experience trying to do surround gaming on 3 monitors with a Radeon 9700 Pro with Radeon 9100's in the PCI slots. I have a 9800 Pro and I would like a 2nd PCI card with DVI output, to setup DVD software and configs on the 1st monitor (an LCD display at my desk that i usually use) and get optimal output on the 2nd display (a plasma TV) to play the video. With your experiences with the peculiarities and shortcomings of ATI drivers and software do you think I can get something like this with a Radeon 9800 Pro in the AGP slot?
Thanks for your input
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Brother Mayard 2003-10-08 16:16
I was under the impression that surround gaming would work with separate cards. But it seems like only the Parhelia can do it. Is the Parhelia the only solution for multiple monitor support for games?
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Shottabits 2003-11-14 09:40
Hi, I need some help.
I am trying to set up a spanned display over three monitors. Currently my kit consists of 2X 17” Iiyama Vision Master Pro 410’s plugged into a G-Force FX 5200 PCI, and 1X Hansol 900P plugged into a G-Force 4 Ti 4400. The nVidia drivers loaded are ForceWare Ver 5.2.1.6 with nView 3.0. The XP setup part to get my desktop over the three monitors was no problem with the Ti 4400 being in the AGP slot, the bios booting to the agp and XP seeing the card ok. The monitor is set to the primary display and registers as the number 1 when I look at identify. The two Vision Masters are placed to each side, and show up ok as number 2 and 3 respectively.
I can get the two Vision Masters to span ok using nView as number 2, and 3 to appear as one big one in XP’s properties, and if they were side by side I would have a working set up if two monitors were my goal.
I have read the technical pdf from nVidia and know that nView can only handle 2 monitors when spanning, though it doesn’t really explain why I cannot span using 2 monitors across one of the Vision Masters on the 5200 and the Hansol on the Ti 4400.
To add to the dilemma, my whole reason for trying this is to get a big honkin field of view while playing Battlefield 1942, a DirectX driven game. I saw a screen shot from a chap somewhere on the net who had somehow got 3 monitors to work with this game, and unfortunately thought to myself “I gotta get me some of that”. I am using DirectX 9 and have read somewhere that when it starts up in a multi screen environment it displays on the primary monitor only, and having set the hansol to primary, seen this happen. It also starts ok on the two VM’s when they are spanned via the 5200 and seen by XP as being a large display and are set to be the primary diaply.
It would seem that if I can get XP to see all three displays as one big one using spanning, or any other technique, all my sorrows would be over.
Does anyone know how to include the third monitor into the span set? Or am I trying something that cannot be done?
If not, I guess my next step is to hire some goons, and track the chap who’s screenshot started all this down, and have him serial weggie’d until I find out how he did it.
Any help you chaps can give me would be greatly appreciated, and would save some poor fella from having his underwear forcibly removed by large men in public places.
Shottabits.
Shotta
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Joel 2007-01-01 03:45
My dillemma is an odd one.......i am building a system for a client. it will have
(CPU)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.40GHz / 1MB Cache / 2000MHz FSB / Socket AM2 / Dual-Core (Windsor) / Processor with Fan (1 lbs)
(MOTHERBOARD)
Asus M2N32 WS Pro NVIDIA Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / PCI-X / SLI Ready / Dual Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA / RAID (5.1 lbs)
(DDR2 RAM) Qty 4
Transcend 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory (0.1 lbs)
(20” Monitors) Qty 2
ViewSonic VG2030wm / 20" Wide / 5ms / 800:1 / WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 / Black / Widescreen LCD Monitor (30 lbs)
(Win Xp Pro)
Microsoft Windows XP Pro Edition OEM Version & Service Pack 2 (0.8 lbs)
(Hard Drives 320GB) Qty 2
Seagate / 320GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive (1 lbs)
(Case)
Apevia X-Navigator Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB and Firewire Ports, Built-in Fan Controller and 500-Watt Power Supply (23 lbs)
Invoice for
(Video Cards 512MB) Qty 2
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS / 512MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card
the question i have is the sli motherboard has a bridge...he wants to run 3 lcd 20' monitors, it will have 2 512mb Nvidia cards, and 2 vga slots. Could i convert one of the DVI slots to vga...and do i need the bridge, and how do i get surround view, one game 3 different views via the monitors.
i did look at Matrox Parhelia, at 599 for a 256...is a little more than i quoted him for the install of this system and thus cuts into my profit.
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Refugee_x 2007-01-04 12:04
look under matrox triplehead2go,
that should fix it :)
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