Deam 2008-07-03 04:43
Setup:
Nvidia 8600GTS PCIe (with two monitors); Nvidia 6200 PCI (with one monitor); latest WHQL drivers; Dual boot: Win XP Sp3 and Vista SP1.
Issue: I hadn't used a windowed OpenGL application in XP in a long time so I am not certain at what point this happened. At a certain point, I was able to have openGL run on three monitors running off two cards (i.e. Folding&home, or other OpenGL demos).
Currently, in XP, Open GL work fine on the two monitors connected to the 8600GTS (as main), but will not render on the monitor connected to the 6200 (the image is just stationary).
In Vista, unless I disable the secondary monitors, OpenGL does not work at all on any of the monitors.
Is this a known issue with the recent nvidia drivers (i.e. opengl acceleration across multiple cards)?
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Christian Studer 2008-07-03 08:06
I've seen the same thing with multiple Nvidia cards, this worked fine a couple of years ago but recent drivers no longer seem to support this.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Deam 2008-07-03 13:08
Hi Christian,
So to confirm, rendering of opengl with two separate cards in one system does not currently work with Nvidia cards?
I've posted similar questions on and off in the past as the OpenGL multi-card support was enabled and then disabled on Nvidia cards. People would state they could play Quake 3 and other OpenGL apps across three monitors on two cards when I would get a grey screen on the third.
Have you also seen the effect in Vista I noted where openGL rendering does not work on any monitor? For example, I tried using Google Sketchup with hardware accleration turned on and it locks on any monitor in Vista. In XP, it works on on two of the three (similar to all OpenGL apps I've tested).
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Deam 2008-07-03 13:16
One other point of confusion to add:
The nvidia control panel global 3d options still have a "Multi-display/mixed GPU acceleration" setting in the 3d settings. The description says specifically describes it as relating to "Advanced OpenGl rendering" when using "multiple displays and/or graphics cards based on different classes of NVIDIA GPU's". It's confusing that opengl rendering doesn't work across two video cards with these settings being available.
Thanks again for your input, Christian.
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Christian Studer 2008-07-04 11:44
I just tested with Google Sketchup on 64-bit Vista SP1, and this worked fine for me on all 3 monitors, with hardware acceleration enabled in Google Sketchup.
I'm using 2 Nvidia Quadro FX 3500 PCIe cards, with the 162.65 drivers and the 'Multiple display performance mode' option.
The last time I tested with OpenGL was about a year ago, maybe things have changed again or it's due to something else.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Deam 2008-07-07 14:10
Thanks for the update, Christian. I'm wondering if the fact that you have the same cards is making a difference. I'm going to to try different drivers to see if I have any luck. Are those quadro drivers "older" drivers?
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Christian Studer 2008-07-08 12:49
They're pretty recent, I think the latest version is 169.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Deam 2008-07-08 13:47
I've just updated to the 175.16 in XP and am having the same issue. I'm wondering if you are having success due to the fact that they are the same type of card.
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Christian Studer 2008-07-09 09:05
It's certainly possible, but I can't test this, both my desktops have identical cards (the other system has 2 Quadro NVS 290's).
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Deam 2008-07-09 13:54
I have an update, which is not entirely useful, but functional.
I have discover that if I have the third monitor disabled, start the OpenGL program, and then re-enable the monitor, the program will work fine across all the monitors. However, once I close and reopen the application with all three monitors enabled, it will now longer work.
I'm not quite certain why this is the case, but at least it does work when forced to using the above method.
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