Multi Screens and Frame Rates

[Guest uok2fly]

Hi AllI finally decided to tread that fateful road of building a more advanced flying station, not quite a cockpit yet...I have a Amd Barton 2500, with 1Gb of geil memory and Leadtek G4 Ti4400 with a matrox G450(Pci)dual head for the instrument display. I use WinXP Pro to run Fs9.I want to run two screens off the G450 for instrument panels and use the G4 Ti4400 for VC view for Forward and panning left to right. This I can achive at about 13fpm, but with only a single screen connected to the G450. It seems that most people use the server for instrumentation and client pc's for simple outside views and I can see why, because of loading and frame rate issues. I much prefer the Virtual cockpit view to give me a cockpit framework with which to view the outside world. As I understand it, Luciano's excelent Wideview only enables transmission of position/Weather/etc not type of aircraft, so I could not display Vc's on Clients. At the moment there is a cost restrictions preventing me going to two or more clients, due to the explorations I have already carried out. Can anybody clearly list the hardware config's for single pc/multi screen or a server/client pc' setup. May be the G4 needs upgrading to Ati 9800pro and would the extra memory (128/256mb)help. The processor is not the fastest, but it was a recent cost/compromise upgrade due to the changes taking place in the Pc world at present.I apologise for asking very familiar questions on this subject, but I guess individual setups always vary and I fear I am not treading the popular path with what I am seeking to achieve....Any thoughts would be appreiatedKind RegardsDaveWaleaUK

[Guest yoss]

Hi DaveI cant see your problem and u can easy setup your pc with the Agp card for scenery view and the Pci for the 2d panels displayYour expected fps hit will be small as well comparing to your current setupI did manage to setup 6 screens on single pc and may be even will try to add one moreUshing Parhelia 128 with 3Ati 8 mb pce cards and and the fps in the range of 14- 18 fps and smooth with not oveloaded scenerys--not all sliders maxed as well

[Guest PoRrEkE]

>This I can achive at about 13fpmframes per minute ? that must be a real pain :(Ok I understand you ment FPS.Lets see .. are you sure you did these things:1) make sure your PCI card is 3D accelerated2) make sure you got the PCI cards latest drivers (hopefully dirX9 compatible)3) make sure you have set the resolution of the 2 or 3 displays in FS exactly the same as what you've selected in WinXP or whatever OS.4) in windowed mode, undock your panels, drag them onto the correct display and then GO BACK TO FULLSCREEN mode!This way the hardware acceleration will kick back in for all 3 or 2 displays leaving you (i hope) with better results.I am doing and experimenting something similar here at the moment and the above tips are my findings so far.Hope it works for you!

[Guest uok2fly]

hi guys, thanks for your replys...>) make sure your PCI card is 3D acceleratedThe G450(Pci) is 16Mb per display, although I believe you can change this and give one of the dual displays fronm the G450 more than 16mb at cost to the other display..>make sure you got the PCI cards latest drivers (hopefully dirX9 compatible)I did have major problems using the latest Matrox drivers and very recent Nvidia drivers, and had to revert to considerably older Nvidia drivers for the G4 Ti4400.... May be there lies my problem...>make sure you have set the resolution of the 2 or 3 displays in FS exactly the same as what you've selected in WinXP or whatever OSThis I am not sure about, I have so far only used 3D mode as apposed to windowed 2d and using windows desktop resolutions to match 3d resolutions.>in windowed mode, undock your panels, drag them onto the correct display and then GO BACK TO FULLSCREEN mode!I have to confess to doing this so far.....>frames per minute ? that must be a real pain what a newcomer!....>I did manage to setup 6 screens on single pc and may be even will try to add one moreMaybe the first screen is the worst load and subsquent windows do not over stress things alot. I did try two undocked windows on the second monitor in 2d mode @ 23Fps and no real change when I closed one of them. I will borrow a third monitor next week so I can see what impact the third screen has...So where lies the load on multi screens, after graphics cards, surely processors are taking a hammering (2500Barton) wishing 3000Amd64bit...Thanks too you both for your thoughts and suggestions, I guess I'm not alone and experimetation is the order of the day..