3+ Monitors on 2 7900GTs, FSX.. HOW?

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

Hey gang.. I need some help here....I have been running along on my Dell 2405 24" LCD for a while now and Love it. I have seen that some of you have been running multiple displays so I thought I'd go ahead and bite the bullet and order a pair of 20" 2007FP's to sit on either side of the 2405 to give a nice 3 panel wrap around display for FSX.Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I have the 2405 on it's own card (a 7900GT) and then the 2 20's hooked to a second 7900GT (not in SLI mode!). When I go into the video card settings, I see the NView stuff, but it only lets me stretch the display across any 2 monitors hooked to a single card, not across monitors hooked to multiple cards.Alternatively, I was thinking I could just run in windowed mode, and open up 2 more windows for views and undock them and run them in the 2 20" displays, but I can't seem to figure out how to get them to display front left and front right. Instead they just show the same thing as the front view on the 2405.HELP! There MUST be a way to fix this!!!And do NOT say one of those crappy Triplehead-to-Go things... The resolution maximums on that thing is pathetic!--Mike

[kunzel4]

>Hey gang.. I need some help here....>>I have been running along on my Dell 2405 24" LCD for a while>now and Love it. I have seen that some of you have been>running multiple displays so I thought I'd go ahead and bite>the bullet and order a pair of 20" 2007FP's to sit on either>side of the 2405 to give a nice 3 panel wrap around display>for FSX.>>Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I have>the 2405 on it's own card (a 7900GT) and then the 2 20's>hooked to a second 7900GT (not in SLI mode!). When I go into>the video card settings, I see the NView stuff, but it only>lets me stretch the display across any 2 monitors hooked to a>single card, not across monitors hooked to multiple cards.>>Alternatively, I was thinking I could just run in windowed>mode, and open up 2 more windows for views and undock them and>run them in the 2 20" displays, but I can't seem to figure out>how to get them to display front left and front right. Instead>they just show the same thing as the front view on the 2405.>>HELP! There MUST be a way to fix this!!!>>And do NOT say one of those crappy Triplehead-to-Go things...>The resolution maximums on that thing is pathetic!>>--MikeHi Mike ,I suppose that you are using Windows XP.Opening the video card setting you will see the three monitors , just click on each one and below check a box that say you" extend the window work area to this monitor " , and that's it .Now in window mode you can undock the panel to cover all three monitors.Any doubt let me know.RegardsAlberto Kunzel

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

Alberto,Yes, I tried that (or at least, if I'm understanding what you're saying, then yes, I did that.)I tried setting it up where I used the 2405 as the front view. Then I opened up 2 more Cockpit Views, undocked both, moved 1 to the monitor on the left, 1 to the monitor on the right and then set the view angles on each. Unfortunately, either my video card can't drive 2 1600x1200 displays or there's something else wierd going on because when I tried to resize the last window to a full 1600x1200 it just showed black, but if I shrunk it down to around 800x600 I would see everything in that window just fine.If I try to stretch the single view across all 3 monitors everything looks horribly stretched and I don't get any improved "field of view" than I had with a single monitor. What I want to do out of this is be able to see forward and also to the sides a bit as well.If I can't figure out a way to make this work, I'll just use 1 side monitor for undocking and placing all the subpanels, and use the other for running things like FSClient, CoPilot, TeamSpeak, Firefox, etc.--Mike

[jmig]

[Guest Hans Krohn]

John:I second that.I run FS9 on three monitors @ 1024 x 768, driven by two Nvidia 6800 cards. With the right add on stuff like UT, AS6.5, GE Pro and Genesis Mesh I have all I ever wanted from my sim, and with acceptable fps.In the near future I plan to upgrade my sim to 3 xvga projectors and the TH2G, for the "bigger picture" and better fps...Regards,Hans

[tasmanet]

HiI am just about to jump in and get a new system.Dual core Asus with SLIFrom what has been stated above I assume that I can use1 SLI slot for a low end Nvidia card that has 2 outputs ??to drive 2 17 inch BENQ monitors for the gauges.I then can use the other SLI slot for a high end dx10 cardto drive a 36 inch 16 x 9 HD monitor for the scenery thatwould sit above the BENQ'sAlong with a Joystick ,CH Throttle and CH Pedals this willhave to do for an A350/A380 untill I move onto a cockpit.RegardsSteve

[Guest janek1]

steve,If I may suggest something.First,I don't think your setup would work with 2 different video cards on the same MB. Anyway if you are thinking of running FSX on that system, the amount of power the FSX sucks from your CPU is so big that there wouldn't be much power left to drive other two monitors(without drop in FPS). The setup that I'm running now has Intel E6600 3GB RAM and 8800GTX on big screen and for second monitor I use low line PC 1Ghz, 256MB, NVidia6200 with Project Magenta Software. The difference in gauge quality is so big that once you start using the PM software you would find that the default FSX gauges are almost unreadable and you will not go back. Of course you will need FCUIPC and WideFS software too, but for me the reward is big.Just some idea.Janek

[jmig]

The SLI cards should be the same type of card and run the same thing. Meaning the two cards would together run your outside view. I don't think your can use them as two separate cards.Get a cheap ISA slot video cards to hock up to the monitors. ATI makes several that have dual heads.John

[tasmanet]

John> The SLI cards should be the same type of card and run the same thingWell yes but I was under the impression that you only had to use identicle cards if you are using the scalable link interface (SLI)Otherwise they are just 2 PCIe slots ???Do new motherboards have ISA slots???Do new motherboards have PCI slots as I have the two cards thatI am using now. ???RegardsSteve===========================================================

[tasmanet]

Hi Janek >The setup that I'm running now>has Intel E6600 3GB RAM and 8800GTX on big screen and for>second monitor I use low line PC 1Ghz, 256MB, NVidia6200 with>Project Magenta Software.I have given this some thought before as PM software is great.The main trouble is that this system might have to be moved a bitand another PC would not be possible.>the default FSX gauges are almost unreadable I have seen that on other posts. Have 2D cockpitsgone from FX ???Steve

[btrjet]

>Well yes but I was under the impression that you only had to>use identicle cards if you are using the scalable link interface>(SLI)Otherwise they are just 2 PCIe slots ???Steve, you are absolutely correct. I have a motherboard with 2 x PCI-E slots (x 16).I'm running FS2004 in a home cockpit with 4 monitors as follows:Main card: 7900GT PCI-E Output No. 1 for Main Monitor Forward view Output No. 2 for second monitor below for gaugesSecond card: 7300GS PCI-E Output No. 1 for third monitor below for more gaugesOutput No. 2 for fourth monitor for gauges and FSNavYou need only a cheapo second card for the gauges monitors.There is no hit in frame rates with extra monitors, in fact, there is an increase in fr's once you take the panels/gauges off the main screen.The instrument panels were designed with FS Panel Studio and, of course, the gauges are much bigger and more legible as a result of being on separate screens.I have a 650w PSU with 3 x 12v rails to ensure supply is adequate and there are no problems at all with all these monitors working together.Best of luck.

[tasmanet]

.Thanks btrjet Steve

[slip-stream]

TH2GO pathetic resolution? Believe me, its not, and it all depends on the amount of money that you are willing to spend on the monitors. I have a 42" plasma (pioneer) 1024 / 768 and the picture is far better than an LCD with 50 percent more pixels. It all depends on the internal engine that produces the image.