Hello everybody,What would you do if you had the chance :1 Two 3000Ghz based pc's with each a 6800 Gamers Edition graphics card and connected through Wideview.2 A 4000 ghz based pc with two 6800 GT graphics cards ( SLI ) and each graphics card connected to two monitors so 4 in a total.The Wideview setup probably gives more framerates, but does not support AI traffic.The 4000 Ghz setup can show AI traffic over 4 mionitors because they are all connected to 1 pc.The Parhelia was able to drive 3 monitors but the performance was not very good.The 4000 Ghz setup would drive 3 monitors with much better framerates than a Parhelia, but the intyention is to drive 4 monitors.Keep in mind that all monitors will be used as Windows for a cockpit project, so no panels will bbe shown.GerardThanks for all suggestions.

I would go for option 2 mainly because I'd rather not have to deal with two separate computers. If you do go with #2, please let us know how it goes because 2 monitors is no longer enough for me and I'm curious to see how well that setup woud work.Wouldn't you lose the extra frame rates SLI can offer by having 4 monitors? Matt

It is not really feasable to use 1 computer for more than 1 external view. Your frame rates will suffer if you try to go down this route.If you go for option 1 you could get 1 external view from each computer. If you want 4 monitors you will need 4 computers.The only exception to this is if you use the other monitors to display panels (I think you have said that is not your intention).I used a 2.4Athlon with a double header AGP and a PCI to get four monitors running, it worked quite well until the AGP card fried itself! If you connect more than 1 monitor to a high spec video card you need to watch your GPU temperatures, and read this link.http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...displya-13.htmlI have read on these forums that there is no benefit to be had by the use of SLI with the current version of flight sim.I think there may be a way round the AI traffic problem you describe, by only having timetabled flights instead of random ones, then copying the traffic files across to your networked machines. Then you just need to keep the time syncronised.I am just about to start experimenting with this so maybe somebody else can explain how this is done?Richard

Hi Gerard, you're asking exactly the question I'm very curious to learn more about too! How would a system with 2 PCI-e cards using 8 lanes each and connecting upto 4 monitors fair? So far, I haven't seen any (user) reports in this direction and maybe this is due to the fact, that FS is one of the only 'games' where these kind of multi-display setups are of interest? I did look into cockpit builder forums a bit but nada. Perhaps the cockpit folks all invested into Parhelia systems and aren't challenged to spend a lot of money again? Like you, I'ld also appreciate if somebody with experiences in this field stepped forward. Cheers Groetjes Jaap PS, I've seen one fellow in a German forum thinking about it, but nothing is concrete yet

Hello Jaap,The same question I did put on FsMagazine,but up to now no response.It is possible however, MSI has a pic on one of their sites.But the framerate is the thing that counts.A friend of mine owns a Parhelia, but to getacceptable framerates he has to turn down mny sliders.Myself i did a test with 2 extra XfX 256 mb PCI cards icw a 5950 Ultra card.One monitor : 36 fpsTwo monitor : 21 fpsThree monitors : 16 fpsFour monitors : 12 fpsThe pc was a P 3.2 /1024DDr 400 at Lago's Schiphol.All sliders between normal and very dense.Finally when turning down the clouds to almost no detail I got around 15-16 with 4 monitors at a detailed airport.I would be satisfeid if I could set the sliders between normal and very dense again with some detailed clouds.The question remains wether or not the framerate will be good enough.

Hi Gerard, are the framerates you mention for external views only? I just checked that German site and discovered that one of the people went ahead and did it! He's using 1 Ultra and 1 GT with water-cooling for 1 external view and 3 panel displays. This is more or less what I'm most interested in too, because I intend to use a projector and would like to have 'only' 1 control monitor for the external view of the aircraft. Like your experiences, PCI adapters have not been the 'ideal' solution and performance was dreadful. A possibility in my case could be, to use 2 different adapters; an Ati for the external views (no stretching necessary and no probs with clouds) and a Geforce for the panels. AFAIK, using different display adapter brands is helpful with regard to allowing adjustment of different AA/AF settings. I mean, I don't need a lot of AF for panels... Anyway, here's the link: http://www.wcm.at/forum/showthread.php?thr...15&pagenumber=1Please keep us/me posted about your thoughts and -in case- progress. Cheers, good luck and kind regards Jaap

Hello All,I'll let you make your own decisions, however I will just give you what I use for MY FS operations, and I have had NO problems up to this point.Main computer: I use this computer for the main instrument view and also the throttle, radio, radar, ATC messages and FMC. Main Monitor is a 23" SGI, which runs the manin view and instrument cluster, secondary monitor is a View Sonic 19" for the throttles and such.P4-3.4 Overclocked to 3.7Gig. ASUS P-800E-Deluxe MB, 1 Gig Kingston PC 3200 Hyperram w/ cooling shields, ATI 9800 pro with Omega Drivers Overclocked to 425 core and 329 memory. Alien all aluminum case which has two 80mm fans in front, one on top, two in back, another blowing on HD, additional fan on GPU card and both CPU and GPU are water cooled with system from Danger Den. Never see temps over 38C on CPU or GPU. Cooling works very well.Frame rates on this unit in FS over Aerosoft Manhatten scenery with all sliders full except 'special effects which is 1/2 run at a solid 25 FPS only dropping to 21 0r 22 if I use FRAPS to make a video. I use FS Auto start, FSNav, Flight Deck Commander, Active Camera, and Wideview to run second computer.Second Computer:This is my old unit, P4 2.8 Overclocked to 3.2, running a GeForce Ti4600 on two monitors, a Viewsonic 17" for secondary and a 19"KDS for primary. 1 Gig of the above mentioned ram. The GeForce is Overclocked 10%, many fans in aluminum case but NO water cooling.Both Units use IDE HD's from Western Digital 7200 rpm's 80Gig's each, two in main unit,(one as backup) and only 1 in secondary unit.On the second computer I use the 19" for either a top down view or Pilots left side window view and the 17" for FSNav.Both units use Windows XP home and are networked via MS running Wideview.I have NO cooling problems, run the same scenery and aircraft in both and full sliders. I do get a slight stutter once in a blue moon which I am lost to eliminate, but other than that, NO problems. If I fly for a week, perhaps 2 hours each night or more, I might get a unrelated crash once, but that is rare. All in all, I am very satisfied with the systems, but of course, we always want more LOL.Best,Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"[email protected]

Hello guys,What I was talking about is 4 outside ( scenery ) views driven by 1 pc.Not 1 outside view and 3 instrumental views.That can easely be archieved by using extra pci cards beside an agp card.That is the way I flew years ago ; 2 outside views and 3 panel views attached to 1 fast pc.Now I want to try 4 outside views. Testing with 1 agp card ( 2 views ) and 2 pci cards ( 2 extra views ) have been doen , but I found the framerate too low.When using 2 PciE cards in 1 pc , the intention is not to connect them for 1 monitor, but to use them for 4 seperate monitors.Instead of 1 x PciE16 you will get 2x PciE8.But that is not be a big issue. The pc will be a 4 Ghz instead of the 3.2 wich haws been used for the tests with the agp/pci cards. So a faster pc.Also the PciE cards will be faster.The question remains if this setup will be fast enough to deliver good framerates.

@ Clay, thanks a lot for the detailed explination about your setup. I'll probably buy a second FS system soon and likely use my 'old' one for tasks which can be outsourced. If I have questions, I definitely know who to ask! Thanks again. @ Gerard, I see two misperceptions in your last post: 1st, PCIe cards themselves aren't quicker nowadays than AGP and 2nd, I was only talking about my own intentions as to why I'ld be interested to go with the double PCIe solution and whilst understanding your question perfectly well. Anyway, did you go to the site I linked? If you register and ask there, I'm sure the user in question will be glad to run a test spanning the external views over his monitors (he has the right hardware after all) and deliver the performance report you're looking for. AFAIK, somebody else there asked him a similar question. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

My pleasure helping, Trust me, I had to ask tons of questions when I was putting together my system and even now I get stumped alot, but we have a ton of guys on these forums who really are very bright when it comes to computers and how to make they work properly.Best,Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"