Is it possible to have two video cards w two lcd monitors and have each monitor plugged into a separate card? If so, can you run for example an outside view on lcd 1 and maybe a spot view on lcd 2? Curious if the 2nd card would take some load off the 1st card and would that work with FS2004?

Sure. Just need to make sure both cards have GPUs from the same vendor (i.e. Nvidia or ATi).

Is it possible to have two video cards w two lcd monitors and have each monitor plugged into a separate card? If so, can you run for example an outside view on lcd 1 and maybe a spot view on lcd 2? Curious if the 2nd card would take some load off the 1st card and would that work with FS2004?

Jerel- Very definitely Yes. And if your present card has 2 ports, you should be able to run triple monitors with 2 video cards. For example-This pic shows 2 spot views plus View Fwd. via 2, 6 yr old GeForce FX5200 cards. One of those views could have been Tower view if desired. DreamFleet Baron Aerobatics Team ready for TO.Since every pixel has to be computed first by the CPU, a second card doesn't aid the main card.More pixels = more load on the CPU but not as much as you might fear- since the three monitors seem to "time share" the processor.For a discussion on setting up multi mons, see- AVSIM Forums>Hardware Discussion>Video Cards and Drivers July 28/09. Look for a thread- "Mixing Video Cards" started by Bonanza Pilot.For a sort of tutorial see same forum for "Large LCD TV vs Triple Monitor" started by "dabesq" Oct 5/09. Scroll down to post #13 by "betelgeuse" and follow to end of thread.Hope this helps. Once you have flown with triple mons, there is no going back!!!Alex Reid

Jerel- Very definitely Yes. And if your present card has 2 ports, you should be able to run triple monitors with 2 video cards. For example-This pic shows 2 spot views plus View Fwd. via 2, 6 yr old GeForce FX5200 cards. One of those views could have been Tower view if desired. DreamFleet Baron Aerobatics Team ready for TO.Since every pixel has to be computed first by the CPU, a second card doesn't aid the main card.More pixels = more load on the CPU but not as much as you might fear- since the three monitors seem to "time share" the processor.For a discussion on setting up multi mons, see- AVSIM Forums>Hardware Discussion>Video Cards and Drivers July 28/09. Look for a thread- "Mixing Video Cards" started by Bonanza Pilot.For a sort of tutorial see same forum for "Large LCD TV vs Triple Monitor" started by "dabesq" Oct 5/09. Scroll down to post #13 by "betelgeuse" and follow to end of thread.Hope this helps. Once you have flown with triple mons, there is no going back!!!Alex Reid

Thank you guys for replying to my post. I am having some problems as I reported in another thread similiar to what was reported by Toms Hardware back in 2004/2005 timeframe - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-d...g-bigs,759.htmlSpecifically this page - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-d...igs,759-14.htmlI have an overclock on a E8600 @ 4.0 GHZ w ASUS Rampage Formula and I am trying to find out if I need more voltage on the CPU, more cooling (I was thinking of replacing two SCYTHE S-FLEX 1900RPM with two DELTAS) and or adding in another 5850 and going crossfire. I know NO crossfire in sims but I thought maybe putting the second monitor on the other gpu would help somewhat. I know ASUS probe II isnt the most accurate from what I read but my alarm for NB goes off at 45C on idle. I was also considering buying a 40mm fan for that.Any ideas?

Generally speaking graphical corruption issues are due to either faulty driver or failing graphics card. First and foremost check to make sure your card isn't over-heating by checking the fan path for blockage and fan's ability to spin. With a new card I wouldn't expect the fan path to be blocked but you never know, maybe some packing peanuts or other debris got in there during shipping. Also check for signs of failure like busted capacitors (or other surface-mounted components). If everything appears in order then the next step would be to uninstall and reinstall the graphics card's driver. If you still have issues post back and I'll give you more troubleshooting steps.As for the higher RPM fans, I really wouldn't recommend it. If your current cooler is insufficient with dual 1900RPM 120MM fans it's unlikely to do much better with faster fans. At that point you'd probably need to move to water cooling to get significantly better results. I run dual 120mm fans (one of which is the very same Scythe fan you mentioned) on an OCZ Vendetta 2 which sits atop my Q9550 @ 4GHz, and it holds the temps down to mid-high 70's under OCCT Linpack 64-bit load during the hottest point of the summer. I run Folding @ Home on my CPU 24x7 and temps usually sit in the mid 60's. FS9/FSX rarely stress the CPU enough to cause temps higher than this unless your cooler is setup improperly or malfunctioning.

Generally speaking graphical corruption issues are due to either faulty driver or failing graphics card. First and foremost check to make sure your card isn't over-heating by checking the fan path for blockage and fan's ability to spin. With a new card I wouldn't expect the fan path to be blocked but you never know, maybe some packing peanuts or other debris got in there during shipping. Also check for signs of failure like busted capacitors (or other surface-mounted components). If everything appears in order then the next step would be to uninstall and reinstall the graphics card's driver. If you still have issues post back and I'll give you more troubleshooting steps.As for the higher RPM fans, I really wouldn't recommend it. If your current cooler is insufficient with dual 1900RPM 120MM fans it's unlikely to do much better with faster fans. At that point you'd probably need to move to water cooling to get significantly better results. I run dual 120mm fans (one of which is the very same Scythe fan you mentioned) on an OCZ Vendetta 2 which sits atop my Q9550 @ 4GHz, and it holds the temps down to mid-high 70's under OCCT Linpack 64-bit load during the hottest point of the summer. I run Folding @ Home on my CPU 24x7 and temps usually sit in the mid 60's. FS9/FSX rarely stress the CPU enough to cause temps higher than this unless your cooler is setup improperly or malfunctioning.

I will look into those things. Interestingly, the graphical corruption does not happen all the time. If I let the sim run i.e. AI spotting it may occur after an hour or so. Kind've hard to troubleshoot when it's not all the time. I didn't want to spend money on more fans if it would be a waste -- if my temps are ok. I don't mind spending 10 bucks on a fan for the northbridge or something but didnt want to have to upgrade 120mm fans if at all possible. I am running a Themalright 120 Extreme on my CPU w a 1600 rpm SFLEX. CPU temps appear to be fine.What are safe temps for the Northbridge? Do you recommend a separate fan on that? What program(s) do you use to check temps? I've got speedfan, realtemp and asus probe but the info seems to be different for each and hard to decipher whats what.A guy over at overclocking.net suggested I may need to increase my voltage and that could cause the graphical issues since their is a lot going through the NB.

For temp monitoring I generally just stick to OCCT's built-in temperature monitoring module, since the only time I care about temps is in my worst-case (always OCCT Linpack 64-bit). Extra cooling is rarely a bad thing (except for one's ears) but not many modern northbridges need active cooling, even when overclocked. If you have an Intel northbridge, particularly from the 3 or 4 series, you needn't worry about temps unless you're running an absurd VMCH. My Q9550 only needs +.1V on the northrbridge for stability, and the chip's heatsink is only warm to the touch even under heavy load.