I've tried that kind of multi-monitor setup using custom forward views in FSX but for me it had a very large performance impact since the overhead of each new view is almost like running another instance of FSX. That's why solutions like softth/triplehead2go/eyefinity are very efficient since the overhead for each new view is pretty small. Softth is pretty awesome and with some tweaks you can certainly get it to work with FSX. Last time I played with it it had too many annoying bugs though and the development seemed to have stopped.About the mixing of GPUs, at least in Windows 7 you can mix differnt GPU types using separate drivers (using both Nvidia and ATI/Eyefinity myself).

tolip2- Yes- At first glance, multiple views on multi monitors appears to hit the frame rate hard. One secret is to NEVER allow any view to overlap an adjacent monitor. But there IS some performance magic to be had-Since there is only one CPU, only one view can be updating at any moment. The two other views, in a triple view config, are static/ stopped dead- and in effect have an infinitely high frame rate. So 2/3 of the whole is always perfection in terms of smoothness. As long as the POSTED FPS remains above the minimum for no chattering or stutters- typically about 15- then the whole triple wide image is VERY smooth.To get this result the outer views MUST be adjusted in Panel Cfg. to compensate accurately for the bezel widths that separate the views on your specific monitors. In effect your eyes & brain see only a single unified image. (With FSX the adj. is made in CFG/Camera settings I believe.) My experiments make it doubtful that any "generic" bezel correction system will accomplish this. The correction must be based on accurate measurements of the specific monitors being used.I've done the following experiment many times- take off, hold a stable flight and note average FPS: typically for me 16-20. Now suddenly kill the two outer views and the frame rate jumps to 30- 40. An apparent big improvement? Not so! The smoothness or fluidity hasn't changed at all. The magic of multi mons!!Thanks for your comments- interesting to learn you can have different drivers loaded in parallel.Alex Reid

Someone commented earlier that you need two similar GPUs to get 3+ monitors to work? Not so. I have my main ati 5870 running with an Nvidia 8800GT for my 3rd monitor (and soon to be 4th, then 4th and 5th monitor with the 5870 doing 3 monitors for a sexy widescreen view of the VC).With this sort off setup, though, you wont get any boost in graphics from the nvidia, and you won't be able to strech across the view using eyefinity over all three monitors... which is why you might just want to buy a 5870 + active DP adapter. Should look great!Good luck

Someone commented earlier that you need two similar GPUs to get 3+ monitors to work? Not so. I have my main ati 5870 running with an Nvidia 8800GT for my 3rd monitor (and soon to be 4th, then 4th and 5th monitor with the 5870 doing 3 monitors for a sexy widescreen view of the VC).With this sort off setup, though, you wont get any boost in graphics from the nvidia, and you won't be able to strech across the view using eyefinity over all three monitors... which is why you might just want to buy a 5870 + active DP adapter. Should look great!

Justin- That was me- I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that different make video cards will work with multiple monitors.However, I prefer 2D panels with separate views LFwd, Fwd, RFwd on 3 monitors, the outers being unified into a single very wide panorama via precise bezel adjustments. I'm tempted to add 2 more monitors & views- but I suspect my 6 yr old computer would go on strike!Alex Reid

@tolip: you wrote on another thread:

This is actually one of the (few) areas where the 5870 really shines in FSX. To my surprise I got pretty much identical FPS when using 3 24" monitors with the 5870 (eyefinity setup) as when using a single screen. I haven't had time to finetune it but I certainly don't have any performance problems or stutters or anything like that. My biggest issue right now is that the I'm not quite happy with the outside view. Either I zoom out and get detailed textures but a very stretched image at the edges, or I use a more sane zoom level and get really blury textures (because of the zoom level, not because the lod_radius value is too small). It seems that WideViewAspect wasn't really targeted at using 3 screens. It works well with a single widescreen or even two of them, but when using 3 it's a totally different story. I hope I'll find the time to investigate this further but any hints are appreciated.

I am working also with a HD-5870 on three 24" displays with ATI 10.3 and bezel management at 6060x1200 pixels. When I don't use WideViewAspect=True the view looks ok, but I would like to zoom out more, but it's not possible. So when I use WideViewAspect=True, I can use lower zoom levels, but I really can see on my left and right display, that the image is stretched/distorted. I don't like that. I also think there's a wrong field of view (FOV) in the FSX. I also googled and found the Widescreen-Fixer which is a great tool and works on many games. Unfortunately FSX is not supported. So, anyone have another solution for this? And help, comment or hint is appreciated.Thanks in advance, Pegasus.

I had a look at Widescreen-Fixer and I don't think it would fix your problem. It only solves the cropping that some games do in widescreenmodus.What you can do is create 2 cameras with [ and put those on your sidescreens.Make shure al three views have the same zoomlevel and all three are set to VC (virtual cockpit).Then pan the sidescreens until they match the middle one.If this looks OK it can be automated. Please tell me how you like it; I don't have a HD 5*** card but I would like to know how it looks before I buy one.P.S. three views have the same zoomlevelThat's something Th2G can not do and neither can Eyefinity. It should solve the silly-looking stretching.

I had a look at Widescreen-Fixer and I don't think it would fix your problem. It only solves the cropping that some games do in widescreenmodus.What you can do is create 2 cameras with [ and put those on your sidescreens.Make shure al three views have the same zoomlevel and all three are set to VC (virtual cockpit).Then pan the sidescreens until they match the middle one.If this looks OK it can be automated. Please tell me how you like it; I don't have a HD 5*** card but I would like to know how it looks before I buy one.P.S. three views have the same zoomlevelThat's something Th2G can not do and neither can Eyefinity. It should solve the silly-looking stretching.

Using multiple cameras would solve the zoom/stretch issue but it would also have a huge performance overhead for each new view and completely defeat the purpose of Eyefinity. Using FSX as a 15-20 FPS slideshow is not an option for me.

Using multiple cameras would solve the zoom/stretch issue but it would also have a huge performance overhead for each new view and completely defeat the purpose of Eyefinity. Using FSX as a 15-20 FPS slideshow is not an option for me.

The following relates to FS9 multiple VIEWS. I assume that in FSX, multiple CAMERAs is the equivalent.I run FS9 triple VIEWS LFwd,Fwd,RFwd - unified into one image across 3 monitors via precise bezel width corrections. I use 2 GeForce FX5200 GPUs- AGP & PCI on a 6 year old AMD 1.8 GHz processor.Yes- the posted frame rate drops sharply: about 50%. HOWEVER smoothness is NOT affected- as long as the FPS remains above 14-16.Reason seems to be that, there being only one CPU, each view update must be processed sequentially. As this occurs, the other two views are static and hence they (2/3 of the whole) have an unlimited or infinitely high frame rate!If the 3 views are properly unified into one image via precise bezel correction, then the WHOLE appears almost as smooth as one single view all by itself! I adjust for bezels to 1/100 of a degree of angular shift, using very simple measurements of screen and bezels.---------I setup by adjusting FS settings to produce a steady 30- 50 FPS on a single monitor. Opening triple views/monitors will drop the FPS to about 15-25.But there is no apparent change in smoothness. Here is my test on this. With triple views/monitors, take off and establish normal stable flight. Note the degree of smoothness & FPS. Now suddenly kill/delete the outer views. FPS will double but there is no detectable difference in smoothness!!!!So frame rate really is meaningless with multiple views. In fact I can fly smoothly, in heavy scenery situations, right down to 7 FPS. The penalty here is that nearby objects such as runway lights beside wingtips will exhibit a chatter. However farther away objects will continue smoothly.HOW COME? Well, double that 7 FPS (by going back to a single view) and you have 14- the magic acceptable, single mon frame rate, before stutters develop!--------In short, frame rate means very little with multiple views- it's smoothness that counts!! To display three separate views, they all have to be computed by a single CPU. But the result is a true 135

I'm happy that this solution works for you. I've tried this (with FSX) and my experience is obviously completely different than yours. It's probably not even comparable since FS9 and FSX are so different. I will continue to enjoy Eyefininty at stutter-free 30-60 FPS. It would still be nice to fix the stretch/zoom issue though but it's not a showstopper. WideViewAspect=False and a zoom level of 0.3 is ok but any other hints are still appreciated. I've moved my default ezdok cockpit camera back slightly (I don't show any panels on my main monitors) and this actually helps a tiny bit.

I share same opinion as mentioned by tolip2 and the best results can only achieved with ATI's HD 5xxx series. @Tolip2: are you flying with WideViewAspect=True or False now? I prefer False, because I don't like the misconfigured stretch when using WideViewAspect=True. I will have a try also with EZdok if I can adjust my point of view somehow better. Thanks for this hint.

I'm happy that this solution works for you. I've tried this (with FSX) and my experience is obviously completely different than yours. It's probably not even comparable since FS9 and FSX are so different. I will continue to enjoy Eyefininty at stutter-free 30-60 FPS. It would still be nice to fix the stretch/zoom issue though but it's not a showstopper. WideViewAspect=False and a zoom level of 0.3 is ok but any other hints are still appreciated. I've moved my default ezdok cockpit camera back slightly (I don't show any panels on my main monitors) and this actually helps a tiny bit.

tolip2- Thanks for your reply- I have seen triple monitors with unified views LFwd,Fwd,RFwd, running nicely in FSX via dual video cards. I understand that the bezel correction is done in the CAMERA segment of CFG rather than in PANEL CFG for FS9.A couple of questions please re Eyefinity - Can Eyefinity display the multiple views, LFwd,Fwd,RFwd or just a stretched single view Fwd?Does using Zoom 0.3 cause any distance/ speed perception problems? (ie a 5000' runway one mile away appearing to be 16000' long about 3 miles away)Alex Reid

I'd like to use WideViewAspect=FALSE in my FSX.CFG. Unfortunately the minimum zoom level supported is 0.3Does anyone knows a possibilty to reduce the zoom level to maybe 0.1 or 0.2 ??? I looked for the Panel-Files of an aircraft, and some other configuration files but without sucess yet. Any help appreciated.Pegasus.

New conclusion gained. I described here on this topic, if you want to read --> http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...t&p=1769270