In an effort to extend my system's lifespan, I replaced my 8800GT (512mb) with a GTX460 (1GB). I always run two monitors. My question is is it better to run both monitors off of a single card (the GTX460)or is it better to run the second monitor off of the 8800GT card. Does one method tax the system more than the other? Right now I don't have the 8800GT card installed but it is still a good card.Thanks for any advice on this. Oh yeah, running FSX.System Specs:E6850 @ 3.00GHz4GB of RAMWin 7 64Jim

In an effort to extend my system's lifespan, I replaced my 8800GT (512mb) with a GTX460 (1GB). I always run two monitors. My question is is it better to run both monitors off of a single card (the GTX460)or is it better to run the second monitor off of the 8800GT card. Does one method tax the system more than the other? Right now I don't have the 8800GT card installed but it is still a good card.Thanks for any advice on this. Oh yeah, running FSX.System Specs:E6850 @ 3.00GHz4GB of RAMWin 7 64Jim

Jim- I can only speak for FS9 and for two same type GPUs- one AGP & other PCI.Given that, having experimented a fair bit with two monitors (as well as three), I could detect no difference in performance regardless of whether both were on one card or one on each.For reference, this was using 2D rather than Virtual. I got a consistent 1/3 drop in FPS with 2 monitors and a 50% drop with 3. Setup is done with a single mon and adjusting sliders to achieve a constant 30-50 FPS. This produces 15-25 with 3 monitors and since they time share the CPU, the visual result at 15 is just as smooth as a single mon @ 30FPS.BUT to get this visual result, very accurate angular shifting of the outer views is required to compensate for the specific bezels of one's monitors. Phrased another way, the three views then are synched into one very wide field of view.(In fact this worked so well, I was able to fly with a total of 5 views on the 3 monitors! However,as you can see in the pic, the inability to angle the extreme outer views L/R, created some visual distortion! The wings appear to project out in front of the aircraft! The basic rule is that each VIEW must be seen as SQUARE to the pilot's eyes. ie monitors need to be wrapped around in an arc.)My take would be to run 2 monitors from the best card or better still, 3 mons from 2 cards!ARAMD XP2200 1.8 GHz & 2 GEForce FX 5200 GPUs.

Jim- I can only speak for FS9 and for two same type GPUs- one AGP & other PCI.Given that, having experimented a fair bit with two monitors (as well as three), I could detect no difference in performance regardless of whether both were on one card or one on each.For reference, this was using 2D rather than Virtual. I got a consistent 1/3 drop in FPS with 2 monitors and a 50% drop with 3. Setup is done with a single mon and adjusting sliders to achieve a constant 30-50 FPS. This produces 15-25 with 3 monitors and since they time share the CPU, the visual result at 15 is just as smooth as a single mon @ 30FPS.BUT to get this visual result, very accurate angular shifting of the outer views is required to compensate for the specific bezels of one's monitors. Phrased another way, the three views then are synched into one very wide field of view.(In fact this worked so well, I was able to fly with a total of 5 views on the 3 monitors! However,as you can see in the pic, the inability to angle the extreme outer views L/R, created some visual distortion! The wings appear to project out in front of the aircraft! The basic rule is that each VIEW must be seen as SQUARE to the pilot's eyes. ie monitors need to be wrapped around in an arc.)My take would be to run 2 monitors from the best card or better still, 3 mons from 2 cards!ARAMD XP2200 1.8 GHz & 2 GEForce FX 5200 GPUs.

Thanks for your reply and info. Guess the best way for me to know is to try using both cards and comparing to just using one. Jim