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Hi all,

 
My dad is going through chemo and I'm starting to put together a flight sim rig for him, as that's something he always loved and would be a nice distraction for him!
 
My question has to do with multiple monitors and GPUs in Prepar3d.  After perusing the forums, I see that some are connecting multiple monitors to one GPU using nVidia Surround or Eyefinity, ... but with the resulting view either being distorted/stretched on the sides, or being too zoomed in (even with Denali's fix it seems).  Alternatively, some are running windowed views (ie. VC on the middle monitor, plus Left Wing plus Right Wing on the side monitors), but with a big drop in FPS (unless running multiple client PC's, which isn't an option I'm considering right now), and having to adjust the views for each aircraft.
 
I have a couple of 7950's already and I wanted to avoid the distortion issue, so my questions are as follows:
 
Q1.  Would 2 GPUs (in non-SLI/crossfire mode) improve performance in multiple windowed mode?  Say if one GPU is driving the middle monitor for VC view... and the other GPU is driving the left and right monitors for side views?
Q2.  If using software like EzDok camera or OpusFSI, will the views always remain aligned?  Or will there be some discrepancies in the horizon for example, when flying to the left or right?
 
Thanks in advance for your replies!
 
JB

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Q1. Would 2 GPUs (in non-SLI/crossfire mode) improve performance in multiple windowed mode? Say if one GPU is driving the middle monitor for VC view... and the other GPU is driving the left and right monitors for side views?

 

I was running three monitors in P3DV2 off two R290s (two monitors off one, one off the other, non-crossfire)

and got worse performance (stutters and graphical artifacts) than just running the three cards off one card .

So I don't like your chances but it's easy enough to try both and see how they go.

 

With separate left/centre/right views the horizon will always show some degree of sharp bend

where the monitors abut, unless you are straight and level.

 

gb.


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Off a single computer I run three monitors horizontally, with a fourth below the middle monitor of the three. I use 2 cards--a titan for the top three and a 670 for the fourth. All four are configured through NVidia surround, with bezel adjustment for the top three. I fly mostly from the virtual cockpit view.

 

I start P3d in windowed mode with full screen mode not on, with these settings in the display section of options:   Full Screen Settings check on the "black out desk top" and leave "auto fill main view" unchecked.  On the View and Panel section I check on wide aspect ratio. Triple buffering is off and I lock the display at 30 fps.

 

While still in windowed mode, I stretch the bottom of the display on the three monitors to partially fill the fourth monitor.  I then undock whatever instrument windows I use, such as GTN 750 or the mini controls of A2A, resize them and drag them to the bottom of the fourth screen.  I then go to full screen mode to eliminate the window effect. 

 

This way I have my "six pack" indicators, or Garmin 1000, on the bottom screen integrated with the top three screens.  So, when I use Track IR or pan, all four screens move in unison, but the dragged instruments stay put at the bottom of the fourth screen.  Visually it's great because the left seat view vertically is bigger than the side screens next to it, and I can always keep an eye on my six pack indicators without having to pan down to them and losing focus on what's in front of me, such as the runway.

 

The only other thing I have to do is pan out to 50% to maintain the same look as the 100% pan when the screen isn't stretched.

 

If I stretch the three screens all the way to the bottom of the fourth monitor, I do lose fps, but if I only stretch it two thirds the way I don't lose any fps or get stutters.

 

I've been simming five years and only recently discovered this technique, which makes virtual cockpit flying way, way better than just having the virtual cockpit on the three top screens.  The effect is night and day.


Forever indebted to the late Michael Greenblatt of FSGS.

 

 

 

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I was running three monitors in P3DV2 off two R290s (two monitors off one, one off the other, non-crossfire)

and got worse performance (stutters and graphical artifacts) than just running the three cards off one card .

So I don't like your chances but it's easy enough to try both and see how they go.

 

With separate left/centre/right views the horizon will always show some degree of sharp bend

where the monitors abut, unless you are straight and level.

 

gb.

 

Ok, I ran a few quick tests and didn't see an improvement either.  I will stick with running them off one card.  Thanks!

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Off a single computer I run three monitors horizontally, with a fourth below the middle monitor of the three. I use 2 cards--a titan for the top three and a 670 for the fourth. All four are configured through NVidia surround, with bezel adjustment for the top three. I fly mostly from the virtual cockpit view.

 

I start P3d in windowed mode with full screen mode not on, with these settings in the display section of options:   Full Screen Settings check on the "black out desk top" and leave "auto fill main view" unchecked.  On the View and Panel section I check on wide aspect ratio. Triple buffering is off and I lock the display at 30 fps.

 

While still in windowed mode, I stretch the bottom of the display on the three monitors to partially fill the fourth monitor.  I then undock whatever instrument windows I use, such as GTN 750 or the mini controls of A2A, resize them and drag them to the bottom of the fourth screen.  I then go to full screen mode to eliminate the window effect. 

 

This way I have my "six pack" indicators, or Garmin 1000, on the bottom screen integrated with the top three screens.  So, when I use Track IR or pan, all four screens move in unison, but the dragged instruments stay put at the bottom of the fourth screen.  Visually it's great because the left seat view vertically is bigger than the side screens next to it, and I can always keep an eye on my six pack indicators without having to pan down to them and losing focus on what's in front of me, such as the runway.

 

The only other thing I have to do is pan out to 50% to maintain the same look as the 100% pan when the screen isn't stretched.

 

If I stretch the three screens all the way to the bottom of the fourth monitor, I do lose fps, but if I only stretch it two thirds the way I don't lose any fps or get stutters.

 

I've been simming five years and only recently discovered this technique, which makes virtual cockpit flying way, way better than just having the virtual cockpit on the three top screens.  The effect is night and day.

 

Because of the stretching/distortion, I figured I'd have to change my monitor setup and rotate my panels from landscape to monitor - that, or look into getting a 4k TV - but your setup sounds very interesting!  

 

When you're panning out to 50%, are you getting any stretching/distortion on the sides?  Or are you zoomed in to avoid that distortion and therefore losing a wide FOV?  (I'm probably giving away, with these questions, the fact that I may not be full grasping your setup, lol)

 

Just to make sure I visualize and understand correctly what it is you're doing and the resulting view you're getting, would you mind posting a screenshot of what you see on your screen (I believe the screenshot should accurately grab that?)?  Or is there perhaps a youtube video you're aware of out there of someone with this kind of a setup?  

 

Thanks!

JB

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I zoom in until I'm happy with the size of the virtual cockpit.  Zoom is different on different aircraft, but I can get it to look the same as a "normal" 1.0 without any problems.  There is some distortion on the sides, but not any more (and probably less) than in "normal" 3 monitor virtual cockpit.  I can live with it very easily.

 

Rotating the monitors as you said would give you basically the same setup as described above, with less distortion, but a narrower field a view.  It's all a matter of preference.

 

It's funny, but although I am technically proficient enough to figure out this setup, I've never taken a screenshot nor uploaded a video on you tube and don't know how to do either.  If you could give me a link to a tutorial for either or both, I'll give it a go for you.

Jay 


Forever indebted to the late Michael Greenblatt of FSGS.

 

 

 

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It's funny, but although I am technically proficient enough to figure out this setup, I've never taken a screenshot nor uploaded a video on you tube and don't know how to do either.  If you could give me a link to a tutorial for either or both, I'll give it a go for you.

Jay 

 

Sorry, been away!  

 

For the screenshot, here are some instructions on how to do so:

 

Windows 8:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/take-screen-capture-print-screen#take-screen-capture-print-screen=windows-8

 

Windows 7: 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/take-screen-capture-print-screen#take-screen-capture-print-screen=windows-7

 

You could then upload the image to http://imgur.com/ and share the image link from there.

 

 

If you do decide to take a video :) you can use screen capturing software to do that (although with a hit in frames from what I understand)... or simply recording video with an external device like a smartphone should be good enough to give the idea and then you can upload it to youtube by following instructions here:

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407?hl=en

 

Thanks!!

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Thanks. Will try both.


Forever indebted to the late Michael Greenblatt of FSGS.

 

 

 

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