what you need for a 3 monitor setup help

Mark M · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:38

Rather than start a fresh topic, could you run 2 PCIe gfx cards and potentially have 4 outputs? I see some mobos come with 2 PCIe slots so shouldnt be a problem?

Im not interested in eyefinity for gaming just multi tasking.

UKDTweak · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:44

Before I got my 5850, i had two cards, an 8800GT 512 and an 8800GTS 320, I ran my main gaming monitor off the 512 and the other two off the 320, two monitors running at 1600/900 and one at 1280/1024 (old LCD), so yes, you can run two cards if your board has two PCI slots for it, and you can run different resolutions on each monitor across each card

Mark M · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:51

Great!

Another quickie, having a look at the mobo I had in mind it says it has 2 x PCIe 2.0 slots? Will everything PCIe fit in a PCIe 2 slot or do I need to find PCIe 2 compatible gfx cards?

UKDTweak · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:55

PCI 2.0 slots are backward compatible with PCI 1.0 cards, so no worries there mate... my current mobo only has PCi 1.0 and runs my 5850 PCI 2.0 card just fine

Mark M · 15 Mar 2010 at 15:59

Ah fantastic!! Thanks for the help

Meridiusuk · 15 Mar 2010 at 17:46

Looks like I have to get 3 24" monitors as I wanted to have a diffrent res on the 27" and don't want to buy another gfx card. I would not care I don't play games I just use it for desktop work.

So the basic rule is if you want a mulit res multiple monitor setup u have to have 2 gfx cards and if u want the same res u can use 1 gfx card.

Correct ?

UKDTweak · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:05

You can have multi res on an ATI 5000 series, just don't use Eyefinity !

Orcvader · 15 Mar 2010 at 18:26

Meridiusuk said:
Looks like I have to get 3 24" monitors as I wanted to have a diffrent res on the 27" and don't want to buy another gfx card. I would not care I don't play games I just use it for desktop work.

So the basic rule is if you want a mulit res multiple monitor setup u have to have 2 gfx cards and if u want the same res u can use 1 gfx card.

Correct ?

No. As long as you don't use eyefinity, you can have different res on each three monitors. So you only need to use one gfx.

Phoenixdancer · 15 Mar 2010 at 21:26

But without eyefinity you wont be playing games well on 3 screens

Meridiusuk · 15 Mar 2010 at 22:39

Ah right so eyefinty is only for games, I don't play games so I have the option of both?

Can u still have the task bar set up on all monitors without using eyefinity ?

Phoenixdancer · 15 Mar 2010 at 22:50

im unsure, dont think so

Phoenixdancer · 15 Mar 2010 at 22:50

its not just for games (eyefinity), used for many others things aswell

Orcvader · 16 Mar 2010 at 00:07

Without eyefinity, the taskbar would only be seen in the central screen. Also, I find basic desktop work is best without eyefinity unless you're a graphics designer.

Meridiusuk · 16 Mar 2010 at 07:14

I am sure my friend who lives miles away has no eyefinity gfx cards and he uses a 3 monitor desktop and he has the task bar on all monitors ? How come he is using 2 gfx cards by nvidia

UKDTweak · 16 Mar 2010 at 07:45

To get a takbar on Each screen, you need third party software such as Ultramon or Displayfusion

Meridiusuk · 16 Mar 2010 at 12:35

am am suprised the ati do not support this as my friend said it does on a nvida cards so i would need to sue a third party program to use it for differnet res monitors or use eyefinity for the same res monitors and have the taskbar just in the centre or across all monitors

dr4g0nf1y · 16 Mar 2010 at 12:42

UKDTweak said:
To get a takbar on Each screen, you need third party software such as Ultramon or Displayfusion

I recently bought 3x 1920x1080 monitors and would like to try playing games in ultra wide if I can get the software to do it.

I'm running a system with 2x saphire 4850's in crossfire, I'd lose the crossfire I know but they're giving me 4 dvi ports.

Would the above software work for that?

sorry for possible hijack but think it's relevant

UKDTweak · 16 Mar 2010 at 12:49

Ultramon and Displayfusion Do not allow you to game accross multiple monitors, you need Eyefinity for that, or the Matrox Triple Head...

Ultramon and Display fusion are there to simply give you extra taskbars for 2nd, 3rd monitors etc...

Meridiusuk · 16 Mar 2010 at 15:12

can you have the windows button on the centre screen the clock on the right screen and a plane bar on the left can you have this option on eyefinity ? as i dont want the windows button on the left and the plane bar in the centre? basicly swaping the left for the centre.

kylew · 16 Mar 2010 at 15:56

dr4g0nf1y said:
I recently bought 3x 1920x1080 monitors and would like to try playing games in ultra wide if I can get the software to do it.

I'm running a system with 2x saphire 4850's in crossfire, I'd lose the crossfire I know but they're giving me 4 dvi ports.

Would the above software work for that?

sorry for possible hijack but think it's relevant

That software isn't for games, however softth is the piece of software that you need.