Quake3World

Just got my second BFG 6800 Ultra. I installed it, got it all hooked up, booted into windows and BAM, no second monitor. So I get on the web and do some reading, only to find out SLI doesn't support dual monitors. Who would have thought that you'd have four monitor outputs and end up being able to use only one.

The only way can use dual montors is to turn off SLI. But to do that, I got to restart my computer each time.

And to top it all off, Nvidia doesn't think their current video cards will ever support dual monitors in SLI.

Shit....

Though I do score a 9600 in 3D Mark 05, with no tweaking. :icon31:

is dual monitors really that useful?

shiznit wrote:are dual monitors really that good?

I use mine all the time. If I'm in game I can play on one screen and have my Team Speak and Command console open on the other so I can see who's coming and going.

Dual-monitor kinda defeats the purpose of SLI. The GPU of one card just kind-of piggy backs on top of the other one, to give you extra computing power. If you were using one of the cards to output to a different monitor, you wouldn't be using the SLI.

It would be like having a dual-processor system, and wanting the second processor to also run a different PC at the same time.

Yeah, I see your point.

But why not offer support for those who want to use it?

At least make it to where I can enable and disable SLI without restarting. That way I could switch between dual and single view with no problems.

BTW, with a minor tweak I've improved my score to 9846.

I'll futz with it more tomorrow.

I said a while back that only a total tool would bother with SLI, and it seems I was right.

Geebs wrote:I said a while back that only a total tool would bother with SLI, and it seems I was right.

Aha, I haven't bothered with it at all.
So you are wrong.

Geebs wrote:I said a while back that only a total tool would bother with SLI, and it seems I was right.

I'm sure you feel so much better about yourself now.

GJ.

YourGrandpa wrote:Yeah, I see your point.

But why not offer support for those who want to use it?

At least make it to where I can enable and disable SLI without restarting. That way I could switch between dual and single view with no problems.

BTW, with a minor tweak I've improved my score to 9846.

I'll futz with it more tomorrow.

Yea, but from what I understand of it technically, that's quite a bit harder to implement than it sounds. I admit I haven't done a lot of reading on it though.

Where is the setting to enable SLI? Is it in the CMOS settings? Because I believe it is actually a hardware- (or at least firmware-) level change, and those are hard to make without rebooting, with the Windows HAL.

The setting is in the NVidia, Nview software.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=6269&st=0

:icon17:

I didnt read it

:icon17:

Hmm. I'm assuming it either changes a firmware setting, or switches to use a different driver for the video.

Either way, I'm not really surprised it requires a reboot. I'm sure once the technology matures a little it will be easier. Maybe they'll even be able to release a driver update for it down the road.

E:v:O wrote:http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=6269&st=0

:icon17:

I didnt read it

:icon17:

Looks like a fix, thanks.

YourGrandpa wrote:

E:v:O wrote:http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=6269&st=0

:icon17:

I didnt read it

:icon17:

Looks like a fix, thanks.

Welcome

Just build a cheap second computer and use that for team speak,msn.etc. That's what I do.

riddla wrote:

YourGrandpa wrote:

E:v:O wrote:http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=6269&st=0

:icon17:

I didnt read it

:icon17:

Looks like a fix, thanks.

if the fix is adding a 3rd video card lol.

Well, it's more like a work around. Though it does suck not to be able to use dual displays in SLI after spending the cash on two video cards. But all I really use the second display to do is run apps. So spending an extra $30 on another card isn't so bad. It's way better than not being able to use my second monitor.

YourGrandpa wrote:Just got my second BFG 6800 Ultra. I installed it, got it all hooked up, booted into windows and BAM, no second monitor. So I get on the web and do some reading, only to find out SLI doesn't support dual monitors. Who would have thought that you'd have four monitor outputs and end up being able to use only one.

The only way can use dual montors is to turn off SLI. But to do that, I got to restart my computer each time.

And to top it all off, Nvidia doesn't think their current video cards will ever support dual monitors in SLI.

Shit....

Should of sold the 6800 and bought a 7800gtx..

SOAPboy wrote:

YourGrandpa wrote:Just got my second BFG 6800 Ultra. I installed it, got it all hooked up, booted into windows and BAM, no second monitor. So I get on the web and do some reading, only to find out SLI doesn't support dual monitors. Who would have thought that you'd have four monitor outputs and end up being able to use only one.

The only way can use dual montors is to turn off SLI. But to do that, I got to restart my computer each time.

And to top it all off, Nvidia doesn't think their current video cards will ever support dual monitors in SLI.

Shit....

Should of sold the 6800 and bought a 7800gtx..

seeing how 2 6600gt are a hell of a lot faster than one 6800, the same might be true for 2 6800s and the 7800
its a hassle but it does save you some cash

MKJ wrote:

SOAPboy wrote:

YourGrandpa wrote:Just got my second BFG 6800 Ultra. I installed it, got it all hooked up, booted into windows and BAM, no second monitor. So I get on the web and do some reading, only to find out SLI doesn't support dual monitors. Who would have thought that you'd have four monitor outputs and end up being able to use only one.

The only way can use dual montors is to turn off SLI. But to do that, I got to restart my computer each time.

And to top it all off, Nvidia doesn't think their current video cards will ever support dual monitors in SLI.

Shit....

Should of sold the 6800 and bought a 7800gtx..

seeing how 2 6600gt are a hell of a lot faster than one 6800, the same might be true for 2 6800s and the 7800
its a hassle but it does save you some cash

Read up on it.. 7800GTX = 2 6800Ultras in Sli

in that case
hurray

What's SLi?

Mr.Magnetichead wrote:What's SLi?

http://www.slizone.com/page/home.html

So it's duel video cards running together? When you buy them are they singular or do they come as a pair?

singular
you can just buy another one and use a bridge connector to make it run tons faster
pretteh secksi. odd that it doesnt support dual screen though