Dual-monitors

[SlateGrey]

Dual-Monitor via motherboard SLI
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Do SLI boards with two PCI-e vidcard slots, but not syncronized with SLI's 2-into-1 operation, support vidcard-1 to monitor A and vidcard-2 to monitor B?

If they do, what about using unmatched video cards? I know the cards have to be matched for SLI coordination, but can the video cards be different if they support separate monitors?


Dual-Monitor via video card outputs
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Do video cards that support dual monitors have two DVI outputs yet? They used to do it through DVI + VGA outputs.

What kind of resolution constraints are there on dual-monitor support out of a single video card? I assume there is some type of total resolution limit, for instance, perhaps a single video card could support dual 1600 x 1200 monitors, but with one monitor at 1920 x 1200 the second output would be limited to say 1280 x 1024.


Dual/Multiple-Monitors via both: motherboard SLI + video card outputs
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I'm kind of hoping I can put a fast PCI-e vidcard in one SLI slot to support a 2405 Dell at 1920 x 1200, and then a cheaper PCI-e vidcard in the second SLI slot to keep two older LCD's running at their 1280x1024 and 1024x768 resolutions.

Is this possible, with say a high-end SLI mobo like the ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe or Premium?


Thanks for help on any of these questions.

 

[pulsedrive]

I know that DFI's Lanparty Ultra-D board supports what they call dual express graphics. Which is 2 PCIe cards that each run monitors. So you can actually get a total of four monitors going(2 on each card) As far as I know there is no such limitation. Particularly in 2D it would be able to drive both monitor at full res for the monitor and card. In 3D you will only be able to really get good 3D on the primary monitor anyway, at least in my experience.

 

[SlateGrey]

Well, that's heartening, in that if a Lanparty supports dual monitors, then the support should be built in to the nF4 chipset. Which I had simply assumed it would be. I mean, if you've got two slots dedicated to video cards, support for dual un-synchronized monitors would seem to be inherent in the capability to have dual monitors synchronized to a single output through SLI, which sounds like an additional layer of functionality beyond just simply two unconnected monitors.

I'm guessing that if the Lanparty can do it, that the A8N can as well. Anybody know?

I'm amazed that there hasn't been good support for dual monitors in twenty years. I had done it on a 386 back in the very early 90's, with some exotic card and quite a few restrictions, but since then the only way I've gotten dual monitors is with dual computers. The only solution since then has been an AGP card plus a PCI card, which doesn't help much in passing down video cards as the technology progresses. It should be a capability built into the motherboard, but for some reason never has been.

That's why when I saw SLI my first thought was dual monitors. I don't care much about spending $1000 for SLI performance because let's face it, the neverending arguments between one extremely fast videocard and two very fast videocards tied together like through SLI, always resolve down to the only choice you really want, which is two extremely fast videocards tied together to make the choice go away. And that is phenomenally expensive. It's a choice only for game fanatics with money to burn.

Dual monitors is much more practical. You buy a single killer vidcard at a time, then pass it down to the secondary monitor when you upgrade to your next video card.

Thanks pulsedrive. I'd like some more feedback from people who have actually used SLI motherboards to support dual monitors. I can't be the only one interested in this.

 

[ND40oz]

Yes, they can support 4 monitors and there are video cards out with dual dvi connectors, so you can have 4 digital displays running.

Supposedly with the new ATI Crossfire, you'll be able to get 6 displays running at a time. Not sure if nVidia will have something like this with their new integrated graphics chipset.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yes the Asus will definately do 4 monitors, and will support mix matched VGA cards(but not in SLI)

 

[SlateGrey]

That's good. I was hoping that SLI would be a back door into motherboard support for dual video cards. Thanks, gamers!

Now, what would be some good non-SLI dual videocard combinations for the setup I gave:
- a fast vidcard to support a primary large-screen lcd (1920 x 1200) with some gaming
- plus a cheaper secondary vidcard to support two smaller, older LCD's (1280x1024 and 1024x768 for now) with DVI - no gaming expected unless there is some 3-monitor wraparound game I can't resist trying

Say $400 total cost, ie: $250 main vidcard + $150 secondary vidcard?