Who has an SLI system working with LCD monitor?

[ahurtt]

I originally posted this in the video forum but wasn't getting the kind of volume of responses I was hoping for over there. I figured it has somewhat of something to do with the new SLI motherboards out there now so I am trying here also.

Anybody out there running and SLI gaming system on an LCD monitor? I have read some other posts that say sli is problematic with some LCD monitors and I want to find out which ones are good and which ones to avoid. My video cards (BFG 6600 GT OC on Asus A8N SLI Dlx.) have DVI outputs only so I am currently using a DVI to analog adapter plug to run my CRT monitor but it gets wavy and wobbly at higher resolutions above 11x8@75Hz and I think it may be because of the adapter plug. This monitor (ViewSonic A90F+) doesn't exhibit this problem on my old AGP system. So I'd like to switch to a monitor that has native DVI input for my SLI system and use my current monitor on my old machine. As my understanding goes, there are not any CRT monitors that have DVI input. Is this assumption correct? Plus I need to save some space on my desk. I'd like to find a good quality LCD monitor that will run at 1280x1024 that is good for gaming. I have about $500-$600 I can spend on it. Whether or not I get an LCD monitor, I still need a second monitor anyway so I can run both my machines.

[EDIT] Please let me clarify my request a little bit. I am interested in knowing what monitors work well with SLI systems for people who are ACTUALLY USING 2 VIDEO CARDS IN SLI MODE! Please post your monitor make and model if it works well or if you had problems with any specific monitors also.

 

[century child]

There are problems reported with using SLI and widescreen monitors that have yet to be fixed, so any widescreen is to be avoided at this point. Other than that, any good LCD will do. Here is a link to a great deal on a 20" in the H forums: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=878095

The 2001FP is the non-widescreen. The post shows you how to get it for $486.75. It looks like one of those blink and you'll miss it deals so it will probably pay to be quick about it.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I have also read that DVI only monitor don't work with SLI. Only monitors that support standard 15pin dsub VGA inputs will work. I ran SLI for a few days with a Samsung 712N non DVI monitor so I know that one works.

 

[imported_BIOSMonkey]

The problem that concerned me when I was looking into nvidia cards was that you can't have two LCD monitors in DVI mode while in SLI. They released a new driver recently, I don't know if they fixed it or not.

I gave up and have an ATI on order.

PS- I have two Dell 2001FPs....

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I have also read that DVI only monitor don't work with SLI. Only monitors that support standard 15pin dsub VGA inputs will work. I ran SLI for a few days with a Samsung 712N non DVI monitor so I know that one works.

That is so freaking STUPID if it's true! Why oh WHY then do video card makers put out video cards with big "nVidia SLI Ready" stamps on the box and then only put DVI outputs on them if SLI does not work with DVI??? DAMMIT that burns me.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: century child
There are problems reported with using SLI and widescreen monitors that have yet to be fixed, so any widescreen is to be avoided at this point. Other than that, any good LCD will do. Here is a link to a great deal on a 20" in the H forums: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=878095

The 2001FP is the non-widescreen. The post shows you how to get it for $486.75. It looks like one of those blink and you'll miss it deals so it will probably pay to be quick about it.

When you say "widescreen" what do you mean? Are you referring to screens with a 9:16 aspect ratio as opposed to 3:4? Or something else?

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: BIOSMonkey
The problem that concerned me when I was looking into nvidia cards was that you can't have two LCD monitors in DVI mode while in SLI. They released a new driver recently, I don't know if they fixed it or not.

I gave up and have an ATI on order.

PS- I have two Dell 2001FPs....

I don't know really if that is considered a "bug" that needs fixing. To my knowledge it is just a known limitation of nVidia's SLI.

 

[century child]

DVI does work with SLI. I think Guitar Daddy misunderstood something in what he read. DVI widescreens are known to have problems, maybe he mistook this or did not notice the widescreen part, I don't know. Anyway, I can verify from experience that DVI LCD monitors do work fine with SLI. And by widescreen, I am talking about the 16:9 ratio screens.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: century child
DVI does work with SLI. I think Guitar Daddy misunderstood something in what he read. DVI widescreens are known to have problems, maybe he mistook this or did not notice the widescreen part, I don't know. Anyway, I can verify from experience that DVI LCD monitors do work fine with SLI. And by widescreen, I am talking about the 16:9 ratio screens.

blah well that still kinda sucks cuz I really wanted a widescreen format monitor so I could play games at widescreen resolutions without distortion. blah. And plus it's better for watching DVDs.

 

[Solutions]

Liquid Video A170E101 works flawlessly with SLI enabled. Its only a 17" LCD (no widescreen) and it only has a VGA input but it works and its cheap.

 

[meolsen]

It's not true. I'm using a 1920x1200 Sony 23" LCD flat panel with SLI - no problems.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: meolsen
It's not true. I'm using a 1920x1200 Sony 23" LCD flat panel with SLI - no problems.

Wow, nice. What does one of those cost? Is 1920x1200 the native resolution? How does it look at 1280x1024? I'll likely be running most games at that resolution? Do they make a slightly smaller version? Say a 19"?

 

[imported_BIOSMonkey]

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: BIOSMonkey
The problem that concerned me when I was looking into nvidia cards was that you can't have two LCD monitors in DVI mode while in SLI. They released a new driver recently, I don't know if they fixed it or not.

I gave up and have an ATI on order.

PS- I have two Dell 2001FPs....

I don't know really if that is considered a "bug" that needs fixing. To my knowledge it is just a known limitation of nVidia's SLI.

A known limitation??? Are you saying they intentionally designed it this way? Ha, that would truly be a huge screwup!!!

Whether it is a bug in the drivers (as I read it was elsewhere in these forums) or a limitation of the SLI architecture, it is a HUGE oversight on nVidia's part to release a design that doesn't work with multiple DVI-enabled monitors. If I had spent wads of cash on two video cards that have two DVI ports each and found my entire workstation setup crippled because of this, I would go ballistic. I mean, two high-end vid cards, 4 DVI ports, and I can only use 1?????

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: BIOSMonkey

Originally posted by: ahurtt

Originally posted by: BIOSMonkey
The problem that concerned me when I was looking into nvidia cards was that you can't have two LCD monitors in DVI mode while in SLI. They released a new driver recently, I don't know if they fixed it or not.

I gave up and have an ATI on order.

PS- I have two Dell 2001FPs....

I don't know really if that is considered a "bug" that needs fixing. To my knowledge it is just a known limitation of nVidia's SLI.

A known limitation??? Are you saying they intentionally designed it this way? Ha, that would truly be a huge screwup!!!

Whether it is a bug in the drivers (as I read it was elsewhere in these forums) or a limitation of the SLI architecture, it is a HUGE oversight on nVidia's part to release a design that doesn't work with multiple DVI-enabled monitors. If I had spent wads of cash on two video cards that have two DVI ports each and found my entire workstation setup crippled because of this, I would go ballistic. I mean, two high-end vid cards, 4 DVI ports, and I can only use 1?????

Well, what I meant was that to my knowledge, you cannot actively use 2 monitors of any kind (DVI or not) while SLI is turned on. You should still be able to use all 4 monitors so long as you turn SLI off when you do so. And the SLI feature is aimed squarely at playing games meaning that it is only useful while gaming. Are there games out there that support playing them using multiple monitors? Keep in mind that SLI is a configuration option on your display properties tab that you can turn off and on. So even though you have an SLI system doesn't mean you are always running in SLI mode. The moment you "turn on" or enable SLI, the only monitor that will show output is the one connected to the primary output port on the card in the primary PCI express slot. And yes, this is by design AFAIK.

 

[imported_trivial]

Originally posted by: ahurtt
As my understanding goes, there are not any CRT monitors that have DVI input. Is this assumption correct?

nope

 

[imported_BIOSMonkey]

Well, what I meant was that to my knowledge, you cannot actively use 2 monitors of any kind (DVI or not) while SLI is turned on. You should still be able to use all 4 monitors so long as you turn SLI off when you do so. And the SLI feature is aimed squarely at playing games meaning that it is only useful while gaming. Are there games out there that support playing them using multiple monitors? Keep in mind that SLI is a configuration option on your display properties tab that you can turn off and on. So even though you have an SLI system doesn't mean you are always running in SLI mode. The moment you "turn on" or enable SLI, the only monitor that will show output is the one connected to the primary output port on the card in the primary PCI express slot. And yes, this is by design AFAIK.

Yeah ... if you have two cards with a single port each in SLI, I understand that the second card's output is disabled. But this does not explain why the secondary port on the primary card has to be disabled.

SLI is truly crap if this is by design as you say.

 

[Mackie2k]

SLI and DVI has issues in general...

But it's DVI-D......

If you plug into VGA, it's fine....

This is some type of sync issue, I'm sure it will be fixed

 

[meolsen]

For desktop apps you have to run native 1920x1200 or it is not good. I run farcry and half life at full 1920x1200, but you can run at less fine because the images in games don't need to be as crisp as desktop.

The issue is monitor timing. On CRTs the default is GMT (general monitor timing) and it sends blanking data that permits the edges of the screen to go blank/black. If you run at high res (1920x1200) with that blanking data you will run at 193ghz, which exceeds the specs of dvi. To run dvi at high res, you must use coordinated video timing (CVT) and eliminate blanking (which you can only do on LCDs). It can be done, but it's fudgy. On my nvidia 6800GT (SLI) you don' get the menu for monitor timing unless you are running analog. So I plug in analog, change to CVT non blanking, use Riva Tuner to make the card "compatible" with the nforce motherboard, and reboot in DVI - done. that does it but it is not intuitive and took me a good week and a half to figure out.

Mike

 

[finbarqs]

you know what, when you have SLI, you can't have multiple display monitors. Simple as that. But if you disable SLI, you can get up to 4 displays.