what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards)?

[machineman9]

i am going to build a computer... just sorting out what hardware will be in it before i get saving. anyway, does anyone know of a (cheapish) graphics card which will allow for dual monitor output (preferably HDMI but VGA would also be fine) and is also preferably a 512mb graphics card too.
cheers

[Ivan]

so do you want 2 or 3 screens

- Basically, there arent a lot of cards with dual DVI
- cheap card and 512mmb dont match

[DizZa]

The only 512mb cheap cards are marketting gimmicks designed to get people to buy them even if they are really slow.

[legoalex2000]

I'll give you a straight forward answer. if your actually looking to get any sort of actual performance out of this, you will need 2 video cards. trying to pump 3 outputs from one card with the technology we have today, and depending on your budget, is like shoving a block into a circle hole.

basically what you need is 2 video cards. i'll leave my expertise at that for now and let CJ, Nick, Congo, and the like to finish off what im saying.

[smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]Ramos

[Wing Nut]

Or you could get one good graphics card and go this route.

[machineman9]

i want 2 graphics cards... but they will need to be dual monitor compatible, so that one graphics card can handle the 2 side monitors and the other graphics card handles the main monitor... making 3 screens

[congo]

I knew that

[jimcooper1]

[quote]I knew that

[jimcooper1]

i want 2 graphics cards... but they will need to be dual monitor compatible, so that one graphics card can handle the 2 side monitors and the other graphics card handles the main monitor... making 3 screens

An alternative is to get a Matrox DualHead2Go with something like a 7900GS.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/p ... o/home.php
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143046

Your main monitor could run off the DVI connector and the DualHead2Go off the VGA connector.

Regards

Jim

[Ashton Lawson]

maybe not cheap or anything, but i suggest:

GeForce 7950 GX2     +     Matrox TripleHead2Go

that card is already 2 GPUs onboard, running on SLI already, and the Matrox unit will giv u three screens, without blowing ur fps to smitherenes...

[congo]

Thanks Jim.

So why do you need a 512mb card for huge LCD widescreen monitors running high resolutions? Is there that many frame buffers?

[jimcooper1]

Thanks Jim.

So why do you need a 512mb card for huge LCD widescreen monitors running high resolutions? Is there that many frame buffers?

A large monitor will typically be 2560x1600 pixels which requires over 16MB.  I simplified the process considerably because the amount of information is not just the pixel information its all the addressing info that goes along with it.  So if you double the resolution you double the amount of addressing so effectively you end up needing more than double the memory.

The point I was really trying to make is that you need BOTH Memory and pixel pipelines..don't just assume that if you've got 512MB of VRAM that your card will be fast.

Its a bit like a Gas Tank....You can put a large Gas tank in a car with a small engine..you'll go a lot further but you won't go any faster.

Regards

Jim

[Mees]

Thanks for that Jim, very helpful..

[Sytse]

So, if you're installing 2 cards, you want them in a SLI or crossfire setting, right?

[jimcooper1]

So, if you're installing 2 cards, you want them in a SLI or crossfire setting, right?

Wrong. Only use SLi or Crossfire if you're going to be running a single monitor.  Even then  I doubt it will make much difference. Flight Sim is CPU intensive not Graphics intensive (the CPU will max out long before a decent GPU).  Flight Sim really comes into its own when you run multiple displays.  Panoramic views and/or multiple instrument panels.  So SLi and Crossfire (which is aimed at pushing all the GPU capacity onto a single monitor) is not using Flight Sim to its best advantage..which in my opinion is to get as much of the view and as many instruments as possible visible at the same time and positioned so that your eye-scan mimics what you would do in a real aircraft.

Regards

Jim