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

Graphics Cards, Sound Cards, Joysticks, Computers, etc. Ask or advise here!

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

Postby machineman9 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:56 am

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
User avatar
machineman9
Major
Major
 
Posts: 4816
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 9:05 am

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby Ivan » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:20 am

so do you want 2 or 3 screens

- Basically, there arent a lot of cards with dual DVI
- cheap card and 512mmb dont match
Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones),  Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and [url=http://an24.uw.hu/]An-24RV[/ur
Ivan
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
 
Posts: 5805
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2003 8:18 am
Location: The netherlands

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby DizZa » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:41 am

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

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby legoalex2000 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:57 pm

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
legoalex2000
 

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby Wing Nut » Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:29 pm

Or you could get one good graphics card and go this route.
Last edited by Wing Nut on Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
[img]http://www.simviation.com/phpupload/uploads/1440377488.jpg[/img]
User avatar
Wing Nut
Colonel
Colonel
 
Posts: 12720
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2002 6:25 am

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby machineman9 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:18 pm

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
User avatar
machineman9
Major
Major
 
Posts: 4816
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 9:05 am

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby congo » Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:34 pm

I knew that
Last edited by congo on Sat Mar 17, 2007 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ImageMainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24&
User avatar
congo
Major
Major
 
Posts: 3655
Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2002 12:13 am
Location: Australia

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby jimcooper1 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:56 pm

[quote]I knew that
Last edited by jimcooper1 on Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jimcooper1
 

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby jimcooper1 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:09 pm

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
Last edited by jimcooper1 on Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jimcooper1
 

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby Ashton Lawson » Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:27 pm

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...
Image
FS Water Configurator+ has new modifications in the works, plus DirectX 10, Service Pack
1, and Radeon HD 3+ Series support.
Ashton Lawson
Major
Major
 
Posts: 1211
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:25 am
Location: Phuket, Thailand

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby congo » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:47 am

Thanks Jim.

So why do you need a 512mb card for huge LCD widescreen monitors running high resolutions? Is there that many frame buffers?
ImageMainboard: Asus P5K-Premium, CPU=Intel E6850 @ x8x450fsb 3.6ghz, RAM: 4gb PC8500 Team Dark, Video: NV8800GT, HDD: 2x1Tb Samsung F3 RAID-0 + 1Tb F3, PSU: Antec 550 Basiq, OS: Win7x64, Display: 24&
User avatar
congo
Major
Major
 
Posts: 3655
Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2002 12:13 am
Location: Australia

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby jimcooper1 » Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:27 am

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
jimcooper1
 

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby Mees » Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:34 am

Thanks for that Jim, very helpful.. :D
Image
AMD Athlon 4200+ :: Gigabyte K8n-SLi :: 1GB RAM :: 7900GTX 512MB
User avatar
Mees
Major
Major
 
Posts: 3659
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:08 am
Location: Netherlands, the

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby Sytse » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:17 am

So, if you're installing 2 cards, you want them in a SLI or crossfire setting, right?
User avatar
Sytse
Major
Major
 
Posts: 3397
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:26 am
Location: The Netherlands

Re: what would work for tri-screen (graphics cards

Postby jimcooper1 » Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:04 am

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
jimcooper1
 

Next

Return to Hardware

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 556 guests