Help me with SLI!

[Nagasama]

you can, one monitor will be running off each card.
but you have to dis able SLI mode for it to work.

 

[djmaddogfreak]

thats wat i was wondering.... looks like i have to choose one or the other, unless i get 2 dual monitor cards, then i could run dual monitor in SLI right?

 

[Nagasama]

no, you cant run dual monitor SLI (where both monitors are using the SLI cards).
for instance, i have 2 7900gs' in SLI. by themselves, each could run 2 monitors. but you cant run the cards in SLI mode while using two monitors. like in the nvidia control panel where you turn SLI on and off, you cant turn it on if you have multiple displays selected.
nvidia's drivers are not made that way.
you have to enable SLI to game (only using one monitor), or you can run each monitor off a seperate card and game with it like that. i think. im not too sure how you go about setting up dual monitors for gaming, as i only have one besides, the line down the middle would drive me crazy.
but, i am sure that you cannot run graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire while running a dual monitor setup.

 

[djmaddogfreak]

Yea, i wasnt thinking of gaming dual monitors, but i do enjoy "working" with dual monitors, i just was wondering what the easiest way of switching between SLI and dual monitors would be...

 

[Nagasama]

there is a script you can build and run to make it quick:
1) Open notepad
2) Copy the following in:

Option Explicit

Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

' Open the SLI Mutil-GPU applet.
WshShell.Run("rundll32.exe nvcpl.dll,LaunchMultiGpuApplet")
' On slower machines this Sleep value may need to be increased.
WScript.Sleep(500)

' Send the keystrokes to change the mode.
WshShell.SendKeys("%E")
WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}")
WScript.Sleep(500)
WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}")

WScript.Quit(0)

3) Save the file as "SwitchSLI.vbs"
Note: Be sure to change the drop down box from *.txt to All Files.
4) Run.

you run it to turn SLI on, and run it to turn SLI off (for dual monitors).
otherwise, you have to turn it on and off in the nvidia control panel and re-boot.

 

[djmaddogfreak]

ok, one more question...

running dual monitors... better to use one dual monitor card, or 2 single monitor cards?

 

[Nagasama]

hmm, i dont really know. depends on the cards i suppose.
a single 7900gs will have better performance in dual monitor as 2 x 7300 gs, i would think. plus, it will run games much better on a single monitor.

 

[djmaddogfreak]

Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Good deal?

 

[Nagasama]

yeah totally. i dont know too much about BFG cards, but i dont hear of anyone bashin on them, so i suppose they must be okay.

here's an EVGA 7900gs KO on ebay....your decision:
eVGA 7900GS 256MB PCI-E NR - (eBay item 180157260586 end time Sep-14-07 04:22:53 PDT)

i have two of these cards and can vouch for their excellence. newegg's price on their evga 7900's is ridiculoso (i paid 50.00 less for my first one A YEAR ago). and they are out of stock.

 

[djmaddogfreak]

thanx for the e-bay link, i placed a bid, we'll see wat happens thanks again.