Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
I'm in the process of deciding on components for a new build and would appreciate clarification on the possibility of having three monitors.
I'm thinking I'm going with a Sandy Bridge setup, and I've read that these are better suited to double graphics card setups than triple as the third slot would be crippled at 4x. If both cards have dual outputs, can I output to three monitors? I'd like to use three 1920 x 1200 screens in a horizontal arrangement for work and play.
Is either ATI or nVidia better suited to this? I'm looking to get the latest generation of GPU (probably just a single card to start with), whichever manufacturer I go with.
This also needs to work in both Linux and Windows.
Many thanks for any help.
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
Most ATI 5 and 6 series graphics cards can output to 3 monitors from a single card, as long as one monitor uses native displayport or you have an active adapter. I assume that the functionality works under both Linux and Windows.
In general for linux, most people recommend nvidia as their driver support is a little better. But to output to three monitors with nvidia cards you will *have* to buy two cards. You'll also need to be careful with your motherboard choices, as not all sandy bridge motherboards are licensed for SLI. With ATI you can run three montors of one card, and AFAIK all Sandy Bridge motherboards *are* licensed for crossfire if you choose to add a second card later.
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
AMD/ATI have something called Eyefinity (from the 5xxx cards onwards) whereby you can drive 3 monitors with a single card. You'll need to use the DisplayPort on the card for one of the monitors though.
Nvidia have Nvidia Surround, but to drive 3 monitors you'll need to run SLI.
Clearly having a single card is going to be cheaper, but then you have to think about performance and what resolution you're going to be running at. If you want decent performance at high resolution, you'll probably want CrossFire or SLI anyway.
No idea about Linux, I'm afraid.
Edit: I type too slow.
To add what scaryjim posted, the ASUS P8P67 Pro, Elite and Deluxe versions have SLI and CrossFire as seen in this table: http://www.legitreviews.com/images/r...p8p67_spec.jpg
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
Great - thanks for making that a lot clearer to me. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bearbear
That's an extremely helpful table as I'd just more or less decided on an Asus P8P67 and was searching for the differences between the models.
I reckon I'll go for an ATI card, but will look around some Linux forums to get a feel for how the 6xxx generation is working first.
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Impeller
That's an extremely helpful table as I'd just more or less decided on an Asus P8P67 and was searching for the differences between the models.
Yeah that table came in handy for me too when I was speccing myself up for a potential Sandy Bridge build last week, I looked at the P8P67 as well and wanted to know what the differences were between it and the Pro model (which seems to be the most popular choice).
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
I would defiantly say ati at this point, the HD 6950 is a perfect card for it.
Most of them come standard with 2x dvi 2x display port and a hdmi
Also that 2GB frame buffer really shines through in multi display.
Not to mention u can flash most of them to 6970s
Re: Sandy Bridge system - three monitors?
I went ahead and ordered my components last night, and opted for a nVidia GTX570 in the end (the rather good-looking Gainward Phantom model). If it were just Windows I wanted to use I'd have gone for an ATI, but after reading horror stories and general disatisfaction at ATI drivers in Linux I decided to go with nVidia.
:juggle:
Still, it was very useful to have the basics explained to me. By the time I can afford more monitors I should be able to afford another card, too. :)
