SLI config with two screens

[MickeyFinns]

Hi basically i need confirmation of whether my plan is feasible.

Basically right now im running one card into two screens for windows but when i game i have configured it to turn off one screen and put all power into driving one screen.

I know want to up my spec and here is my plan.

By i secong identical card and SLI them together. Plug each screen into each card and for windows use disable SLI with the nVidia controller. This way each card drives each screen.

Then when i want to game i enable SLI and this should ignore one of the screens and drive the main screen off both cards since SLI only supports one output.

I believe this should work but would love some confirmation before i blow cash on the second card.

Cheers

[Abram]

The only reason to have SLI (or Crossfire) is for good gaming performance... or intense 3D grapics work, like making a CG movie.

Using SLI for things other than that is quite pointless, as 2d apps aren't a problem for modern video cards.

So unless you're planning on running a game on each screen, buy the second card for faster GAMING on ONE dispaly, and use a program like Ultra-res, Radlinker, Powerstrip, or any other program that will let you assign custom monitor and 3D properties to a specific .exe.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Should work. The second screen will go dark when you switch on SLI, and lit when you disable it - that's the theory, anyway. Not sure how it will work in practice.

Might be better to buy one card that can drive both screens at the same time...

[oqvist]

How about nVidia fixing this issue... IS it still there with the new 8800 cards?

dual monitors is great for gaming. Primarily simulations though of course. FSX having panels on second monitor, RAcing sims having motec or other stuff handy or just getting a pretty damn big rear mirror lol.

I would buy a 8800 directly if it supported that and stereo3d even when running SLI...

8800 is a "SLI" video card from the start I think so that is definiatly not something to get for a dual monitor setup if so...

How fast is it when disabling the second core?

[Paradigm Shifter]

I'm sorry... what?

8800 an SLI card from the start?

Huh?

No, it isn't. :?

The 7950GX2 was a card that had two GPUs on it and was an SLI card from the start. The 8800 is a single card, single chip design...

...

And it's not an 'issue' per se - it's more of an unwanted side effect of getting two cards to cooperate together on a single picture. By the very design of SLI, it isn't really something that can be fixed...