Nvidia possibly doing triple screen with next card.

[thenjwaslike]

whether its ati or nvidia - absolutely wonderful news for the multi-monitor community!!

[Tamlin]

From the looks of it they are doing it with out the need of Display Port so that is awesome.

The Images shown are with the acer 3D monitor and you can see it in this link and it does not have a DP port.

Link ... Click Me

Nvidia might do a softTH solution:

Requirements:

* Windows Vista or Windows 7
* NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit (the glasses)
* 120Hz display (any display capable of 120Hz should do)
* NVIDIA GT200 or GF100 GPUs in SLI

http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=8203

Since the requirements are 2X GT200 in SLI or 2X GF100 in SLI, you might need to run the second screen off the other card. This is similar to what you can already do with softTH today. :)

Remains to be seen if FERMI brings out TH capabilities on a single card. I hope so and it would probably require a DP as well, since I doubt it has more internal clocks in the GPU (according to ATI, this would be a higher cost on the GPU if implemented and would increase the cost of the GPU).

Would be nice if people could check out the pictures and see if 3d vision surround is run on 2 cards or one. That might give us an indication of how Nvidia will support it!:D

[Paradigm Shifter]

Hm.

Well, if nothing else, this will drive adoption of triple-wide as a gaming platform (thus all of us win) and make the two main players really kick up the driver development again.

If SLI is required, price for entry into 3D Vision Surround is increased for those who don't already have a GT200 series SLI setup.

Fascinating if they've taken a SoftTH method. Time will tell, I guess. :)

[Tamlin]

Hm.

Well, if nothing else, this will drive adoption of triple-wide as a gaming platform (thus all of us win) and make the two main players really kick up the driver development again.

If SLI is required, price for entry into 3D Vision Surround is increased for those who don't already have a GT200 series SLI setup.

Fascinating if they've taken a SoftTH method. Time will tell, I guess. :)

This is true. We will all win, since developers would much more take into consideration 3 screen setups when all players (GPU manufacturers) are onboard. Regardless on how they implement it, its a good thing for widescreen gamers! :D

A softTH method is required I think for GT200 and GF100 cards, since they don't have the internal clocks to drive more then 2 displays at once. Question is if they will enable 3 screens on FERMI. If you remember Dave's answers to this, 3X dvi/hdmi support must be enabled in the GPU and would require a much higher cost of the GPU itself. This is why they went with DP. The FERMI they used CES had 2X DVI and 1X HDMI, but they used up to 3X fermi with their demonstrations. I can't remember they used a single card with 3 screens there.

Edit: I came to think that one the bright side, softTH supports PLP and if Nvidia would go that route, they might bring PLP support as an option too! :)

[Paradigm Shifter]

Perhaps they solved the issue with SLI/CrossFireX where only a single DVI port functions? Well, they must have done, unless they're using a splitter cable type setup.

Can't wait for more games to have Surround support, although I'm sure they still won't deal with FOV correctly! :lol:

To be honest, with the amount already crammed (supposedly) inside a Fermi die, what's an extra DVI controller? ;)

If it is SoftTH-style, it's gonna be a driver support nightmare for games. :( Let's hope they allow custom Surround profiles, the way they do custom SLI profiles. Let's also hope that they allow mosaic SLI modes (which are Quadro only - but only by software) on the consumer cards, too.

This is true. We will all win, since developers would much more take into consideration 3 screen setups when all players (GPU manufacturers) are onboard. Regardless on how they implement it, its a good thing for widescreen gamers! :D

A softTH method is required I think for GT200 and GF100 cards, since they don't have the internal clocks to drive more then 2 displays at once. Question is if they will enable 3 screens on FERMI. If you remember Dave's answers to this, 3X dvi/hdmi support must be enabled in the GPU and would require a much higher cost of the GPU itself. This is why they went with DP. The FERMI they used CES had 2X DVI and 1X HDMI, but they used up to 3X fermi with their demonstrations. I can't remember they used a single card with 3 screens there.

Edit: I came to think that one the bright side, softTH supports PLP and if Nvidia would go that route, they might bring PLP support as an option too! :)

[Tamlin]

Hehehe... I bet we still have to provide the correct FOV adjustments. :P

There is rumored a new sli mode being introduced and I bet its SLI Mosaic. For those who are unaware of this (since it a quadro function) here's a little reading:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_sli_mosaic_mode.html

Qadro cards are basically Geforce cards and people have flashed Geforce cards to Quadro in the past.

[Paradigm Shifter]

If you think about it, the only ways that SLI would really work with triple-screens are either alternate frame render or mosaic (tiling) rendering. Split frame would fail horribly I suspect... although if tri-SLI can have one card dedicated to each screen, then that could potentially be quite awesome too.

From all appearances, mosaic mode SLI rendering is the closest modern multi-GPU solutions have to the 'Scan Line Interleaving' of 3dfx. Which was great on load balancing between the cards.

...

No bet on the FOV adjustments - lots of games out there will limit the FOV for 'fairness' - odd that using a £100 ultra-sensitive Razer mouse compared with a low-end MS Intellimouse isn't considered to be 'unfair'. ;) I'm sure Racer_S, dopefish and others will still have their work cut out for them. ;)

[BHawthorne]

My take on it all is they repurposed the professional SLI Mosaic mode to work in a single triple-span configuration. What has may attention is that multi-GPU + multi-card is working with multi-display. That's a feat even ATI doesn't have working yet with EyeFinity. Sure they've got CrossFire, but not using ports out of multiple cards.

My question is how do they only limit it to GT200 and GF100 cards? One would think it would work on any CUDA enabled G80 or newer.

Looks like 2010 is the year surround-gaming shifts more mainstream.

[bowenac]

My take on it all is they repurposed the professional SLI Matrix mode to work in a single triple-span configuration. What has may attention is that multi-GPU + multi-card is working with multi-display. That's a feat even ATI doesn't have working yet with EyeFinity. Sure they've got CrossFire, but not using ports out of multiple cards.

I was just going to say the same thing. So basically NVIDIA is making it possible to use the existing ports on card with out the need for a DP port. Yea that might sound exp but when you think about it. This option would actually be cheaper then buying monitors that have DP and adapters that cost $100 so basically you are even getting more performance this way and they are selling more cards something I wish ATI would have done.

The problem I see with this is how it handles the screens say in SLI with two cards.

One card handles center and left monitor, the other card handles the single right monitor. Now if it were to treat each display as a single display then I see the card running two monitors bogging down.

Now if it treats all the displays as one like Eyefinity say 5760X1200 then it should use the cards in SLI to power it as a single resolution and then I think it would share the load on both cards equally.

[tineras]

Maybe they will release the drivers for the 200 series before they actually release the new cards. That would be awesome! Now I don't have to ditch my 2 GTX 275s which are plenty for anything I'm playing these days.

[bowenac]

Maybe they will release the drivers for the 200 series before they actually release the new cards. That would be awesome! Now I don't have to ditch my 2 GTX 275s which are plenty for anything I'm playing these days.

:rockout

If that is the case then I would sell my 5870 and get two 260's or something and not have to deal with DP and flickering displays.

[BHawthorne]

[quote]Maybe they will release the drivers for the 200 series before they actually release the new cards. That would be awesome! Now I don't have to ditch my 2 GTX 275s which are plenty for anything I'm playing these days.

:rockout

If that is the case then I would sell my 5870 and get two 260's or something and not have to deal with DP and flickering displays.

2 GTX260's would be dirt cheap, espectially with people dumping 200-series for 300-series cards soon. I've already got 4 GTX260's in my machine, so I'm set. :wink:

[bowenac]

[quote][quote]Maybe they will release the drivers for the 200 series before they actually release the new cards. That would be awesome! Now I don't have to ditch my 2 GTX 275s which are plenty for anything I'm playing these days.

:rockout

If that is the case then I would sell my 5870 and get two 260's or something and not have to deal with DP and flickering displays.

2 GTX260's would be dirt cheap, espectially with people dumping 200-series for 300-series cards soon. I've already got 4 GTX260's in my machine, so I'm set. :wink:

Nice well there you go.

[01Boxer]

Pros:
-Does not require Displayport
-3D in triplescreen.
-Can heat your house in winter.

Cons:
-Sounds like a 747 at takeoff
-Requires a 2000W power supply.
-Has a slight tendency to start fires.

:wink:

[bowenac]

Pros:
-Does not require Displayport
-3D in triplescreen.
-Can heat your house in winter.

Cons:
-Sounds like a 747 at takeoff
-Requires a 2000W power supply.
-Has a slight tendency to start fires.

:wink:

HAHA yea right come on man really. Although that was hilarious your pro's are accurate but the cons......747 really, 2000w really, start fires really... haha

[Paradigm Shifter]

I'll be the pessimistic voice of caution for a minute... OK, we know that EyeFinity has some driver issues, but we don't yet know what sort of issues will become evident with '3D Vision Surround'. We might find some right... humdingers. With how demanding the WSGF community is for things to be done correctly (and rightly so) I'm sure we'll find any issues there are.

Once it's out, it then becomes a balance between the advantages/disadvantages of each implementation of surround, and how quickly ATi and nVidia can iron out any issues that are encountered by the communities.

...

Exciting times are still among us, folks... at least, once new cards are released. ;)

...

:lol: Boxer, a humorous take on it, yes! ;) Although the three cons seem to stem from that last 'pro'. :o Which wouldn't be such a pro in the summer when temps are going up...

[fatlazyhomer]

So can we save ourselves alot of typing and just call it nfinity? :lol:

[Kinesis]

So can we save ourselves alot of typing and just call it nfinity? :lol:

how 'bout nVinity ? :?

[CrownSeven]

Maybe they will release the drivers for the 200 series before they actually release the new cards. That would be awesome! Now I don't have to ditch my 2 GTX 275s which are plenty for anything I'm playing these days.

Haha! If they do that, I'm ripping out the GTX 275 out my wife's PC, and putting it in my gaming rig which has 2 GTX275 for tri sli action baby! Sorry sweety! :twisted:

[Mach1.9pants]

At first I was annoyed that NVidia didn't spoil this capability earlier (surround not 3D, I knew they did 3D); I brought a 5970 as there was no peep from NV, oh well they lost a sale. But even if Fermi comes out and (taking into account the expense of 2 cards) kill EF with awesomeness I will still have had several months at 5760 AND in Win7 not XP :)

However I have had no probs with the 5970 only the useless Apple adaptor, but nothing an unplug-plug in doesn't sort. No games (Crysis and GTA4 aside) have brought it to it's knees at 5760 so I feel I can wait until the dust settle before moving on.

My wallet just cannot handle 3x120Hz displays and 2 more GPUs so I won't be going 3D anytime soon so Fermi will not be an upgrade for me, really.

But this is such great news for WS/MM gaming, I hope NV and ATi are beating on the Devs/Pubs to support this with big pointy sticks!

Nice rant by Kyle at HardOCP here