Widescreen Gaming Forum

I did a search for x58, poked around via google. Wasn't sure what the current day answer is for my boggle.
Preface, I am a noob.

I want to know what is the most logical and economical way that I can use what I have to play video games (WoW, Planetside, GW2) on 3 monitors. I plan to use 3x 19 inch wide screen monitors turned vertically.

I have:
1. x58 triple sli motherboard, its a couple of years old. http://www.evga.com/articles/00438/
2. i7 920 (2.67g)
3. and i have two video cards. a 9800 gtx, and a gtx 460 se.

What I specifically want to know, if I can find the physical bridge piece that I have probably lost, can i just buy two more of these cheap gtx 460's to achieve what I want? Do I need to buy more expensive cards? Can I buy one premium card that would handle all 3 monitors, for the same price or less than 3 economy cards?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, ideally I would not like to purchase more than 2 more video cards, and not spend more than $600 on the solution if anyone thinks that is possible.


I just found the following, does this mean that my board will only support triple sli for a very limited number of old cards?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface

3-Way SLI

NVIDIA has revealed a triple SLI setup for the nForce 700 series motherboards, which only works on Windows Vista. The X58 intel chipset also implement 3-way SLI using an additional NF200 component based on nForce 700. The setup can be achieved using three high-end video cards with two MIO ports and a specially wired connector (or three flexible connectors used in a specific arrangement).[5][6] The technology was officially announced in December 2007, shortly after the revised G92-based 8800GTS made its way out of the factory. In practical terms, it delivers up to a 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU system.[7]

3-Way SLI is possible using all GeForce GTX except GTX 295 and GTX 460 (580, 570, 480, 470, 465, 285, 280, 275, 260). The GeForce GTX 295 does not support 3-way SLI but supports 4-way SLI and Multi-GPU. The 460 GTX was rumoured to support 3-Way SLI but upon release people found the 1 toothed 2-Way SLI bridge, this is because the 460 was not meant to replace the 260, it was supposed to push up the rest of NVIDIA's product line and make the 465 GTX more appealing, but due to heat issues 465 GTX's were considered flops and the mass of gamers stuck with 2-Way SLI 460 GTX. [8][9]

Unlike traditional SLI, or CrossFireX, 3-way SLI was limited to the GeForce 8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra, 9800 GTX and June 2008 introduced the GTX 260, GTX 280, the 9800 GTX+ and also the GTX 275, 285, 465, 470 and 480 graphic cards on the 680i, 780i 790i, certain P55 chipsets, X58 chipsets, whereas CrossFireX can be theoretically used on multiple ATI (now AMD) Radeon cards (up to 4-GPUSs, must have same core irrespective of product binning).[10]

Paradigm Shifter did a realy nice review about the GTX460 SLI. 1GB vs 2GB ! So there you can see what performance you would achieve.

IMHO easiest way would be: Buy a GTX680 ! You don't need SLI anymore on GTX600 series for Triple Monitor! So no more SLI! Hooray. I realy wouldn't reccomend TriSLI! SLI already has a few problems that its not running in all games, TriSLI is worse!
Or rival fraction: AMD Card! HD7970... generally all AMD cards from Hd5000(or was it 4000?) Series upwards can use 6 Monitors on one Card! The only problem is you can only use 2x DVI, NO HDMI and Displayport! Or 1 HDMI, 1 DVI and Displayport connections!


PS. 19" in Portrait mode ? what Resolution ? 1680*1080 ? or FullHD ?

Thanks for the response.

1. I went and read that article and liked the final conclusion of buying the 2x 2gb 460 gtx. However, if u have a card that has 2 dvi ports and an HDMI port, i guess 2 cards means one of the cards is pushing 2 monitors and 1 is pushing only one monitor? Or do you set it up where 1 card is handling 2/3rds of each of the screens? Sorry if question seems stupid, just trying to figure out what im plugging my three monitors into.

2. Yes, I have ample power. I think its a 1200 kooler master. I have a pretty beefy machine, my cards are just a tad outdated. WoW isnt the most demanding game. I 5 box on it, and run fraps at full screen and my computer barely reacts to the load.

3. I had committed in my mind to tossing my 3x 21inch cheap monitors for picking up 3 new ones. Then i realized, this is perfect opportunity to get out dremel tool and sander.. grind down some bezels and custom fab for fun. my monitors are cheap shit 21 inch 1680x1050. I cant set them to 1920, i think that option doesnt even come up.

4. I dont mind buying a $650 card (680x) over buying the 2x 460 gtx. Just not sure which route will run the smoothest. Lastly, if I use the 2x 460 gtx do i even need to use the physical sli bridge? the software wont just pickup the two cards and take over?

Thanks for your time, I've got zero experience in this area.

Thanks for the response.

1. I went and read that article and liked the final conclusion of buying the 2x 2gb 460 gtx. However, if u have a card that has 2 dvi ports and an HDMI port, i guess 2 cards means one of the cards is pushing 2 monitors and 1 is pushing only one monitor? Or do you set it up where 1 card is handling 2/3rds of each of the screens? Sorry if question seems stupid, just trying to figure out what im plugging my three monitors into.

2. Yes, I have ample power. I think its a 1200 kooler master. I have a pretty beefy machine, my cards are just a tad outdated. WoW isnt the most demanding game. I 5 box on it, and run fraps at full screen and my computer barely reacts to the load.

3. I had committed in my mind to tossing my 3x 21inch cheap monitors for picking up 3 new ones. Then i realized, this is perfect opportunity to get out dremel tool and sander.. grind down some bezels and custom fab for fun. my monitors are cheap shit 21 inch 1680x1050. I cant set them to 1920, i think that option doesnt even come up.

4. I dont mind buying a $650 card (680x) over buying the 2x 460 gtx. Just not sure which route will run the smoothest. Lastly, if I use the 2x 460 gtx do i even need to use the physical sli bridge? the software wont just pickup the two cards and take over?

Thanks for your time, I've got zero experience in this area.

If it were me, I would be buying a single GTX680 and running all 3 monitors from it. It should out-perform 2 GTX460s and support new shaders etc, plus you won't have any SLI issues (although I am running 2 x GTX560s and don't have any but some people seem to). 1680x1050 is acceptable and removing the bezels sounds like a fun project. If it all goes wrong, buy some new 24 inch monitors or something.

Also, the 690's are out... dual core... just sayin...

Also, the 690's are out... dual core... just sayin...

Microstutter... :(

Nah! GTX690 has way Less Microstutter than 680 SLI and WAYYYY less than HD7970 CF

so I basically went round and round in circles, but my hesitation was because i thought gtx 680 was ~$680. Turns out that was just some crappy models that had been overpriced everywhere I looked. So as they started populating the last couple of days I have found that once stock isnt an issue, I can actually expect to spend $499-$549 for a gtx 680 (varying by model). So I am 100% going this route. As for the monitors, I had put all my tools in storage because i figured the days of tinkering with stuff and making messes was over. Big shocker, heading to storage this weekend to grab a couple of my dremels, sanders and etc. If I find a relatively way clean way to dissassemble monitor, trim flash, and seal the light bleed i'll post it. Stuff im sure others have already done.

Look at EVGA's 670GTX with 4g of Vram. Might be the ticket for multiple monitors.

there will probably be a reflex to chastize me, but I am sick of being fixated on refreshing the webpage for 10 different retailers looking for the 680gtx and the 670 4gb. I said phock it and bought the super clocked 670 from Newegg. The 670's seem to have extremely little posted about them on these forums and the nvidia forums. I have this nagging suspicion in the back of my head that 3 way monitor on a 2gb gtx 670 might not be the highest performer, but I only plan to play guild wars 2 or WoW type games - and i am perfectly fine with sacrificing a couple of bloom/shader/spell detail settings if it will run.

Any thoughts on the "ability" of the 670 gtx 2gb being able to do triple monitor 21's in fullscreen for "said" games? I dont play battlefield, so its not like im looking to bench mark and set world records with the thing.

edited to fix adderal induced typos

Well, it sounds like the GTX 670 4GB in SLI is the ticket.

Assuming it out powers the 580 3GB edition (wouldn't make sense for it not too).

I've also realized that you can run Surround on a single card. I wonder how the performance is on a single, and on SLI.

LONG STORY short. I am playing on the 670 gtx oc, it is running WoW and D3 both on fullest settings and doesnt seem to have the slightest problem doing so.

The only problem is that i have 22 inch wide monitors, and i turned them vertically, both because of limitations of my monitor stand, as well as limitations on the desk room. So now I am just trying to figure out how to dial in the software side to see if this can work at all.

Screenshots within the games are terrible. have to screenshot desktop with game in windowed mode. Also, the games dont seem to be increasing my view, i am just getting a stretched view more or less in each game. These are the only 2 games i have installed at the moment.

Nvidia Supports 3x1P ? I thought the only thing that works was 3x1L+extended ?

Surround Setup/Requirements pages now list Portrait as functional. :)

I probably should have clarified. When i play WoW and Diablo 3 in portrait mode, it simply stretches across all 3 monitors. It doesnt increase field of view at all. In landscape both WoW and D3 played fine.

Look at EVGA's 670GTX with 4g of Vram. Might be the ticket for multiple monitors.

EVGA GeForce GTX 670 4GB+ w/Backplate

whoa, didn't know these existed...I'm glad I didn't just order a couple 2GB GTX 670s, going to wait a lil for them to be available and then try them out =)

thanks for the info