Widescreen Gaming Forum

A list of how I setup and use working (independent/non surround) and gaming (span/surround) modes under: Windows 8; Nvidia Surround 2D; and a single Nvidia graphics card (of the right type) driving 3 (DVI) monitors.

The contents of this post have been moved and made into an article Win8 and NV Surround Guide: Working vs. Gaming Modes.

Continue any discussion on this article in the thread you are now reading, below.

Thank you very much for this!

I have been using Windows 8 for quite some time both for work and gaming.
This issues did annoy me but not to the extent that i really dug in to it.
And now I don't have to. Thank you!

anteronoid, I'm glad to learn that my post has helped you out.

Great post JB.
Thanks

Would you mind if we turned this into an article on the site?

I'm thinking about upgrading from Win 7 Pro to Win 8 - I'm using nvidia surround and I just wanted to know if it's worth it? My folks recently got Win8 on their new laptop, and I've had a little play and it seems alright - but they also have a touch screen.

Toothless spoon. It will be absolutely worth upgrading to Win 8 if you have a multiple monitor setup and an Nvidia card. The reasons why are contained in the article. Just note that only the more recent Nvidia cards support, on a single card, three or four monitors.

john bentley wrote:Toothless spoon. It will be absolutely worth upgrading to Win 8 if you have a multiple monitor setup and an Nvidia card. The reasons why are contained in the article. Just note that only the more recent Nvidia cards support, on a single card, three or four monitors.

I upgraded and so far its pretty good. I don't use the start menu thing much, I find that it's not exactly optimised for multi monitor same with media player etc. I was reading up on a lot of things and it would appear that Nvidia haven't released proper drivers for win 8 yet.

everything about that post is awesome sauce with a side of cool beans.

Personally i only really needed 1 tip, and for me it worked immediately!

the tldr version for me would just be:
if you already have surround setup, working, ordered, just use windows+p and choose "extend" for 3x desktops, and choose "second screen only" for a SLS.

works like a champ and i didnt have to change a thing

I'm honestly awe struck on this one, i can't believe how well it works and how easy it is

Thanks for a super informative article, John!

Just note that only the more recent Nvidia cards support, on a single card, three or four monitors.

Thing is, I'm having trouble actually getting this to work. Does it require one of the 6xx series cards? I'm using 560s in SLI, and I just can't get this to work - I'm thinking it's because my monitors are plugged into the two cards.

Also, there are a few more slightly unique things about my setup - first, I have a second (older 8800GT) graphics card powering my TV, and second, the TV is a "second monitor". Basically the problem is that the solution in the article basically doesn't work as intended at all, and seems to have no effect. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Basically I WIN+P'd to "secondary monitor", set up everything in "working mode", then WIN+P'd to "extend", and ran through the Surround setup with bezel comp and all that. Switching back to "secondary monitor" basically has no effect.

Anybody have any ideas? Am I SOL and I have to upgrade to 6xx series, or even more SOL and this just won't work with an actual second (really, fourth) monitor?

Toothless spoon. Glad it is going fairly well. If by " I find that it's not exactly optimised for multi monitor same with media player" you mean to reference problems with keeping a metro app open side by side with desktop apps and opening the start menu on another monitor then, yes, there is that problem.

But it seems to be a Windows 8 problem, not an Nvidia one. The upcoming windows update "8.1" is rumoured to fix this (as well as provide an option for the good old start button).

I think the start screen superior to the start menu (as found in prior windows versions) as a way of organising and finding your programs.

ugzz, thanks for your kinds words. Yeah, the windows key + P trick was new to me too and it is awesome.

Brett, yes my article is only tested against a single Nvidia Card, the 680. I have no experience with SLI.

The Nvidia "3D Surround Configuration Tool" at
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technol ... quirements provides relevant information.

For example, in the "GPU Model" combo box choose "GeForce GTX 680". Observe that the "SLI Mode" then includes a value "Single GPU". Playing with a few models it looks like only 6xx cards support Surround (2d or 3d) on a single card.

However, for a 560 Ti the SLI mode "2 way" is supposed to support Surround (2d or 3d). So you should, as far as I can tell, be able to have the same sort of setup and functionality I described in the article.

Complete the "3D Surround Configuration Tool" to get instructions on your setup.

Basically I WIN+P'd to "secondary monitor", set up everything in "working mode", then WIN+P'd to "extend", and ran through the Surround setup with bezel comp and all that. Switching back to "secondary monitor" basically has no effect.

Could you clarify your problem here? Are you saying you can achieve working and gaming modes but you just can't Win+P switch between them; or are you saying you can't even achieve gaming mode? What driver version are you using?

Could you also clarify your setup? Are you saying you have two 560s in SLI and a third, independent, 8800GT card installed in the one box?

Either way it may well be a good idea to simplify everything by upgrading to a 680. This card is fast. It can drive modern games on 3 monitors at great frame rates. While not absolutely maxed out, my graphics settings are near max, and I have played Far Cry 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Tomb Raider with great results. But you may want to verify the card can support disparate monitor models (if that is part of your issue).

I've updated the article with a section "Verify that your NVIDIA graphics card can support 2D surround, as a single card."

Thank you very much for sharing this
For those that can't get this to work might I suggest trying GridMove http://jgpaiva.dcmembers.com/gridmove.html
I have not yet tested it on Windows 8 but it was just what I needed for my dual TripleHead2Go setup on Windows 7. It takes a little bit of setup but if you look on the linked site there is a triple screen grid available.

Tested GridMove with Windows 8 and no issues on the desktop so far.

One note: I usually turn off all of Windows automatic window rearranging features (Ease of Access Center -> Make it easier to focus on tasks -> Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen) There are also similar settings under "Make the mouse easier to use" and "Make the keyboard easier to use".

If anyone is looking to change presentation modes with a macro instead of having to jump back and forth with Windows+P, you can do it with these command line commands:

Working mode:
Gaming mode:

(source)

Hey gang - thought I'd give you an update.

Nvidia drivers 326.19 + win 8.1 preview has everything working flawlessly now. You can maximize windows to individual monitors. You can have the task bar on the middle monitor. You can also manually adjust the size of apps running while desktop is up etc.

I've walked through the instructions several times, just to make sure I didn't miss something and as far as I can tell I didn't.

When Windows 8.1 is first set up with three displays, at first it is just the one display, using the Win+P Extend option sets them all to on and extends the desktop across the displays. All good at this point.

I follow the next set of directions, Surround Display created, all directions followed. After all of that, when I hit Win+P it shows that PC screen only is selected, I guess this is correct as there is nothing that says one way or the other.

My problem is that when I select Extend, nothing happens.

I can do three independent monitors or NVidia Surround, both work, but switching per your instructions does not seem to work. I think I am missing something but can't see it.

Thank you.

Mearlin, sorry for the large delay in response. I am subscribed to the thread but I may have had to ingore the email during a period of business.

The problem is not at your end. For some while now Nvidia's drivers have broken the WinKey + P trick.

I've personally tested the following drivers with the following results (in terms of whether the WinKey + P trick works).

* 314.22. Good.
* 327.23. Good.
* 331.65. Bad.
* 334.89. Bad.
* 335.23 (the latest). Bad.

That sort of result is consistent with reports from other users. In the Nvidia forum thread Windows+P Stopped Working, Cygnific reports

It doesn't work anymore, and nvidia is ignoring the problem. The last version it works on is 327.23, the 331 branch introduced the problem.

Experiments with 335.23 show that easy switching can almost occur. If your experience is like mine then it will be as follows ...

After the drivers install, from Working mode (Independent/Non-Surround):
* Win + P > "Second Screen only".
* Desktop > right click for Nvidia Control Panel
* 3D settings > Configure Surround, Physx > Span displays with Surround: tick
* Configure ... Complete the wizard as before.
* Once again Configure... You'll see a "Keyboard Shortcuts" option. Click on that. Ensure "Enable/Disable Surround" is ticked and note (or change) the hotkey combination (defaulting to "Ctrl + Alt + S").
* As with the original procedure listed in the article. (Still in Nvidia Control Panel) Display > Change Resolution. ... Choose your bezel corrected resolution (I have 5263 X 1050 because I set of bezel correction of 106 during the config wizard).
* You are now in Surround.

Observe that, at this point, if you hit WinKey + P you are identified as being on "PC Screen Only" (rather than "Second Screen Only" which used to hold the setting for surround under the old drivers). If you now arrow down to "Extend" and hit enter nothing happens (as you describe).

To change to working (independent/non surround) mode:
* Use the "Enable/Disable Surround" hotkey you defined earlier. That is, hit Ctrl + Alt + S (if you kept the default). You'll now have a single monitor active (the others will have no signal).
* Winkey + P. Choose "Extend".
* You desktop is now restored.

To attempt a change back to gaming (spanned/surround) mode:
* Winkey + P, Choose "Second Screen only". You'll have a signal only on one monitor.
* Use the "Enable/Disable Surround" hotkey you defined earlier.
* You'll now be in gaming (spanned/surround) mode.

BUT ...

* You'll be on some lower surround resolution (I'm defaulted to 4800 x 1200); and
* Your bezel corrected resolutions will have disappeared. That is, in Display > Change Resolution > 2. Apply the following settings > Resolution (List box) ... your bezel corrected resolutions are no more. The highest I have is 5040 X 1050.

This has been reported at the Nvidia Forums Bezel corrected resolution disappears.

This is a real shame given that the more recent drivers have some handy improvements for our needs. Namely the Nvidia Control Panel > "Desktop (top menu) > Surround Displays > "Confine taskbar to Centre Display" and "Maximize Windows across all displays".

Some of us might have particular circumstances that require us to live with the latest drivers (e.g. a game that is especially optimised). However, barring some clever workaround yet to be discovered, our best bet as a community is probably to:

* Rollback to earlier drivers (I'll be going back to 314.22 because Rome 2 might have problems from drivers past that version), 327.23 at the latest.
* Subscribe to this very thread as the unofficial source for news of when Nvidia restores WinKey + P switching.
* One of us will periodically test Nvidia driver updates to see if the bugs have been ironed out and report back here when successful.

Edit: "use" to "us". "of" to "if".