Widescreen Gaming Forum

Good point. It might be easier to use an Nvidia card as the secondary card to avoid driver conflicts.

Think that is meant to work okay in Win7 and XP but not in Vista because they changed the multiple card support - i.e. requries a single driver.

XP won't run Eyefinity so you are looking at Win7.

Anyone with an Eyefinity setup running under Win7 got a 'green' card they could pop in to check for compatibility? When I build my Eyefinity setup I'd like to use my current 8800GTX alongside if possible (want to drive lots of panels...)

You can have ATi and nVidia cards play together in XP or Windows 7. They won't do it in Vista due to the way Microsoft enforces the display driver model. :( EyeFinity is Win 7 only, so yes, that makes it Win 7 needed, then. That's not a bad thing, though. ;)

I've tested out an 8800GT and a 3870 (cards I had 'lying around') in the same system (Foxconn Blackops X48 board - horrible thing...) and while they both powered a screen each at the time, you won't get PhysX due to nVidia locking it out in software. (Before anyone says it, yes, I know there is a 'patch' but excuse me for not fully trust it...) To be honest, we have no idea whether nVidia will try locking out their cards completely when ATi cards are detected in future. I wouldn't expect them to, but then I never expected them to lock out PhysX, either. I can't speak for EyeFinity, though, sorry. :(

And despite the WDDM1.1 allowing multiple cards, it still doesn't seem like their drivers coexist all that well.

[quote]Good point. It might be easier to use an Nvidia card as the secondary card to avoid driver conflicts.

Think that is meant to work okay in Win7 and XP but not in Vista because they changed the multiple card support - i.e. requries a single driver.

XP won't run Eyefinity so you are looking at Win7.

Anyone with an Eyefinity setup running under Win7 got a 'green' card they could pop in to check for compatibility? When I build my Eyefinity setup I'd like to use my current 8800GTX alongside if possible (want to drive lots of panels...)

Yes, if you're looking to mix brands of cards Windows 7 (and possibly a Lucid Hydra mobo) is the most accomodating answer.

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Thanks for all the answers. The 5870 (six) looks interesting. <-- when does this come out?

For cost reasons, can I:

Install a 5850 in the primary PCI-e slot and run 3 monitors (for say out-the-window visual scene for FSX)
Install a lesser ATI card in the secondary PCI-e slot to run a fourth monitor for instruments only?

Or will that ruin the able to run Eyefinity?

This will work for MSFS only. If you want to do something similar for almost any other title it will not work.

Wow some great answers there. How bizarre that it's the first time I have heard Eyefinity is a Windows 7 only feature, despite all the reviews I have watched.

[quote]Thanks for all the answers. The 5870 (six) looks interesting. <-- when does this come out?

For cost reasons, can I:

Install a 5850 in the primary PCI-e slot and run 3 monitors (for say out-the-window visual scene for FSX)
Install a lesser ATI card in the secondary PCI-e slot to run a fourth monitor for instruments only?

Or will that ruin the able to run Eyefinity?

This will work for MSFS only. If you want to do something similar for almost any other title it will not work.
By MSFS do you mean Microsoft Flight Sim (ie FSX)?

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EyeFinity is both for Vista and Win 7, the talk about mixing card brands and drivers is a Win 7 improvement to drivers.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

EyeFinity is both for Vista and Win 7,

Yup. Sorry about the confusion, Timmeh. :(

the talk about mixing card brands and drivers is a Win 7 improvement to drivers.

Aye, Microsoft updating the 'Windows Display Driver Model' to support multiple graphics drivers. They forced it to a single driver in Vista for "compatibility purposes", IIRC.

By MSFS do you mean Microsoft Flight Sim (ie FSX)?

I think YES. :D Microsoft Flight Sim alway had this option to span over multiple screens.

How odd that XP supports multiple drivers but Vista wont, oh well my Win 7 disk may arrive today but probably late in the day so wont have time to mess with it.

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[quote]By MSFS do you mean Microsoft Flight Sim (ie FSX)?

I think YES. :D Microsoft Flight Sim alway had this option to span over multiple screens.
MSFS = Microsfot Flight Simulator. FSX is the latest version.

And yes, MSFS has always (or at least in the last few versions) to span a 3D environment over multiple screens (and even screens connected to multiple GPUs). It basically can do SoftTH without SoftTH in place, but is the only title that can do so (because of its native Microsoft development). :)