3 Monitors split over 2 Graphics cards in SLI

viperirl

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this as the info on the net isnt 100% clear for me on this.

Basically I have 3 monitors that ONLY have a dual link DVI input each.
My Nvidia graphics card has only 2 dual link DVI outputs and 1 Display Port output.

My question is if I buy a second graphics card(same model as above) and SLI it with the one I have, can I run 2 monitors off the 1st graphics card and the 3rd monitor off the 2nd graphics card for SLI gaming. Must all 3 monitors be run off 1 graphics card only?

I could try an active display port to DVI-D convertor but I have a friend who couldnt get this to work with the same monitor I have.

Cheers.

Freddy Smelly

yes you can do that or you can buy an active display port adapter and run 3 screens off 1 card

the dvi connectors and cables must be dual link dvi connectors

below is a guide on dual link dvi connectors

http://www.lindy.ie/tips/DVIGuide.html

viperirl

hmmmm I got the opposite info from someone else regarding the 3 monitors split between to graphics cards.
My understanding is that if you have 2 graphics cards in SLI, one card is effectively the master and sends data to be processed down to the 2nd card(the slave) over the SLI bridge. Once the slave GPU is done it sends the processed frame back to the card 1, the master. The master card then is responsible for bringing all the frames together and passing them out to all monitors.
Therefore am I right assuming that only the 1st card can drive all 3 monitors?

But back to my main issue:
All 3 monitors are 2560x1600(DVI-D inputs ONLY). The graphics card is a GTX Titan(1xHDMI, 1xDP, 2xDVI-D).
Late last night I connected an active DisplayPort to DVI-D adaptor between the Titan and the monitor. The display remained blank and doesnt show up in Windows 8. The adaptor is an ACTIVE Accell DisplayPort to DVI-D adaptor which wasnt cheap! :-(

To rule out an issue with the adaptor I tried it here in work this morning on another PC. It works fine.

Therefore it must be issue with the Titan Displayport or driver. There was a new driver released last night be I havent updated to it yet.

Any ideas?

Edit: Forgot to add that 2 of the monitors are connected to the DVI-Ds of the Titan and work fine. I need the 3rd monitor hooked up to the DP output and that doesnt seem to work. Cant use HDMI as it doesnt have the bandwidth to output 2560x1600.

viperirl

turns out that I dont need the adaptor as I've added a 2nd GTX Titan card to the system. The 3rd monitor works off the 2nd card even when SLI'ed and using surround.