Spanning multiple monitors and video cards

[Jared Forbes]

I want to create a presentation using Hyperion that spans 4 LCD displays and has a total resolution of 5464 / 768. I have an SLI enable PC with two 2 Geforce 7950 GT video cards. Is there a way to configure my system or Hyperion to span the screen across both cards without loosing video acceleration

[Jared Forbes]

It appears that I will require a GPU such as a Nvidia Quadro NVS 440 to complete my project. I don’t require a massive amount of 3D grunt, will the NVS 440 provide enough 3D acceleration across 4 screens, or will I require something from FX range.

Any advice would be appreciated 

[JeGX]

Hi Jared!

I'll try to do the test with two 7600gs SLI.

From nvidia website, the quadro nvs 440 is able to control up to 4 screens and seems to fully support OpenGL and Direct3D applications.
But the documentation is a little feeble about 3d specifications. I just found the quadro nvs 440 is based on the NV43 GPU (the Geforce 6200) that is the very entry level of Geforce 6 series. So it should run all 3d applications but is not a monster of power (mostly concerning real time shaders). If you don't need a huge amount of 3d horsepower, the nv43 should be ok!

[JeGX]

I did the test with two geforce 7600 gs in sli. I used the forceware 97.28. I spanned hyperion on 4 screens but it doesn't seem to work. But I managed to get Hyperion running well on 3 screens:



The Hyperion's scene size was: 3840x600

From that little test, I don't know if Hyperion will run properly on the quadro nvs 440.

[JeGX]

Working on my new OpenGL caps viewer, I suddenly realized  the problem of what you plan to do: the max size of the viewport.
For example, on with my graphics card, the max size is 4096 pixels. That explains why my previous test didn't work!
So you have to check this limitation for your project.
I will release my new caps viewer in the next few days so you will be able to read that value. 

[JeGX]

The viewport max size seems to be linked to texture max size. So we can except a larger viewport size with the GeForce 8800. The max  texture size supported by a 8800 is 8192x8192. I think it's enough to match your needs, isn't it ?