- Joined
- Dec 16, 2011
Some problems that I have encountered and the solutions. I offer this as a side-noted journal in order to prevent anyone else banging their head as hard as I did, for 2 nights, against a wall.
Preamble: I built my rig about 14 months ago and have just got around to finishing it off with 3 shiny new Benq 2420T's. The point of the build was to run 3 monitors in surround, in 3D.
Build: Win 7 64, 2 x Gainward GTX-580 3Gb, AS Rock Fatal1ty Z68 Motherboard, Watercooled Sandybridge i7 2700k o/c to 5.2 Ghz, 16GB RAM, SSD, etc..
The problems:
1.My trio of monitors would not switch to 'Span displays with Surround'.
2.The Nvidia Control Panel did not show the 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch of the 3D Settings tree.
3.Conflicting advice from both 'technical in-store wizards' and googling made life more difficult and financially more costly than it needed.
Solutions.
If your Nvidia Control Panel is not showing the option 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX', rather it shows a dotted line to a blank option, then you may have the same issue as me. (it is possible to navigate to the hidden SLI option from this state by clicking on 3D Settings and pressing the down arrow. You will highlight a blank blue square upon which you should press 'Enter' (Return). Setting SLI from here will not help you set up surround gaming. It might, however, help you setup SLI if surround isnt required.
To get you Nvidia 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' option back you will need to download a previous driver build. Your best option is to download the supported driver from your graphics card manufacturers site. For me this was Gainward and the card was the Phantom gtx-580 which i found here http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=454
Under the graphics card specifications I found the option to download the drivers. These drivers are probably the same as the drivers from Nvidia directly but I wanted to be sure.
Once the drivers are downloaded it is important that you choose the 'Custom' setup and once you have done so choose the 'Clean Installation' option. I had to do this 3 times before the nVidia control panel showed the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' option that had been missing.
Finally, for normal 3 x monitor surround gaming, use the DVI or HDMI slots in the first card to connect 2 monitors and then use the top DVI or HDMI slot on the second card for the 3rd monitor. (The 'first' card is the one closest to the CPU.
For 3D gaming all monitors MUST support 120Hz and be of the same make and model. A Benq 2410T will not work with 2 x 2420T's for example. They must all be exactly the same. Also, you will need dual-link DVI cables as a minimum for 120Hz 3D gaming.
Finally, once you have got your surround gaming working on the older Nvidia drivers, close all of the windows on the other monitors down and try installing the latest driver package. For me this went without a hitch and my monitors have continued to work flawlessly.
3 Way SLI - Use 1 monitor in the top slot of each of the 3 graphics cards. Follow the advice above for finding the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch if necessary.
4 Way SLI - Use the top slot in each of the top 3 graphics cards and leave the 4th free of any monitor . Follow the advice above for finding the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch if necessary.
I hope this helps somebody as this was the information I wanted before spending 48 hours taking everything apart and buying DisplayPort cables and adapters that were unnecessary.
/salute
Preamble: I built my rig about 14 months ago and have just got around to finishing it off with 3 shiny new Benq 2420T's. The point of the build was to run 3 monitors in surround, in 3D.
Build: Win 7 64, 2 x Gainward GTX-580 3Gb, AS Rock Fatal1ty Z68 Motherboard, Watercooled Sandybridge i7 2700k o/c to 5.2 Ghz, 16GB RAM, SSD, etc..
The problems:
1.My trio of monitors would not switch to 'Span displays with Surround'.
2.The Nvidia Control Panel did not show the 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch of the 3D Settings tree.
3.Conflicting advice from both 'technical in-store wizards' and googling made life more difficult and financially more costly than it needed.
Solutions.
If your Nvidia Control Panel is not showing the option 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX', rather it shows a dotted line to a blank option, then you may have the same issue as me. (it is possible to navigate to the hidden SLI option from this state by clicking on 3D Settings and pressing the down arrow. You will highlight a blank blue square upon which you should press 'Enter' (Return). Setting SLI from here will not help you set up surround gaming. It might, however, help you setup SLI if surround isnt required.
To get you Nvidia 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' option back you will need to download a previous driver build. Your best option is to download the supported driver from your graphics card manufacturers site. For me this was Gainward and the card was the Phantom gtx-580 which i found here http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=454
Under the graphics card specifications I found the option to download the drivers. These drivers are probably the same as the drivers from Nvidia directly but I wanted to be sure.
Once the drivers are downloaded it is important that you choose the 'Custom' setup and once you have done so choose the 'Clean Installation' option. I had to do this 3 times before the nVidia control panel showed the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' option that had been missing.
Finally, for normal 3 x monitor surround gaming, use the DVI or HDMI slots in the first card to connect 2 monitors and then use the top DVI or HDMI slot on the second card for the 3rd monitor. (The 'first' card is the one closest to the CPU.
For 3D gaming all monitors MUST support 120Hz and be of the same make and model. A Benq 2410T will not work with 2 x 2420T's for example. They must all be exactly the same. Also, you will need dual-link DVI cables as a minimum for 120Hz 3D gaming.
Finally, once you have got your surround gaming working on the older Nvidia drivers, close all of the windows on the other monitors down and try installing the latest driver package. For me this went without a hitch and my monitors have continued to work flawlessly.
3 Way SLI - Use 1 monitor in the top slot of each of the 3 graphics cards. Follow the advice above for finding the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch if necessary.
4 Way SLI - Use the top slot in each of the top 3 graphics cards and leave the 4th free of any monitor . Follow the advice above for finding the missing 'Configure SLI, Surround, PhysX' branch if necessary.
I hope this helps somebody as this was the information I wanted before spending 48 hours taking everything apart and buying DisplayPort cables and adapters that were unnecessary.
/salute
