I've got a MSI GTX 460 1GB HAWK Talon Attack (2x DVI, 1x mHDMI) and I just don't see why I couldn't but I can't seem to get the Nvidia control panel to let me do it. Is there anyway I can use 2D surround without having a second card?
No. You need two cards to do surround. If you try and enable surround for gaming with only one card (except the odd 295) it will not work.
That's pretty lame, compared to EyeFinity. Why put three outputs on a card if it can only do two at a time? Kind of regretting my purchase now.
To support a variety of formats and to encourage the transition to a new format. Think about it: Just before DVI becamse mainstream, video cards came with VGA and DVI ports and the occasional S-Video port. Now its all DVI and a mini HDMI. They couldn't support all three then, either.
Doesn't make sense. HDMI is meant to carry not just a display signal but also an audio signal. DVI is strictly video. Hell, HDMI is really just DVI with an audio signal attached to it. It isn't a format shift. I really just want to know if it's a hardware limitation or a software limitation. It just doesn't make sense these days to put three outputs on a single card and only be able to use two at any given time. Requiring two cards for Surround really just sounds like a money grab on NVIDIA's part.
you could argue similarly with amd, why put 4 ports when you can only use three. its because the nvidia cards only have dual link dvi. it can only support two digital streams. hdmi uses one digital stream, so you can only use two all up. with amd, the display port is a separate channel. with sapphire, they add in a single link dvi as well so they can support 4 monitors. i dont see much of an issue with it honestly. you'd need at least two cards to get decent framerates in 2d surround vision anyway.
I think it is abit of a money grab, same thing with AMD keeping it with their DX11 GPU's. Doubt its a hardware issue on Nvidia cards, or anything they couldn't of dealt with while designing the cards, as the feature was added to older cards via software, while a GTX460 might not be enough for multi-monitor at a decent res, the same cannot be said of 480/580. Maybe try and sell it, and get a 6850. Sever, cheers for the explanation.
I just bought the 460 less than a month ago. I've still got my 5830 sitting in my parts drawer (in an anti-static bag). I don't really want to downgrade nor do I really want to go back to the driver landscape of ATI/AMD. I just think it's ridiculous to put three inputs and only be able to use two. Sever, with the four outputs on an ATI card, you'd be able to use the four but you'd have degraded performance or wouldn't be able to fit all four connectors. Poor design all around.
uhh, you cant use all four on your 5830 unless its a sapphire flex edition (i dont think theres a 5830 flex). dual link dvi means you can only use only 2 of the digital streams can be active at any one time, ie. 2x dvi or 1xdvi 1x hdmi. the dp acts as a third channel. you cant run all four connectors, it wont let you because the card cannot output to that many monitors. its designed that way. the sapphire flex editions are unique because one of the dvi ports is a single link dvi. dual link + single link = support for three digital streams. add in display port and that makes support for four outputs. sapphire have done this with their 6850/6870s, so you can just plug and play 4 monitors to the card without having to run an expensive daisy chain setup.
