Widescreen Gaming Forum

I just want to confirm that a GTX 680 can be connected to three Dual Link DVI-D monitors (without any HDMI nor DisplayPort inputs on the monitors) without any problem.

That is, with a standard GTX 680, having Standard Display Connectors of "One Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort" (from Nvidia Specs) then I can hook this up to three Dual Link DVI-D monitors with two DVI-D (Dual Link) cables plus either:

* Another DVI-D (Dual Link) cable hooked up to a DisplayPort (Male) to DVI (Female) adaptor, like this.; or
* Another DVI-D (Dual Link) cable hooked up to a HDMI (Male) to DVI (Female) adaptor, Like this;

Does anyone use one of these solutions?

I'm not sure if a single 680 can be connected by Dual Link DVI to 3 screens. It may be possible if you can find a displayport -> DVI adapter although I honestly don't know. I'm running 3 Dual Link DVI displays @ 120hz but I'm using 2 x 680 (primarily for gaming performance) which of course allows for up to 4 DVI displays to be connected between the two of them.

What ports does it tell you to use if you try to span displays?

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intel x79
2 way 780ti's under water
Intel 4760 extreme @ 4GHz
3 x 42 inch screens @5860x1080
16 gigs xmp ram @2200

Answering my own question, the short provisional answer is: yes.

I've just bought a new system with:

• GTX 680 - DC20-2GD5 (Nvidia Drivers 306.97);
• Win 8 pro 64 bit;

I'm can successfully drive three screens at 1680 X 1050 X 3 in either mode: "Extended Desktop" (Independent); and "Surround" (Spanned) with:

• three DVI-D (Dual Link) cables;and
• the afore linked to DisplayPort (Male) to DVI (Female) adaptor.

The proviso is that my *Napoleon: Total War* crashes in any multimonitor resolution (but plays fine in a single monitor resolution). I'm guessing this is a Win8 V Nvidia issue. I'll do some more tweaking and experimenting to verify I can get any game to play at 5040 X 1050. I'll report back upon success.

Crysis 2 worked fine in full screen mode at a bezel corrected resolution greater than 5040 X 1050. That was using Nvidia drivers 310.54 (beta).

So that settles the issue: A GTX680 can drive three DVD-D (only) monitors for gaming and work, using three DVD-D cables, with a DisplayPort (Male) to DVI (Female) adaptor.

Incidentally, under Nvidia Drivers 306.97 (Stable) and 310.54 (beta) Napoleon Total War crashes in full screen mode at any multimonitor resolution. However, I could get it to play in windowed mode at 5040 X 1050.

Thank you for reporting back your findings.

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| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |

On the back of this - and sorry to necro - I have just bought a new rig with a single GTX 680 and I have 3 monitors that I would like to set up in 2D surround. I would most appreciate some advice.

I am using 3 identical displays; an Edge10 EF185a to be specific.

2 of these are hooked up to the DVI out in my graphics card via DVI-D cables and I can get them both working.
The third display, which refuses to be detected by either my graphics card or windows (windows 8 64bit) i'm really not sure which... is hooked up with a dual link DVI-D to HDMI cable and is plugged into the HDMI port on the back of the card.

Playing around with Nvidia control panel doesn't seem to detect the last monitor whatever I do and the option to "Span displays with surround" under "Configure Surround, PhysX" is greyed out.

I have tried to use the detect feature under the screen resolution options yet the third monitor is still undetected.

What i'm asking is if this is a software problem, how do I solve it? or If this is a hardware problem and i'm guessing cables here, which cables do I specifically need? I am yet to try a display port cable.

Many thanks.

Hi Leader bee. The forum is built to fuck with older threads. Doing so resurrects the thread. So your necro is most welcome.

Suggestions

• The main thing I would suggest is to consider the length of your cables. I've found that cables longer than 3m can result in the monitor not being detected.
• Are your drivers up to date 314.22?
• Rebooting.
• Bad cable?

Looking at http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technol ... quirements and setting: "GeForce GTX 680"; "Single GPU"; "2D Surround"; "Landscape" ...

... the special instructions state "any connectors can be used to enable Surround". So although I haven't used HDMI there doesn't seem to be any reason why a HDMI should not work (it is, after all, there on your graphics card).

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is, as you've indicated, simply try a DVI to Display port cable (and/or buy a HDMI to Display port adapter).

no such luck with the DVI to DP cable. I'll have to either check the length of the DVI to HDMI cable and see if it's under 3 metre now or try a DP to DVI adapter but these cables are becoming very expensive.

Leader Bee - I have a GTX 680 and I have no problems running 3 monitors with Windows 7. I run 2 monitors via the 2 dvi ports, and the 3rd via the display port with a DP > dvi adapter. You will not be able to use the hdmi port as well as both dvi ports because the hdmi port is shared with the second dvi port i'm pretty sure. The only way to run 3 monitors is to use both dvi ports and the display port. Try ebay for a DP > DVI adapter. I picked one up for $10-$15AU from memory. Hope that helps

Cheers