Which graphic card for multiple monitors on linux without xinerama?
2014-07
wwr
I have a 3 24" monitors, setup with 2 in portrait mode and 1 horizontal ( |-| ) connected to 2 NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 and I'm running Mint 17 Qiana 64 bit (Cinnamon 2.2.13).
The configuration works but, because of Xinerama, I don't have composite and Cinnamon runs in fallback mode. This is a problem because the current version of Chrome suffers and I have to run it with the "-disable-gpu" option. Also, I don't play games (I use my workstation just for work) but performances aren't brilliant when I have many windows open.
I want to fix this problem and I've heard that Kepler based cards can run multiple monitors, can have hardware acceleration enabled and this removes the need of Xinerama and, consequently, all the issues I'm experimenting.
Knowing that I can't change my current monitors layout, I'd like to know:
- Is it true that with a Kepler based cards can run multiple monitors without xinerama?
- If I purchase a Kepler based card can I finally have a fully working Cinnamon? (no fallback with xrandr)
- Does anybody have any suggestion/experience with such a configuration? (I'm not stuck with Kepler but I'd rather prefer NVIDIA over ATI)
Some futher information:
Also, my monitors are currently connected using the display ports (eventually I can change the cables but if I can avoid that I'd be happy)
- I've seen the NVS 510 which has 4 display ports but it looks a little bit weak to me (but I don't understand that much about graphic cards)
mandroid
I've got an Nvidia Geforce 9500GT and am thinking of buying an ATI Radeon HD 4850. I have two PCI-Express slots. Would I be able to run these cards simultaneously on Windows 7? I want to also be able to use 4 monitors.
I've checked online and found plenty of SLI and Crossfire tutorials, and plenty of driver issue warnings, but no definitive answer.
Would it be as easy as putting in the new card and installing the drivers (assuming also my PSU can support both)?
Denilson Sá
As long as those graphics cards have WDDM 1.1 compatible display drivers you shouldn't have a problem in Windows 7 (in theory that is). Previous versions of Windows e.g. Vista, required you use graphics cards from the same manufacturer with the same driver.
If you can make do with 3 monitors you could get a Radeon HD 5770 which offers the same or better performance as the Radeon HD 4850. SLI and CrossFire are irrelevant in both cases.
ChrisF
Theoretically yes. Though running graphics cards from two different manufacturers will more than likely be a problem as you'll need to install two sets of graphics drivers, and these won't sit well together.
In fact you might even have problems if you install two different model cards from the same manufacturer - but only if the cards require different drivers.
I'd buy another card of the same make and model and use that. If you do then you should be able to use 4 monitors.
Disclaimer - I've not actually tried this, just extrapolating from my knowledge of graphics cards and display drivers gained in over a decade of working in computer graphics.