Horizontal Span Issue

[Khazrael]

Hello all, I've been reading these forums for a good week or so now, trying to get my setup to reach it's optimal potential. I feel I've done pretty well so far, getting keyclone setup the way I want, reading on how to get the Maximizer working and I've finally conquered that also, in addition to the macros and such that is very helpful. In reading the fantastic post on "How to Box 5 accounts" (How to Box 5 accounts (or 2 or 3 or 4) with ONE computer for anyone who hasn't seen it yet) one big thing is mentioned in there that I haven't been able to get working on my machine.

That, obviously as the title says, is the Horizontal Span. I did a little research on the NVidia websites and came up with very little, upgraded my drivers and it didn't seem to make any difference. Let me give some context:

I'm currently running an EVGA nForce 680i motherboard with two 7600 GT Graphics cards in them. This motherboard supports SLI, but i've disabled it as I now have two monitors. After doing some research it seems I should be able to select the Horizontal Span option from my nVidia control panel, however the option isn't available, and by that I don't mean it's disabled, it simply isn't there to be used.

I found a post on the nVidia forums where someone stated they downgraded to a driver version, I searched and found an installer for said driver and it didn't make any difference. I figured maybe someone here might have some experience with similar issues and could throw me a bone.

At any rate, my first post, otherwise I'm typically just a lurker. This forum is great, and I appreciate all of the legwork people have done on a lot of the other issues I've had that I've been able to remedy by simply using the search feature. I'm currently dual-boxing, but am very anxious to bump myself up to a full 5 account setup once I get my extra 2 gigs of memory to bump me up to 4, and then get this whole Horizontal Span issue worked out as it is killing my FPS when going across my two monitors

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Xar]

You don't mention if you're on Vista or XP...from what I've read here there is no option in Vista at this time to horizontal span as dual view is fixed (where on XP dual view has fps problems).

[Khazrael]

You don't mention if you're on Vista or XP...from what I've read here there is no option in Vista at this time to horizontal span as dual view is fixed (where on XP dual view has fps problems).

Apologies,I'm running windows XP SP2. I do have an option for running Vista though... Mayhaps its time to give it a whirl?

[Xar]

Hmmm, not an expert here as I still only have 1 card so maybe you can't span because you're on 2 different cards?

Are your monitors the same dimensions for optimal size?

Have you tried SLI + span?

Are you on the latest nVidia drivers?

I've never tried Vista myself but going to soon when I build my new system.

[Khazrael]

Hmmm, not an expert here as I still only have 1 card so maybe you can't span because you're on 2 different cards?

Are your monitors the same dimensions for optimal size?

Have you tried SLI + span?

Are you on the latest nVidia drivers?

I've never tried Vista myself but going to soon when I build my new system.

1) This was something I had considered, and may go ahead and try until I can find another fix. Honestly, I'm really not sure what benefit having two graphics cards really gives, and if I'd be taking much of a hit downgrading to just the one. I don't currently intend to run more then two monitors, so I don't need the extra input slots.

2) Yes. They are both Samsung SyncMaster 226BW, 22" monitors set to 1680x1050 resolution

3) From what I understand, SLI does not support more then a single monitor, but perhaps this is different if you consider the display to be a single display. Definately something worth checking in to.

4) Yes, I have the latest nVidia drivers, I even went to the website and checked to make sure. I also browsed the forums where someone stated downgrading to a version helped him out, I tried that to no avail and then re-upgraded to the latest.

Your responses are much appreciated, Xar.

[Khazrael]

Follow-up update.

For anyone who may be interested, I did in fact just try bringing myself down to a single graphics card, and this did bring up the Horizontal Span option (along with many others, in fact). I selected it and it's working just as expected.

My guess is that since it's trying to see it as one display, it must be incapable (at least maybe on these specific cards?) of still splitting that "single" display across the two cards.

Not sure what kind of hit I will take for going down to one card, this means its probably time to upgrade that one card , but I think the FPS gain will be worth it for using the horizontal span, and saves me the trouble from having to upgrade to vista, at least for the time being.

Thanks for all the help.

[Xar]

Cool, glad you got the option to show up. Well the theory is that if you offload clone windows to the other video card your main one will be free to maximize output for your main characters' window. Too bad XP is broken for dual-view.

Yeah it probably is a good time to upgrade, lots of deals out there right now and with rebates too!

[Dezeral]

Follow-up update.

For anyone who may be interested, I did in fact just try bringing myself down to a single graphics card, and this did bring up the Horizontal Span option (along with many others, in fact). I selected it and it's working just as expected.

My guess is that since it's trying to see it as one display, it must be incapable (at least maybe on these specific cards?) of still splitting that "single" display across the two cards.

Not sure what kind of hit I will take for going down to one card, this means its probably time to upgrade that one card , but I think the FPS gain will be worth it for using the horizontal span, and saves me the trouble from having to upgrade to vista, at least for the time being.

Thanks for all the help.

Hmm....I didn't see this thread until this morning or I would have responded earlier. I believe that horizontal/vertical span is only an option when you have two monitors connected to a single video card. It is available when you have more than one video card installed, but again, only if you have two monitors connected to the primary video card.

Minor derail:
I just recently purchased a second rig with two 8800gts driving four 19" monitors. I had assumed that I was going to be able to use two horizontal or vertical spans to drive my four monitors on Windows XP, but found out that it wasn't possible (at least as far as I can tell, it is not possible). So if anyone else out there is considering 4 monitors on a single computer, keep that in mind. Or, if someone actually has a 4 monitor rig running on Windows XP using horizontal/vertical span, please let me know how you managed it. I ended up swapping over to Vista to avoid the performance hit from using Dual View in Windows XP.