Widescreen Gaming Forum

Well i can say im quite surprised with the overall performance of the Nvidia solution for surround gaming (258.69 beta drivers).
Im running three GTX 480, and each of my 22" monitors is connected to a different GPU.
I havent tested yet the "3D Surround", since i had some issues with my 3D glasses.
Running Crysis Warhead and STALKER Clear Sky (some of my favourite DX10 titles), the GPU usage of each GTX 480 stays near from 98 - 99% very often. Not all games feature this usage of course, ill add more tests later to this post.
Its also great to be able to run DX10 and DX11 titles at 5040x1050, what could be done with the matrox adapter, but isnt something new for surround gaming of course since ATIs eyefinity solution.
There are clearly things to improve, games like Arma 2 OA and SC Conviction dont have such impressive performance, certainly due to the poorer SLI support. Also, afaik there is no way to set the windows to maximize only on the central monitor i.e. (like you could adjust in matrox powerdesk), lets not forget that these are beta drivers.
On the other hand, the Nvidia surround performance is "linked" to the SLI support of the game, and you cant run the Nvidia solution with one GPU, that may represent, in some very specific titles, a disadvantage compared to the other current solutions (matrox and eyefinity) that allow the gamer to turn SLI or Crossfire on/off if necessary (ex. Mirrors Edge and occasionally Splinter Cell Conviction).
Anyway it is amazing to be able to play games like Crysis Warhead, on DX10, all maxed + AA4x at 5040x1050, and get around 40FPS, plus checking such high GPU usage.
Btw the bezel management is very easy to configure. :rockout
Some screenshots :

The Nvidia Control Panel (in portuguese), with the surround mode selected




Adjusting the bezel management (width in pixels)








Running Crysis Warhead DX10, all maxed AA 4x







and the GPU usage




STALKER Clear Sky DX10.1, all maxed AA 2x












Battlefield Bad Company 2 DX11, all maxed AA 4x








Splinter Cell Conviction, all maxed AA 8x










Aliens Vs Predator, DX11 all maxed AA 4x

Nice! :)

Do you have any screenshots of the bezel management? Kyle gave it a thumbs up on [H], but the picture where you adjust it can't be viewed in full, only thumbnail.
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/06/29/nvidia_3d_vision_surround_experience/3

Stickied!

Nice! :)

Do you have any screenshots of the bezel management? Kyle gave it a thumbs up on [H], but the picture where you adjust it can't be viewed in full, only thumbnail.
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/06/29/nvidia_3d_vision_surround_experience/3

Stickied!

Thanks :D , i added some screenshots, its really easy to adjust the bm.

Very nice update. Will be interested to see what Paddy says...

Great work, thanks thales. :onethumb

Seems a whole lot simpler than Eyefinity. It's a shame you need 2+ GPUs or I'd be seriously interested.

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Great work, thanks thales. :onethumb

Seems a whole lot simpler than Eyefinity. It's a shame you need 2+ GPUs or I'd be seriously interested.

Thanks Ibrin and eZ`, yes its very simple to setup. :)

Might be selling my 5970. Of course I just got a gts 250 for physx.

Nice... yeah, I just ditched my 5870 for a pair of GTX470s and surround works so nicely so far. I am happy!

so let me get it straight - if there's no SLI profile for a game, then the surround won't work ?!?
thanks

so let me get it straight - if there's no SLI profile for a game, then the surround won't work ?!?
thanks

No, the surround will work even without a SLI profile, only some few games that run like crap on SLI will also perform like crap on Nvidia surround - i.e. Mirror`s Edge and occasionally Splinter Cell Conviction.
Playing ME with SLI disabled, running a single GTX 480 + matrox thg, the gameplay is smooth at 5040x1050 (around 60 FPS), but with SLI 10 - 12 FPS.
Since the Nvidia solution requires multi GPUs, ME is a complete no-go on this surround solution.
Another game that has some issues with SLI, Splinter Cell Conviction, itll run smooth like silk at 5040x1050 and the GFX settings i posted above, but sometimes, i dont know why, the FPS drops to 1 - 2, and the game lags like hell - with SLI disabled these issues wont ever happen.
Consequently, running the Nvidia surround, SC Conviction occasionally will run like crap too.