Z68 + Discrete GPU Total Displays

[Airmantharp]

One of the goals that changed as I've been rebuilding my workstation was to trade up from P67 to Z68, in order to make use of my 2500k's IGPU. I was able to get the board in last week, and yesterday began testing.

Currently, I have one monitor hooked up to my primary (top) HD6950 2GB, and two monitors hooked up to the IGPU, over DVI and HDMI. I have installed Lucid's Virtu software, and have enable the IGPU in the UEFI. I have verified:
-All three monitors are accessable through Window's Change Resolution panel, and are configurable
-Crossfire with the second HD6950 2GB is active, and both GPUs are tasked when a game or Furmark is loaded
-Through Cyberlink's Mediaexpresso that the IGPU's transcode engine is available, and does produce improved processing times

What has me curious:
-When I tried running Furmark off of the IGPU by moving the rendering window to a monitor that is connected through the IGPU, I found that it was still rendering from the Crossfire team; what I believe is happening is that the monitors attached to the IGPU are being rendered from the primary HD6950 2GB and the framebuffer is being copied across

What I still need to test:
-That I can get two DVI monitors plus one Displayport monitor on the discrete HD6950 2GB, while having one HDMI and one DVI monitor on the IGPU
-That both Crossfire and the IGPUs transcoding engine are still functional with the above arrangement
-In relation to apparent framebuffer copying, I'd like to find out if I can get the IGPU to render independantly to it's attached displays, freeing the Crossfire team to work only on the three displays attached to the primary HD6590 2GB
-What perfromance and functionality differences there are, if any, between having the IGPU render independently or just perform a framebuffer copy from the discrete GPU team

If anyone has any questions, would like me to test anything specific, or has any suggestions, please let me know!

[grantmeaname]

I don't have any specific questions, but I am very interested overall in your findings. Also, when everything is all hooked up: pics or it didn't happen. 5-monitor would look ridiculous!

[wibeasley]

I like those questions. Here's another one for nongaming applications:
Does running all monitors through the radeon (and turning off the iGPU) consume less power than splitting the responsibilities across the iGPU and dGPU? (This doesn't really affect me, since you dissuaded me from buying a new card, but I'm curious).

[Forge]

I think I may follow this in a few months. I like many monitors, and have the panels already....

[Pehr]

Hey guys,

This is a really interesting thread. And I have a related question.
I have a P8Z68-v pro with an i7 2600k and a GTX580.
At the moment I have two monitors hooked up to the 580, both via DVI.
Tomorrow I'm getting a new TV which I would like to hook up via HDMI as a third monitor.
I don't think my 580 supports three monitors.
I figure this may be possible by connecting the new TV to my motherboard's HDMI port, possibly using Virtu.

Does anyone have any idea if this can work?

[Forge]

I haven't messed with the GTX 580 much, but most current cards seem to have a limit to two 'clocked' displays per GPU. HDMI, DVI, and VGA are all clocked. Displayport isn't.

You *may* be able to use the onboard to drive the HDMI TV while the 580 drives two panels. Conversely, you may be able to put a panel on the onboard and use the 580 for one panel and the TV.

Worst case scenario, you can get a low end Nvidia card, use that for a panel or the TV. This method is pretty much guaranteed to work.

[Pehr]

Ok, then I would need to use virtu to do that right? Because it seems the iGPU's ports are automatically disabled when a discrete GPU is installed.
For instance, without installing virtu (and not changing any settings in the BIOS) I can't get one panel on the 580's DVI and one on the MoBo's HDMI..
Is this something Virtu could do? I think what I want is similar to what the OP has set up, but I need to make sure that the 580 handles the two panels, because they are what I game on, and the tv is purely for HD playback.

[TwistedKestrel]

-In relation to apparent framebuffer copying, I'd like to find out if I can get the IGPU to render independantly to it's attached displays, freeing the Crossfire team to work only on the three displays attached to the primary HD6590 2GB

Easy - disable or uninstall Virtu.

[Pehr]

Update:
I've managed to connect three monitors, two to the 580 via DVI and one to the MoBo via D-Sub. So I'm thinking hooking up the TV via the MoBo's HDMI should be no problem tomorrow.
All I had to do was enable iGPU Multiple Monitor in the BIOS, no need to install Virtu.

[wibeasley]

Update: I've managed to connect three monitors, two to the 580 via DVI and one to the MoBo via D-Sub. So I'm thinking hooking up the TV via the MoBo's HDMI should be no problem tomorrow.
All I had to do was enable iGPU Multiple Monitor in the BIOS, no need to install Virtu.

I have a similar arrangement: Two DVIs of the discrete card, and a DP and DVI off the Z68. I like how easy it is in Win7 to disable/enable the third and fourth monitors when I don't need them.