30in Monitor/SLI question

Currently I'm running a dell 20in w/s on a dell XPS 600 w/ a Nvidia 7800 GTX 256mb GPU.

My question is, can I run a dell 30in LCD on my current GPU? Or will I need more power? I have an SLI board, and I looked into the cards, apparently the newer 7900 GTX is backwards compatible with my current 7800 model, and is quite affordable.

A second issue I noticed, is that my 7800 GTX is HUGE! I'm not sure if a second GPU would fit... my current one sits right ontop of my last available PCI-E slot... you can see what I'm talking about in the pics.

Any insight?

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Boy that card is huge. In answer to your first question, The card has nothing to do with the size of the monitor, but you might not get the monitors full resolution. What resolution are you planing to run the monitor at? Check if the card supports that resolution. If so, then your set. I believe that a 256 7800 can do 1600x1200 but check in your manual.

I am assuming that you heavy into 3D gaming hence the desire to delve into the world of SLI. Anyway your plan has a flaw. SLI I believe needs two identical cards and two identical drivers, not just two compatible cards. It will gain you quite a few frames per second i some kick a$$ games and make the 3d modeling look a bit prettier in the process. But others like Splinter Cell will barely show a difference. However, it wont help much with photo work so if your expecting a big boost there, you'll be a bit disappointed.

gjl711 wrote in post #2446292
Boy that card is huge. In answer to your first question, The card has nothing to do with the size of the monitor, but you might not get the monitors full resolution. What resolution are you planing to run the monitor at? Check if the card supports that resolution. If so, then your set. I believe that a 256 7800 can do 1600x1200 but check in your manual.

I am assuming that you heavy into 3D gaming hence the desire to delve into the world of SLI. Anyway your plan has a flaw. SLI I believe needs two identical cards and two identical drivers, not just two compatible cards. It will gain you quite a few frames per second i some kick a$$ games and make the 3d modeling look a bit prettier in the process. But others like Splinter Cell will barely show a difference. However, it wont help much with photo work so if your expecting a big boost there, you'll be a bit disappointed.

Awww, I have no idea. There's no manual on the GPU since it came with the system. I'll look into it though, I don't think it can support the full resolution on its own, and if it can I'm sure things would be slow.

And yea, I love gaming! I'm a big CS Source and BF2 fan, and I'd also like to run my Xbox 360 through the 30in screen.

I guess worse come to worse, I could sell the gpu I have in there right now, and get two 7900's, or a single $500ish gpu, which I think is what the 30in would require, and I've heard yields better gaming results.

Anyway, off to do some more research, anyone with some more advice, post please!

If you need to run 3D games well in 30" then your best choice really is 8800 GTX. With that you can set all image quality settings to maximum and play with high ftps. See http://www.maxitmag.co​m …gtx-review-20061127958/1/

Only problem with that card is that it requires lot of power (two power inputs) and it loves fast RAM and fast CPU. I had to upgrade my whole PC to fit it in. But it is simply lovely, I can play all games (Fear, Far Cry, Half Life, Oblivion...) with 1920x1200 all settings fully up and it's butter smooth. And still have reserve power for future releases.

There is also 8800 GTS with is 25% cheaper and 25% slower.

Sure you can run a 30" on that. You just need dual DVI, which you obviously have. Whether the speed will be sufficient, that's another thing. I'd recommend no less than 256, which you have, but preferrably 512 (dual 512's if you can swing it ^_^ ) for a screen that size. As for not fitting, as long as you're talking about just physical size, can't you get a separate small housing for the second GPU?

Pekka, thanks for the sound advice, funny thing is, I was looking at the 8800 GTX just before I came back to this thread. It looks awesome, and $700.00 for a card is duable... not ideal, but not a bank breaker.

I'm running 2 gigs of 667mhz RAM (from dell) in there with a Pentium D 3.0ghz processor, and I believe I have a 600w PSU maybe 650? It's huge, lots of power connections in there that I'm not using. Do you think those specs could sustain such a beastly card?

RbrtPtikLeoSeny wrote in post #2446838
Pekka, thanks for the sound advice, funny thing is, I was looking at the 8800 GTX just before I came back to this thread. It looks awesome, and $700.00 for a card is duable... not ideal, but not a bank breaker.

I'm running 2 gigs of 667mhz RAM (from dell) in there with a Pentium D 3.0ghz processor, and I believe I have a 600w PSU maybe 650? It's huge, lots of power connections in there that I'm not using. Do you think those specs could sustain such a beastly card?

I think your system suits it fine. See http://www.extreme.out​ervision.com/powercalc​.jsp for power needs. I have 650W PSU and it is more than needed. If your PSU does not have two PCI-express power outlets, the ASUS 8800 comes with converter cables.

Pekka wrote in post #2446899
I think your system suits it fine. See http://www.extreme.out​ervision.com/powercalc​.jsp for power needs. I have 650W PSU and it is more than needed. If your PSU does not have two PCI-express power outlets, the ASUS 8800 comes with converter cables.

Thanks Pekka! I used that website you provided, and it appears as though I've got more than enough power to go around. I checked inside my comp and there are indead two connections for the card. No need for adapters.

Also I found the card on Newegg, and they offer 0% there for 6 months on purchases over $500, perfect!

Dell doesn't put a block on cards that aren't purchased from them or anything though do they?

RbrtPtikLeoSeny wrote in post #2447774
Dell doesn't put a block on cards that aren't purchased from them or anything though do they?

I can't imagine it. It's not like they use "dell" video cards. They use nvidia and radeon, so it would almost have to allow them. Plus, they wouldn't leave you the room to put another if they weren't going to allow it. Granted, they do upgrades, but still.

Ronald S. Jr. wrote in post #2446630
Sure you can run a 30" on that. You just need dual DVI, which you obviously have.

Correct. So for anybody who doesn't play games the card he has will do. I have the 7600 GT and it will run a 30" at full resolution, no problem.

Ronald S. Jr. wrote in post #2447785
I can't imagine it. It's not like they use "dell" video cards. They use nvidia and radeon, so it would almost have to allow them. Plus, they wouldn't leave you the room to put another if they weren't going to allow it. Granted, they do upgrades, but still.

I would definatly check but I doubt that Dell changed the pinout of the APG slot like they did the power supply and motherboard connector a few years ago. That one caused a bunch of blown motherboards as folks tried to upgrade, replaced their MB with a non-Dell product, plugged in their standard looking ATX power cable and enjoyed little puffs of smoke. Changing the AGP slot would be a bit more difficult and hopefully they learned their lesson with that fiasco.