Triples + VR Simultaneously connected, howto ??

[Passajero]

Hello to all,

Hope all good and safe!

I have 3 x AOC 32" 144hz all connected on an Aorus Master 3090 with DP 1.4 cables. All good, 144hz locked on the 3090 and monitors smooth as butter. Then i also get a 4th 1080p/60hz monitor for above which also runs perfect. Then a friend give me his HP G2 which is also DP 1.4 port, but i have only 3 x DPs and all already occupied by the triples....Which port/cable adapter/switch do i use to be able not to connect / disconnect triples, losing settings in Nvidia Surround, which I use, etc etc....and have the G2 also connected together with my 4th monitor all at the same time? (Of course I will switch off the 4th monitor when going n in VR cos I know the Nvidia only outputs max from 4 source at the same time)

Has anyone done this exercise?

Thanks a lot for yr input
Passajero

 

[Trebormoore84]

Last time I tried this with an Oculus Rift a few years ago on the USB C output while having 4 monitors plugged in on a 2080ti (which had 3x DP, 1x HDMI and 1x USBC) I needed to unplug one of the monitors for the headset to even work on HDMI via this port. Think it overwhelmed the GPU outputs.

Also you can only run a maximum of 3x DP from all consumer GPUs, only some professional cards have more DP outputs. Not worth perusing as those are aimed at stock market monitoring, security etc not performance. Think Quadro (now A series) and Radeon Pro just use the same 3x DP arrangements as well.

Only simple solution I can think of is getting a DP 1.4 switch, then you can switch between the two. Could be worth a try.

But tbh this may introduce unwanted latency for the headset. Sorry mate, no simple answer for this one.

 

[Passajero]

Last time I tried this with an Oculus Rift a few years ago on the USB C output while having 4 monitors plugged in on a 2080ti (which had 3x DP, 1x HDMI and 1x USBC) I needed to unplug one of the monitors for the headset to even work on HDMI via this port. Think it overwhelmed the GPU outputs.

Also you can only run a maximum of 3x DP from all consumer GPUs, only some professional cards have more DP outputs. Not worth perusing as those are aimed at stock market monitoring, security etc not performance. Think Quadro (now A series) and Radeon Pro just use the same 3x DP arrangements as well.

Only simple solution I can think of is getting a DP 1.4 switch, then you can switch between the two. Could be worth a try.

But tbh this may introduce unwanted latency for the headset. Sorry mate, no simple answer for this one.

Thanks so much but its a pity to pay such a huge amount for a 3090 with 3 x DPs and 3 x HDMIs in 2021 and not being able to run triples and VR without unplug things, screwing up settings etc....what a pity...

 

[Trebormoore84]

I think even if you got one of those cards with 3x DP and 3x HDMI, if you used 4 of them you cannot use the other 2x HDMI anyway. For the same reasons, a consumer level display output design.

Your use case is encroaching professional users as deemed by the GPU manufacturers. You want it you got to pay. A 3090 is a consumer gaming GPU not a professional card. The price is inflated.

Most recent pro card I saw with multi DP ports was the Radeon Pro VII. AMD are / were famous for offering this on all their pro cards. Though now they follow Nvidia as the 6800wx only has 4...

Even the A6000 Nvidia top Pro GPU has 4x DP only.

 

[Passajero]

I think even if you got one of those cards with 3x DP and 3x HDMI, if you used 4 of them you cannot use the other 2x HDMI anyway. For the same reasons, a consumer level display output design.

Your use case is encroaching professional users as deemed by the GPU manufacturers. You want it you got to pay. A 3090 is a consumer gaming GPU not a professional card. The price is inflated.

Most recent pro card I saw with multi DP ports was the Radeon Pro VII. AMD are / were famous for offering this on all their pro cards. Though now they follow Nvidia as the 6800wx only has 4...

View attachment 518020

Even the A6000 Nvidia top Pro GPU has 4x DP only.
View attachment 518021

Yeah i know but then again this does not solve my problem... thanks so much though

 

[OldNslow]

I have the exact same situation and question as you. All my searches looking into using some kind of DP switch seem to say it’s not a good idea due to various issues like latency as pointed out by Rob. Reading a number of reviews on 1.4 switches i haven’t found one that seems to be a bulletproof solution. In my case I think I will have to plug/unplug for now. I was thinking of installing a panel mounted display port and usb jacks on my rig to make as convenient as possible to switch between the monitor and G2.

if you do decide to try a switch and have success with it please let us know how it worked out. Good luck.

 

[Passajero]

I have the exact same situation and question as you. All my searches looking into using some kind of DP switch seem to say it’s not a good idea due to various issues like latency as pointed out by Rob. Reading a number of reviews on 1.4 switches i haven’t found one that seems to be a bulletproof solution. In my case I think I will have to plug/unplug for now. I was thinking of installing a panel mounted display port and usb jacks on my rig to make as convenient as possible to switch between the monitor and G2.

if you do decide to try a switch and have success with it please let us know how it worked out. Good luck.

Yes brother, if i will find a solution i will share it of cors. For now my Index is collecting dust on a shelf cos i am really bored to plug unplug and then have to fix all graphic from start evert time i wanna race in VR and then i wanna switch into Triples again....I cannot believe it that we paid 2.5k euros for a graphics card and unable to do it. It seems that the only way to do it without unplugging cables is to get a 2nd 3090 and run them in SLI...something which of cors i wont do...

 

[Trebormoore84]

Well you wouldn’t need to do it in Sli (sli is dead for gaming) two gpus in one system work without sli they run independently, if you had such a system the game would run on one gpu with vr and the other with triples. But yeah two gpus just to have another port would be a complete waste of money especially now gpus are inflated 150%+ their real value.

You’d also half the bandwidth

of the pci lanes unless your running trx 40 or x299 systems (hedt 10980xe or Threadripper).​

the only other way I can think of is if you have Thunderbolt 3 which is capable of pushing DisplayPort 1.4 (40gbps) into a usb-c connector. But this is only on specific boards and add in cards, the add in card only works on motherboards that have a thunderbolt add on header usually the higher end ones. No idea if it would work or not as never tried it.

I do agree though if nvidia want to push these silly prices next gen they should at least put more dp ports on the cards.

 

[Passajero]

Well you wouldn’t need to do it in Sli (sli is dead for gaming) two gpus in one system work without sli they run independently, if you had such a system the game would run on one gpu with vr and the other with triples. But yeah two gpus just to have another port would be a complete waste of money especially now gpus are inflated 150%+ their real value.

You’d also half the bandwidth

of the pci lanes unless your running trx 40 or x299 systems (hedt 10980xe or Threadripper).​

the only other way I can think of is if you have Thunderbolt 3 which is capable of pushing DisplayPort 1.4 (40gbps) into a usb-c connector. But this is only on specific boards and add in cards, the add in card only works on motherboards that have a thunderbolt add on header usually the higher end ones. No idea if it would work or not as never tried it.

I do agree though if nvidia want to push these silly prices next gen they should at least put more dp ports on the cards.

My Z390 Aorus mobo has indeed a Thunderbolt controller onboard but doubt this would work....or will it? Do not know....not a a bad idea but I have the feeling its not gonna work in the end brother...my old 2080ti had this USB-C port thus I have the triples on the 3 X DPs and the VR headset on the USB-C thru a DP to USB-C adapter from CableMatters.....but on the newer 3000s Nvidia decided not to have a USB-C and the problems arised......so the 2080ti was fine for VR+Triples and the 3090 its not....go figure...

 

[paokkerkir]

I have the same problem with 3x165hz dp monitors and the rift s with a 3080ti. I'm ending up not using the VR due to inconvenience.

Did anyone have success with any HDMI to DP adaptor?

 

[Trebormoore84]

Ugh, no I think reading further Thunderbolt controllers requires a DP port pass through (i.e. it uses up one DP on your GPU to work so not really a solution tbh. I think its also gonna just add latency to the setup.

An HDMI to DP is always going to be awful as HDMI does not convert to DP as well as DP to HDMI, maybe ok for a 60hz monitor but not what your trying to do. The two standards are completely different. Its going to be an issue especially for latency issues to the headset.

No I think the easiest answer is a simple DP 1.4 switch. But as above comments finding a solid one is a game of Russian roulette. Switching the cable manually will be the most reliable solution I'm afraid.

High refresh rate monitors and VR headsets are far more sensitive to a quality signal than the usual 60hz devices so I'm sure cable quality will be an issue. People often overlook the fact the supplied cables are only just about good enough, stick an additional thing in the chain degrading the quality and suddenly you get black screens at high refresh rates.

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I don't know what else to say tbh. I make sure my machine is accessible to swap cables round which I do all the time between setups. I also don't run Nvidia surround any more, favouring a manually setup oversized borderless window per game as per the video by Dan Suzuki did. (It's actually required to do this for two pc streaming setups sending just one cloned monitor signal to a capture card). Massively reduced the setup process switching setups for me.

 

[Passajero]

Ugh, no I think reading further Thunderbolt controllers requires a DP port pass through (i.e. it uses up one DP on your GPU to work so not really a solution tbh. I think its also gonna just add latency to the setup.

An HDMI to DP is always going to be awful as HDMI does not convert to DP as well as DP to HDMI, maybe ok for a 60hz monitor but not what your trying to do. The two standards are completely different. Its going to be an issue especially for latency issues to the headset.

No I think the easiest answer is a simple DP 1.4 switch. But as above comments finding a solid one is a game of Russian roulette. Switching the cable manually will be the most reliable solution I'm afraid.

High refresh rate monitors and VR headsets are far more sensitive to a quality signal than the usual 60hz devices so I'm sure cable quality will be an issue. People often overlook the fact the supplied cables are only just about good enough, stick an additional thing in the chain degrading the quality and suddenly you get black screens at high refresh rates.

15 Best Displayport Switch of 2024 - Consumer Report

After hours researching and comparing all Displayport Switch on the market, we find out the Best Displayport Switch of 2021 from Amazon, HomeDepot, Walmart, eBay... Here are Top 20 Best Displayport Switch we've found so far.

romanceuniversity.org

I don't know what else to say tbh. I make sure my machine is accessible to swap cables round which I do all the time between setups. I also don't run Nvidia surround any more, favouring a manually setup oversized borderless window per game as per the video by Dan Suzuki did. (It's actually required to do this for two pc streaming setups sending just one cloned monitor signal to a capture card). Massively reduced the setup process switching setups for me.

thanks a lot Trebor! Thanks for sharing this. But again....how will you play games (like FH5) for example without Surround? Surround is so convenient for such a setup...

 

[Trebormoore84]

thanks a lot Trebor! Thanks for sharing this. But again....how will you play games (like FH5) for example without Surround? Surround is so convenient for such a setup...

Probably the same method Dan used in this video for ACC. A program that expands a borderless window to exact pixel size and position.

 

[ArkanHell]

I had kinda same problem a while ago, im with pimax 5k+ and 5x 32 Dell 3220DGF 164hz monitors ( 2 in the upper row and 3 in the lower one, is the rig i use for work and i use too for gaming ), the fix is kinda easy, Nvidia surround is limited to 120hz ( at least with my gtx 1080, dont know if with newer cards you can go to higher refresh rates) so you can plug one of the monitors using HDMI, ( i have my left one on HDMI, middle and rigth on DP) and use the other free DP for your G2.

And to avoid waste resources in the mirroring to a triple screen monster resolution, you can switch to single screen mode with just a click and 30 seconds, since Nvidia ****ed up with surround switching using keybinds, i been using Helios Display Management https://github.com/falahati/HeliosDisplayManagement and it do the work, you create a surround profile, then save it with helios or several direrent monitor profiles, but i find is faster use helios to switch into surround but use nvidia control panel to disable it ( save some seconds for me).

When i search the download link, i seen the dev put a link to another fork of his program more polished and with more options https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/releases/tag/v2.1.1 , im gonna download it and try it, but i dont tried yet, i suposse it gonna work better than Helios. How to create a profile shortcut is not very clear first time, and maybe you need to repeat the process a couple of times until you have a profile shortcut, but after than is just a click.

Both programs are free.

And now a personal recomendation for any user or multimonitor setup, this one is payware, but worth every single buck you put on it, https://store.steampowered.com/app/227260/DisplayFusion/ been using 5 screens plugged at same time to 2 diferent PCs since some years ago using all posible combinations you can imagine with diferent monitos active in each PC, before Display Fusion was a nigthmare, now any combination is just a click away.

And if any of you have too a dual PC setup and wanna use it with a multiscreen setup, you can use Synergy 1.6.2 ( lastest free version or you can search for a newer one but is payware) to control several pcs with a single mouse-keyboard.


I hope this help with your setup.

Regards.

Edit: Oh i forget, if your monitors dont have 120hz refresh when plugged into DP, you can use Nvidia control panel to create a a custom resolution, when you are in the new custom resolution panel, just change the refresh to 120 and leave everything else untouched , this way you can add the refresh you need to match all your monitors refresh to create surround.

 

[Passajero]

I had kinda same problem a while ago, im with pimax 5k+ and 5x 32 Dell 3220DGF 164hz monitors ( 2 in the upper row and 3 in the lower one, is the rig i use for work and i use too for gaming ), the fix is kinda easy, Nvidia surround is limited to 120hz ( at least with my gtx 1080, dont know if with newer cards you can go to higher refresh rates) so you can plug one of the monitors using HDMI, ( i have my left one on HDMI, middle and rigth on DP) and use the other free DP for your G2.

And to avoid waste resources in the mirroring to a triple screen monster resolution, you can switch to single screen mode with just a click and 30 seconds, since Nvidia ****ed up with surround switching using keybinds, i been using Helios Display Management https://github.com/falahati/HeliosDisplayManagement and it do the work, you create a surround profile, then save it with helios or several direrent monitor profiles, but i find is faster use helios to switch into surround but use nvidia control panel to disable it ( save some seconds for me).

When i search the download link, i seen the dev put a link to another fork of his program more polished and with more options https://github.com/terrymacdonald/DisplayMagician/releases/tag/v2.1.1 , im gonna download it and try it, but i dont tried yet, i suposse it gonna work better than Helios. How to create a profile shortcut is not very clear first time, and maybe you need to repeat the process a couple of times until you have a profile shortcut, but after than is just a click.

Both programs are free.

And now a personal recomendation for any user or multimonitor setup, this one is payware, but worth every single buck you put on it, https://store.steampowered.com/app/227260/DisplayFusion/ been using 5 screens plugged at same time to 2 diferent PCs since some years ago using all posible combinations you can imagine with diferent monitos active in each PC, before Display Fusion was a nigthmare, now any combination is just a click away.

And if any of you have too a dual PC setup and wanna use it with a multiscreen setup, you can use Synergy 1.6.2 ( lastest free version or you can search for a newer one but is payware) to control several pcs with a single mouse-keyboard.


I hope this help with your setup.

Regards.

Edit: Oh i forget, if your monitors dont have 120hz refresh when plugged into DP, you can use Nvidia control panel to create a a custom resolution, when you are in the new custom resolution panel, just change the refresh to 120 and leave everything else untouched , this way you can add the refresh you need to match all your monitors refresh to create surround.

Dear Arkan,

You are a source of great info which more or less I have also found around in various forums/sites/users etc.

I tried to run Surround with a combination of HDMI 2.1 and DP ports (1 monitor connected thru HDMI to the monitor and the card and the other 2 x monitors on the DPs. It did not work. Why? It seems Surround DOES NOT sync when it doesnt see same connections. For example, in my case the 2 monitors were locked at 144hz (yes Nvidia does this Hz in Surround with its new 3000 series cards) but the HDMI one was only locking at 75hz! On single basis all monitors were syncing at 144hz either with DP or HMDI cables, but when Surround doesnt seems to work at a mix or either HMDIs and DPs or just plain HDMI (which i have on my card being an Aorus Master)...

I also have DisplayFusion which is indeed magical!!! I fully agree....but again i cant make it work in Surround with my VR mask plugged....

Needless to add that all my monitors are AOC 32" 144hz all same model / same brand / same res

 

[paokkerkir]

I have 3x HDR LG 165hz monitors. Damned LG used HDMI 2.0 on the monitor, so with the HDMI port I'm limited to 144hz and no HDR.

Even so, nv surround gives me the option for 120hz only. What I understood is that hdmi and dp ports report different display timings to the driver (or smth like that), by 0.000something, and this messes up the surround options.

You can probably set a manual resolution or edit the display timings via an external app and make it work for 144hz surround with hdmi 2.0 ports mixed with displayport.

But it's too much hassle for me personally, so I settled for 3x165hz surround and plug-unplug the VR headset; which I do not use that often anyway with this setup.

 

[ArkanHell]

Passajero, you tried to create a custom 120hz refresh rate for each single monitor?, sometimes DP and HDMI report diferent available refresh rates and at if the HDMI cable isnt capable of 144hz ( at least my HDMI 2.0 plugged by a 2.0 cable only reach 120hz on HDMI) adding a 120 custom resolution for your DP connected monitors, allow you to have a 120hz surround. At least is how it works for me, you can check it here

https://imgur.com/a/FBA6wtr

paokkerkir, dont know what is your GPU, maybe is a 3000 series and as Passajero told is capable of 144 hz surround, but at least for me, even my HDMI is capable of 144hz in single screen mode, isnt in surround, so i have custom resolutions to allow every monitor without 120 native refresh to be able to use it, and this way i can create a 120hz DP-HDMI 2.0 mixed surround ( you can check in the screenshot in this post.

To create custom resolutions you dont need anything but Nvidia driver, gonna take a couple screenshots now and edit the post in a few minutes so you can see the procedure ( really easy).

Regards.

Edit: Here you have how to add a custom resolution in Nvidia control panel, just follow "the yellow bricks road". Btw, as you can see i added a 90hz custom resolution, as most VR users have 90hz headsets, have screen mirroring and headset in sync sometimes help with framerate and sometimes just helps with stuttering issues, you can add too a 72 80 100 120 144 or whatever refresh rates have on your HMD.

https://imgur.com/a/LwCsXxm

 

[Passajero]

Passajero, you tried to create a custom 120hz refresh rate for each single monitor?, sometimes DP and HDMI report diferent available refresh rates and at if the HDMI cable isnt capable of 144hz ( at least my HDMI 2.0 plugged by a 2.0 cable only reach 120hz on HDMI) adding a 120 custom resolution for your DP connected monitors, allow you to have a 120hz surround. At least is how it works for me, you can check it here

https://imgur.com/a/FBA6wtr

paokkerkir, dont know what is your GPU, maybe is a 3000 series and as Passajero told is capable of 144 hz surround, but at least for me, even my HDMI is capable of 144hz in single screen mode, isnt in surround, so i have custom resolutions to allow every monitor without 120 native refresh to be able to use it, and this way i can create a 120hz DP-HDMI 2.0 mixed surround ( you can check in the screenshot in this post.

To create custom resolutions you dont need anything but Nvidia driver, gonna take a couple screenshots now and edit the post in a few minutes so you can see the procedure ( really easy).

Regards.

Edit: Here you have how to add a custom resolution in Nvidia control panel, just follow "the yellow bricks road". Btw, as you can see i added a 90hz custom resolution, as most VR users have 90hz headsets, have screen mirroring and headset in sync sometimes help with framerate and sometimes just helps with stuttering issues, you can add too a 72 80 100 120 144 or whatever refresh rates have on your HMD.

https://imgur.com/a/LwCsXxm

Muchas gracias amigo!! Thanks a lot for the time spending to share yr knowledge on this matter. I will try your solutions and I will report back to you. I hope that will be able to use both HDMI and DP connections simultaneously so i will free up the valuable DP port in need for my VR headset. Reverting with my report back soon. Again thanks so much...

Adios, Passajero ;-)

 

[ArkanHell]

You welcome my friend, i hope too you been able to have everything working, cos Nvidia surround behaviour is weird and they use to add remove and change things with very few or none information about it in the driver changelog.
But even if now im just using 2 diferent connections for the same monitors, before i had all kind of weird surround+VR setups combining at same time DP, HDMI, DP to HDMI using converter, DVI-D, DVI to VGA using converter, HDMI to VGA using converter, and allways worked no matter the diferent timings of the monitors or the connections windows version or even the gpu!!! ( Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10 LTSC, gtx 660, gtx 780ti, gtx 1080, gtx 1080+gtx 1060 3gb), what really matter is you must match the surround refresh to the lower refresh monitor and since surround standar refresh rates were 60 and 120hz , try this rates before say "aint work" cos if work at lower hz , means it works so the issue can be fixed with the rigth configuration .

I hope you come soon with good news and all your rig working fine, but if you have any issue, just post it, i have more tricks under the hood and maybe another one can help.

Regards.

 

[Passajero]

You welcome my friend, i hope too you been able to have everything working, cos Nvidia surround behaviour is weird and they use to add remove and change things with very few or none information about it in the driver changelog.
But even if now im just using 2 diferent connections for the same monitors, before i had all kind of weird surround+VR setups combining at same time DP, HDMI, DP to HDMI using converter, DVI-D, DVI to VGA using converter, HDMI to VGA using converter, and allways worked no matter the diferent timings of the monitors or the connections windows version or even the gpu!!! ( Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10 LTSC, gtx 660, gtx 780ti, gtx 1080, gtx 1080+gtx 1060 3gb), what really matter is you must match the surround refresh to the lower refresh monitor and since surround standar refresh rates were 60 and 120hz , try this rates before say "aint work" cos if work at lower hz , means it works so the issue can be fixed with the rigth configuration .

I hope you come soon with good news and all your rig working fine, but if you have any issue, just post it, i have more tricks under the hood and maybe another one can help.

Regards.

Dear ArkanHell,

I am trying months to fix this issue and i have posted this question everywhere and nobody had a real answer. I am very confident (since you have done it and worked) that it will work in the end so I will have my VR mask plugged in permanently and i wont crawling every time i wanna switch from triples to VR. I will report back my dear friend and in case i have still probs i will ask yr help again. Thanks so much, stay safe and Merry Christmas to you and yr beloved ones

From Greece