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2 Monitors + Vive Pro (just two display ports)


Amorgeddon

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Hi 

I have an Asus Maximum Gamer Motherboard and 1080 Ti Card . The thing is my gpu has only two Display Ports and two hdmi ports. My Motherboard has another Display Port. 

What would be the best way without hurting my performance for vr and non vr gaming?

For example :

Vive Pro and Main Monitor in GPU

Second Monitor in Displayport on motherboard

or

Vive Pro and Main Monitor in Gpu 

Second Monitor in GPU via HDMI 

For Monitors ( dedicated HDMI cable ? Or Display to hdmi converter ?

 

Thank you for your advice...

 

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If you're wanting to play games, then never user motherboard graphic adaptor if you have a decent graphics card.

Running two monitors AS WELL as VR will cause performance issues. Do you need two monitors activated while in VR?

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"If you're wanting to play games, then never user motherboard graphic adaptor if you have a decent graphics card."

 

But what about the second monitor? i only play games on the first one"

 

"Running two monitors AS WELL as VR will cause performance issues. Do you need two monitors activated while in VR?"

 

Is that so? I nether heard about that.. But what do you do.. Always climb under your desk and unplug the second monitor if you want to play VR?

 

 

 

 

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@Amorgeddon - You generally only want to plug in display devices into your dedicated GPU if you have one - trying to use both integrated graphics and the dGPU is generally a mess and is not well supported at the OS or application level except as a custom solution in certain laptops. Trying to plug display devices is going to give you bad UX.

You also generally want as few monitors running as possible to maximize your perf. You can easily enable and disable them in Window's Display Settings (on the desktop, right click -> display properties) without physically unplugging them. The impact on perf from additional monitors is actually rather complex to predict and measure - it really ultimately depends on how many updates the GPU has to send to the monitor each refresh cycle - if the image remains static, it can get by with recycling data from the buffer and only refreshing the pixels that need updating, if you're piping out a scene that's contingently updating (such as a VR mirror or video, ect...) you're essentially forcing the GPU to render out tens of millions of additional pixel updates per second. If perf is your end goal - limit your VR sessions to one primary monitor, do not display the game window or a VR window, and keep the primary window's contents as static as possible so there aren't a ton of pixels needing to be updated. Your in a headset - you simply don't benefit from having multiple monitors running and to boot, if you have extended displays, you'll break SteamVR's "Desktop" overlay widget as it can only support a primary monitor.

In your case, I would recommend plugging in the Pro and your primary monitor (i.e. the one with the highest bandwidth/resolution reqs) into your dGPU's DP native ports and plugging your secondary monitor in via your dGPU's native HDMI port (potentially via an adapter if your monitor doesn't have an HDMI port). You may also be able to use a dual-header Displayport adapter to try and drive both monitors from a single DP port but it really depends on what your monitor's reqs are and what your card will output. You cannot drive the Pro from an HDMI port.

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Wow Vibrant.. can i give you a virtual hug. That was one of the best thought trough answers i received in my whole internet life .. Thank you for that.. I wished companys would answer this way.

One Question though... 

So the window of the game (that you playing on vive) on the monitor is optional? Why is nobody saying that? I thought it is just the way it is? And where can i deactivate it? 

And would you know a quick way to do all the 3 steps. with one click?

1 Start Vive wirless

2. Start Steam VR

3. Deactivate Second Screen 

 

Thank you in advance...

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@Amorgeddon - It's a little complex and I'm not a GPU expert by any means. In terms of the 2D output window, that's something the developer would need to disable in their build to kill it fully. My understanding is that if the window is minimized, there still may be additional drawcalls and processing that's occurring on the GPU but since the pixels on the monitor aren't updating, it can recycle pixel updates from the framebuffer instead of rendering new pixels. I'll see if I can do some hunting around on this - I may actually be completely wrong - it's been years since I've thought about this since modern GPU's are so much more powerful than what we started with back in 2015/16. I think the effect on perf would be rather small overall on a modern GPU but everything adds up if you're trying to super sample.

Per the second question, you could theoretically create a batch file to preform the automation (or at least some parts of it). It's a little tricky though because SteamVR isn't fully PnP with Vive wireless, you'd want to build in some level of delay to allow for the companion app to enumerate the wireless connection. You'd probably want to disable the other display first and then launch the apps - changing displays with SteamVR running is generally not stable. I'm not sure how you'd change the monitor configuration via batch. This may be a question that stackoverflow could help with.

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It's a little complex and I'm not a GPU expert by any means. In terms of the 2D output window, that's something the developer would need to disable in their build to kill it fully. My understanding is that if the window is minimized, there still may be additional drawcalls and processing that's occurring on the GPU but since the pixels on the monitor aren't updating, it can recycle pixel updates from the framebuffer instead of rendering new pixels. I'll see if I can do some hunting around on this - "

 

Ok so it is not a setting i have missed. I don´t need it and i dont know why it is there. So i would gladly disable it if it helps with performance. But maybe it is needed for the Program? 

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