GTX 980Ti Monitor problem [Solved]

Tech Support
1

Hi guys,

I’m looking to the Nvidia gurus out there, or anyone for that matter with a problem I’m having with setting up my monitors to my Gigabyte Windforce 980Ti. I have the latest drivers, I have fully uninstalled and cleaned out the old drivers and reinstalled them as well.

To paint a picture, the monitors I have are set up as the following with Monitor names:

Connected as follows:

Monitor 1 Acer X34 Display Port Cable
Monitor 2 BenQ G2220HD DVI to DVI Cable
Monitor 3 ASUS VE228 DVI to DP Cable

With the set up above all 3 monitors work. However every time I start up my PC the BenQ shows the the main monitor and the X34 will not be detected, until I’ve manually changed the input on the X34 to HDMI and back to DP then the X34 will take over as the main monitor. A bit in convenient so I tried some other combos.

Here is the problem!

If I swap cables around in the back of the card’s ports, I start to lose monitor connectivity. The following examples are all from cold start.

Example 1
I swap the X34 and VE228 DP positions
The X34 starts up and is detected as main monitor right away (what I am trying to achieve), but the VE228 is not detected and will not work.

Example 2
I keep the original cable config but, I switch the BenQ G2220HD cable for a DVI to DP cable and put it in the last DP
The only monitor that works is the one connected to Display port 1 (next to the HDMI port) other monitors are not detected.

Example 3
I remove all monitors except the X34 and plug it into each of the DP on the card in turn, Shut down/start up each time.
X34 is detected every time as the main monitor in each port and works fine.

I have tried other combos but I didn’t want to make this longer that is it!

So the question is; I’m I missing something in the way of an adaptor or should this set up be working off the bat?

Or is there a problem with the card?

The website seems to point that any combo of ports should work as long as one DP is connected.

Any help would be appreciated.

2

Sounds like an odd issue. Do you have an GPU on your MB? If so, is it turned off in BIOS?

3

Good call thanks Nebkhat. I’ll have to check that. The cpu is an i7 6600 so the inboard Intel might be putting a spanner in the works.

I’ll check first thing once I’m home.

However I’d anyone else has any theory’s please share.

4

Ok I looked around the BIOS and set the 980 Ti as primary Gfx adaptor, but that didn’t work.

However I did come up with a wacky solution that I would like to run past you guys.

I actually did the opposite and turned the on board Gfx on and used it for the third monitor!

So my set up is now:
X34 plugged into DP 1 on 980 Ti (Detects on start up and is main display)
BenQ G2220HD plugged into the DVI port on 980 Ti (works as before)
Asus VE228 plugged into the on board DP on the Motherboard (works and using 512MB of 16GB RAM)

Now the question is:
Will this help or hinder my PC performance?

I’ve looked all around and can’t see any real for or against on the matter.

Now to be totally clear, the monitor plugged into the Mobo is for webpages, videos, windows, etc, not for anything game related.

The way I’m seeing it is my 980 Ti now has one less monitor to render to thus freeing up resources (not a great deal granted)

However my CPU now has to render a monitor, but it is a i7 6600 and it s using only 512 MB of 16 GB of RAM, so not really taxing it.

If anyone can give me the slightest reason not to do it, I’ll go with it.

Any thoughts?

PS. Still a bit cheesed off as to way the 980 Ti isn’t working with all monitors right off the start line but I’ll live with it.

5

Are you using DP to DVI adapters by chance?

6

No DVI to DP cables, this one basically:

This one

I was thinking that it would be an active adaptor sort of thing, I had a similar issue with my old ATI 7950, but no matter where I looked I could get a straight answer and since the cable worked with one of the ports the assumption was they all would.

Any recommendations Jay?

7

That is the problem, you need an active adapter if you’re going to run more than 2 monitors on these cards.

8

Figured as much, thanks Jay

9

Given that I’m running an AMD card, I don’t think “these cards” applies to me, but: is that something I should look into as a root cause for why my Win10 machine can only run 2 monitors? Been having that problem before and after I got my new GPU.

10

Actually when I was running my AMD 7950 I needed to use an adaptor like this one HERE in order to get more than 2 monitors to work.

I was assuming Nvidia was different hence the post, seems not.

11

I’ve tried running MB GPU and a GFX960 without success. The drivers kept conflicting with each other (granted is was an old MB). If you can get it to work, I don’t see why it would put any additional strain on your system. Just my opinion, I’m sure someone else can provide supporting data (for or against).

12

No AMD’s need to run these adapters as well, unless you’re going directly to a display port on the monitor.

13

Yeah don’t do this, it’s not a good plan in most situation. Just use active display adapters.

14

Cracked it!

Turns out the card is faulty, I took the plunge and got myself another 980 Ti of the same make and model (I was getting a second one for SLI anyway).

When the new one turned up I swapped the cards out and set up the monitors in a known bad configuration. Fired up the system and all monitors worked first time! I even used active adaptors and passive pass through DVI to DP cables, all worked with all three DP ports being used.

Just to be extra sure, I swapped them back around in case the original card wasn’t seated correctly, same issue persisted.

I’ve RMA’d the original card and waiting for a replacement.

15

I’m glad you got it sorted out. Good thing you planned on ordering a second anyway.

Neb,