Hello
Maybe this question has been asked already a few times, but I can’t find the post on here:
I want to built a home cockpit with 4 screens: 1x 3840x2160 (windshield), 2x 1920x1080 (PFD, ND, ECAMs) and 1x 640x480 (MCDU). My current gpu (RTX3080 10gb) can ‘only’ output 7680x5880. So I have one screen too many.
How can I achieve my setup? I also want to add 2 additionele screens in the future (ISIS and DCDU).
What I think I can do:
Option 1: add a second pc with FSUIPC and (or only with?) WideFS to use the pop out screens (with pop out manager) for the PFD, ND and ECAMs. Don’t know if this will work?
Option 2: add an addition GPU to my pc (see specs below if this is even possible?)
Option 3: buy a new pc with a ryzen 7800 x3D and 4090 to make it possible to use the integrated graphics card in the 7800. (If it will be possible, idk?) BUT the problem if I want to add the CDCU screen remains, one screen too many…
Thanks for the help/feedback.
My current pc specs:
- 750W PSU
- AMD X570 UD Gigabyte max. 64GB
- AMD Ryzen5 5600X 6x 3.7GHZ (NO integrated gpu)
- 32GB DDR4 3200 G.Skill (2x 16GB)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX3080 10GB DDR6
USB to HDMI converters are cheap.
I run a total of five. Three off my 4090 and two off of the IGPU.
1 Like
But is it possible to use USB to HDMI without an integrated gpu? where does the usb get its image from?
Because my 3080 has a max total resolution output off course?
No IGPU is need to use a USB to HDMI adapter. It’s a graphics device. You could use three of them on you current setup.
And I can plug-in those adaptors in any USB 3.0 outputs I have, doesn’t matter which outputs I use, as long as they are USB 3.0?
Yes. You can even get USB-C to HDMI.
Okay, I’ll check that out. But no, I don’t have any usb-c ports on my pc?
I run 7 screens now;
- Triple screens for cockpit view off display ports of my 4090
- Overhead screen for navigraph map/charts off the igpu from my cpu but I could also have used the 4th port on the 4090
- Triple touchscreens for the mfd/pfd/cockpit gauges off a second GPU (7600xt). The pic shows 2 of them but I now have a 3rd touchscreen monitor.
In the past I used spacedesk software and several eBay-purchased iPads for the touchscreen mfd/PFD and that works as well but I wanted larger screens than the 9.7” iPads.
Air manager software for the touchscreens.
You could add a 2nd small gpu (even a single fan model) for several touch screen monitors (the 13” windows touch panel monitors off Amazon) to your mobo if has a 2nd pcie slot on the bottom. Note that if you go this route make sure your PSU has enough headroom. I wanted to make sure so I went a bit overkill and run a 2nd PSU to power the 2nd GPU (psus are daisy chained together so they power on and off at the same time which is important for the 2nd GPU so it doesn’t get power from the pcie slot at a different time than power from the 2nd PSU).
9 Likes
This is a very nice setup, you better enjoy this cockpit! 
1 Like
Thanks for the info.
Last time I checked I rememer that my PSU was almost at 100%… so it looks like I don’t have much headroom at all. Also the usb to hdmi option seems to be the cheaper one.
Just wondering, what screens are you using for the tripple setup?
Also you can check if it fits your needs to use
Triplehead2go or dualheadtogo from matrox company which can give some space on your gpu and save some dvi and or hdmi ports
Check their website to see if it fits your needs maybe there are alternatives as well.
Sebastiaan
I bought a cheap 650w PSU but could have gone 500w (the 2nd psu was like $60 and the switch to link the 2 PSUs was $15). I bought 3 of the 14” touchscreen windows monitors on Amazon from prechen at $99 each. Here’s the link. Note that touch screen monitors need 3 cables to work (cables usually included but I needed some extensions too)….the touch part of the screen uses usb to the pc or a hub to track the finger swipes and touches, then hdmi to a GPU for video, and another usb to the power plug for the screen power. The touchscreens are vesa compatible on the back so they are attached to my triple monitor stand with cheap Amazon monitor vesa arms that swivel around and out far enough to be in reach. So for each screen it was $99+$15 mount+$10usb cable extensions +$15 longer hdmi cables as the usb and hdmi cables they included were short….so maybe $140 per screen or so. There are also a few other screen makers available on Amazon just search for 14 inch touch screen monitor. Wimaxit is another brand that I’ve seen a lot.
Portable Monitor Touchscreen, HDR, 400cd/m², 14 Inch 1920x1200 Display with HDMI USB C, IPS Screen, 100% sRGB, Kickstand & Built-in Speakers, External Monitor for Laptop PC Phone Mac Xbox Amazon.com
The thing I’m concerend about is if my gpu will be able to handle all those pixels? I can use dualheadtogo, but then I do stay limited with my max output resolution of my gpu, no? So generating an image via usb to hdmi, isn’t that the best option?
I read that those converters act like mini gpu’s, so no limitation no more from my actual gpu?
Correct but you will utilize a fraction more of your CPU. And if you are just going to be displaying CDU, GPS, PFD, ND or MFD on the other devices then the “hit” will be non-existent.
For what you are wanting to accomplish, this is the easiest to implement and cheapest solution…USB to HDMI
1 Like
These matrox have there own way of fill the screen i have one running 3x 24 inch screen to one
And this week i bought another for my 2nd pc and although these are 1 digital port split in 3 indiviual dvi port , which you can setup as 3 individually monitors or 3 to 1 monitor also cable is included to hook it on thunderbolt
So plenty of extra s and with own engine.
What ever your choice maybe gain knowledge and fit into your vision.
Sebastiaan
Hey mate, I’ve got a 4090 mounted to my 7950X3D and as thinking of adding a second GPU to run another three monitors.
I was concerned however that running the second GPU would compromise the speed of the 4090 due to the whole PCI-E Lanes thingo…something I don’t fully understand.
Did you notice any decrease in performance of the 4090/MSFS running the second GPU?
Cheers
No impact at all to my 4090…from what I researched the bandwidth of a pcie lane running at x8 speed is plenty for a 4090 maxed out….and on my motherboard the pcie lane 1 for the 4090 is reduced from x16 speed to x8 speed when I’m using the pcie slot 3 at the bottom for the 2nd GPU. I did find though that I couldn’t get a 2nd nvidia GPU to be recognized by windows, could have been an NVidia driver conflict…so I bought an AMD rx7600 and that worked no problem. Also check the bus speed of your mobo on the lower slot and only get a GPU that will run at that speed as I think that caused a problem also on the initial NVidia 3050 that I tried. Amazon was good as I easily returned the first GPU and then landed on the rx7600. And for the 3 small touchscreen monitors I run at 1080p for cockpit guages the rx7600 is not heavily used at all and I could have gone with a lesser GPU as well.
1 Like
What are you planning on running on the additional three monitors? You have 7950X3D it has an IGPU. What motherboard do you have? How many IGPU outputs are on it? What resolution are the monitors you want to add?
The lanes on pci-e are most if not all mobo cheaper models with one pci-e 16 slot and maybe 1 or 2 with 8 lanes where it says it takes 16, 8, 4 or 1 lane/lanes from the processor the more expensive class processor segment provide more lanes and are mostly equiped with different socket
Like amd threadripper or intell i9 10920x (know this because i am lucky to own one, it has 48 lanes)
If the processor is limited to lets say 32 lanes, and mobo has say 4 pci-e slots than 1 slot will use
16 lanes and the other 3 will get something like 1 with 8 lanes and 2 with 4 lanes (not completly true but be aware that also m2 slots use pci-e) So in most cases it wil divide the lanes up over the slots available
Than there is the fact that some mobos have 2 16 pci-e slots but the lay out of the slots is not optimal becausethe video cards these days are pretty thick and easilly cover the second slot which makes it almost impossible to use bummer if you thought this may be the second pci-e 16x lanes
Even if missing the point on my side this could be a hassle even for other cards like lan or usb etc
NB. These lanes goes the more lanes the more and the faster in can pump data tö the output.
A second gpu does not need to be that expensive for it doesnot use that much vram
But make sure it use the same driver version so from the same series
For pc dont like to much to different driver versions and older video cards are almost end of life
And will probably get no longer the support for it and will then form a bottleneck for the system on the driver side you run.
So check well before u order and buy.
I hope this shows a little more info although im not a computer expert but
I run my systems at home this way.
If i may see this the wrong way than apologies and than maybe it is time to start a topic on this
Pci-e and how it works
Sebastiaan
My current setup is below for context:
I’d like to add another two touch screens to use some guages or mapping software. I’m using a ROG X670E-F Gaming Wifi M/B that for some reason won’t allow me to connect a USB-C → HDMI Cable and another monitor to it.
At present I’ve got the 3 x 50" 4K TV’s running of the 4090 in addition to the centre monitor above. The iGPU is powering the left and right upper monitors.
3 Likes
