https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/RSS/?TopicID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd DisplayFusion RSS: Multi-monitor masochism... Keith! Please help? Fri, 22 May 2026 11:52:09 GMT en hourly 1 https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/RSS/?TopicID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#40 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 23:52:35 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#40 DisplayFusion To be totally honest, I'm not sure if it's fixed. We have made a number of improvements since we last talked, so it's worth a try at least. If it's still an issue at least it's easy to uninstall and be back up and running again

If you'd like to give it a try, grab the latest version here: https://www.displayfusion.com/Download

No need to do any troubleshooting if it's still an issue, just uninstall it again and let me know the results

Thanks! ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#39 Thu, 03 Nov 2016 17:58:39 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#39 DisplayFusion Keith,

As of your last note, I had to just walk away - this issue had caused so much grief I couldn't cope any more!

But I really miss having DF on my system. I see you've had a few releases since then. What do you think - is it likely that the problem is fixed? Is it worth putting some time into trying again? If so should I go with the latest version being offered or is there a special link I need to a beta version still?

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#38 Tue, 21 Jun 2016 15:25:56 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#38 DisplayFusion Interesting! If you're interested in trying out 8.0 Beta 7, let me know and I'll send over the link. In that build, we made some changes to deal with mouse stuttering in full screen games on some systems, and it fixed the issue for those customers. I wonder if it's the same thing that was affecting your system.

If you don't want to troubleshoot with DF any more, I totally understand. You've already spent a ton of time on it! ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#37 Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:00:42 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#37 DisplayFusion I think this may be more complicated than meets the eye.

The very first thing I did in the beginning was to remove DF (but keep config files and license installed), and that didn't seem to change anything, so I re-installed it. Hence my report that DF was not the problem.

Now that I have removed DF from the system, the worst *symptom*, chronic mouselag, is completely gone. But the system still "feels screwy". This system is hard-wired to a gigabit router with 200mbps Internet service. Yet I cannot watch a streaming video without it pausing every few seconds. Yet the video streams fine to my laptop, which only has a WiFi connection theoretically many times slower than the wired connection. And the desktop is 128GB memory on a i5930k and a super-fast 2000MB/sec M.2 boot drive!

So my latest hypothesis is:

1. Some unknown program is causing major system-wide performance degradation
2. If you run DisplayFusion, the problem is badly exaccerbated with mouselag symptoms

Unfortunately, I wiped out the brand new (fresh Win10 install on clean disk) sytstem I was building in parallel, because I couldn't get VMware to work on that system and allow my VM to run on multi monitors, which works on the performance-broken system. Otherwise it would make sense to install DF on that and see whether DF broke it. My guess would be non - I think DF is badly exaccerbating some other problem. ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#36 Tue, 21 Jun 2016 13:34:44 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#36 DisplayFusion Wow! Thanks for the update Erik! I appreciate you letting us know, and feel bad that we didn't discover that sooner. I didn't ask any DisplayFusion questions because your first post mentioned that it wasn't a DisplayFusion issue

I am glad to hear that you're back up and running, though it's too bad you can't use DisplayFusion! If we need a copy of your drive image for testing, I'll definitely let you know.

Thanks for sticking by us, even with a bad experience like this one! ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#35 Sun, 19 Jun 2016 14:36:29 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#35 DisplayFusion Keith,

BIG NEWS... After several months of working every weekend trying to debug this and upwards of $25k spent on parts, rush shipping to Mexico, and a consultant in the states... I've solved the problem and it appears that DisplayFusion was the culprit all along!

The most frustrating thing is that I could swear that one of the very first things I tried was to remove DF (although I did leave the license and config files) to see if that would solve it. I don't remember the details - that was months ago.

But after considerable testing I've determined that stopping the DF processes makes the problem go away. Specifically, there are four DF processes:

DisplayFusion
DisplayFusion Hook App
DisplayFusion Hook App (32 bit)
DisplayFusion Service

The first one appears to be the culprit - stopping this process eliminates the mouse lag and performance issues.

As I reminder, everything works fine until you get more than 8 or so monitors (mostly 4k) on the system. Then it suddenly becomes borderline unusable.

I will miss DF's wonderful features, but obviously I cannot invest any more time/energy trying to get it to work on my production system. I've used IObit Uninstaller to completely remove all DF files from my system, and so far it appears to be back to working normally.

I cloned the boot drive in case you want me to test anything or collect any diagnostic information that might be of help to you in debugging this. But please understand (1) I can only do this on weekends due to the system being in a mission-critical application, and (2) I haven't had a weekend off in four months because of this problem. So it'll be a couple weeks before I can do anything on the cloned system drive, which still has DF installed.

Please know I have no ill-will. Despite this being the worst system debug problem I've ever faced, you were right there to help even when it seemed clear the problem had nothing to do with DF. So I really appreciate your efforts and remain a fan of DF's feature set, even if it turned out to be the culprit in this very expensive adventure.

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#34 Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:26:46 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#34 DisplayFusion No worries, glad to hear that it resolved the issues then! I can't imagine what could have been causing the issues, but it must have been some background process (maybe something that starts in the system tray, or via a Windows Service?)

Good luck with the VMware Workstation stuff! If the VM Settings > Display options are setup correctly, I'm not sure what would need to be done there, sorry ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#33 Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:06:00 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#33 DisplayFusion Keith,

Quick update... Your suggestion to just start from scratch with a fresh install of Windows 10 was spot on. What was causing the old system to freak out when >6 monitors connected remains a mystery, but the new Windows install fixed it. Also the new build recognized both NVS810s, and allows all 13 monitors to function at desired resolution, albeit at 30Hz.

Unfortunately the new system also seems to have broken VMware, which won't allow multi-monitor VMs on the new sys but still works on the old sys. This forced me to fail back to the old sys for this week, but this weekend's project will be to try to fix VMware on the new sys...

Thanks again,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#32 Mon, 16 May 2016 20:14:49 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#32 DisplayFusion Sounds good! Unfortunately I don't have any NVS810's for testing, so I'm not sure why it's only allowing 1 card when 2 are installed

Regarding AMD cards, I have two FirePro 2460's in a machine here, and both work, however, they don't support 4K displays. There are a couple of current FirePro cards that have 6 mini-DP outputs though. The spec sheet for this one says it supports 4K if you're using DisplayPort 1.2 cables: http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-3d/9100. The price is pretty outrageous though

This one also looks to do 6 mini-DP outputs and supports 4K as well (if I read those specs correctly) and seems to be much more cost effective: http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/workstation/firepro-display-wall/w600

All that being said, I don't have experience with either of those two cards, so I can't say whether they will make any difference or not. If it were me, I'd go the route of the fresh Windows install before ordering any more cards. I'm very surprised that a completely different video card and CPU combo produced the same results. ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#31 Mon, 16 May 2016 14:28:08 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#31 DisplayFusion Hi Keith!

The NVIDIA support crew supplied a long list of things to try. None of them worked, but they consumed a couple of weekends trying... So the fresh-install-windows option is definitely still in the queue, probably this coming weekend's project.

Have you guys built systems (or know customers who have) with 2 NVS810's installed? I notice that the two GPUs on each card are SLI'd together internally, but there are no SLI connectors to join the two NVS810 CARDS together. I wonder if this has anything to do with why when we install 2 NVS810s at the same time, both NCP and Windows Device Mgr only see one GPU (and 4 monitors) per card...

Thinking seriously about trying to find suitable AMD cards, and just buying them on speculation that MAYBE this is an NVIDIA problem. The guy at multi-monitor.com said they build all their big multi-monitor system on AMD cards, not NVIDIA. Keith, got any advice on AMD cards that drive 6+ 4K outputs, preferably with miniDP connectors, which is what I've re-cabled everything for?

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#30 Thu, 12 May 2016 19:33:19 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#30 DisplayFusion Thanks for the update! I'm totally stumped on this one. Were you able to try the fresh Windows install? ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#29 Sun, 08 May 2016 17:28:16 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#29 DisplayFusion In case you guys are interested, below is excerpted from my email reporting results of the testing NVIDIA Support directed that we try. Please note that this was an email to my partner, so please ignore the parts asking him to check with Newegg on return status, etc.

---

Wow… Lots to report. I have a feeling the NVS810’s are going to have to go back, so we need to get on deciding that question for once and for all ASAP, so I can get the process going if so. Much to follow for the support case.

Instructions provided by Shahbaz from NVIDIA Support:

The specific link provided at wagnardmobile.com did not work but redicted to their home page. I was able to find latest version of DDU utility by navigating their menus.

Installed and ran DDU. There were no checkboxes to check near the NVIDIA logo as per the instructions. I am guessing this is a version issue. Clicked Clean and Restart. Got a flickering monitor as the drivers were un-installed.

System restarted in low res on MSFT default driver. OMG, the mouse difference was amazing. I’d literally forgotten what it feels like when it works! Mouse latency was absolutely flawless, but of course with no drivers we’re only running one monitor.

Shut down and removed GTX970, leaving only 1 NVS810 (8 connected monitors) in system, as directed. Started up, again in single-monitor mode using MS default driver.

Performed “clean install” of 362.13 per instructions. About halfway through the install process, the mouse problem was back, bad as ever! This is the first time I’ve ever reproduced the problem with only one graphics card installed in the system, but it’s also the first time I ever ran a single NVS810 with all 8 monitors hooked up. I believe this is important for several reasons:

•For the first time we have clear evidence that the problem is NOT the PCIe lanes, or another hardware conflict. This is the only card plugged into the PCI bus!
•Seems to prove the theory that this is all about number of monitors (perhaps number of desktop pixels?) connected, not the number of graphics cards connected
•The problem reproduced the instant the driver activated all the monitors. This was BEFORE setting any custom resolutions, rotating monitors into Portrait, or using “Setup multiple displays” to configure which one is next to which other one. In other words, my unusual combination of Portrait and Landscape-oriented monitors appears to have now been ruled out as a cause.

Ran MSInfo32 as directed. .NFO file attached.

Ran NVIDIA control panel to obtain requested (attached) screen grab. It sees TWO NVS-810s when only one physical card is installed. I believe this is intentional, i.e. I think the NVS810 is actually TWO GPUs that each run 4 outputs, and they are internally linked with SLI. So I THINK the business about one one card showing up as two is the intended design, but we should verify that with NVIDIA support!

Looked at these “two” NVS810s in Device Manager. It sees one as “PCIe slot 4, bus 5”, and the other as PCI slot 4, bus 7”. This makes perfect sense to me – there are two PCIe “bus” devices, both sharing a single PCIe slot. That perfectly matches my hypothesis that the NVS810 is two GPUs on a single physical card. This gets important later (see below).

At this point, the testing prescribed by Shahbaz is complete, and requested files are attached. When I ran NVIDIA Control Panel, it was taking several MINUTES of real time in hourglass cursor to apply any change. I did NOT rotate or rearrange the monitors from their default configuration before taking the screen grab because it would have taken an hour.

Lots of new info trying to get the system to run again:

Put your seatbelt on – found way more interesting diagnostic clues while trying to get back to a running system for next week than I did following Shahbaz’ directions.

Re-installed GTX970 so I can get all 12 monitors working for the coming week. Booted system but Device Manager reported seeing the “two” NVS810s, and a generic “Microsoft Standard Adapter”, i.e. default driver. I knew the fix was to install the GTX970 driver, but I hesitated to do that (so far – I wind up doing that much later – see below). But I reasoned that the NVIDIA guy was trying to get the cleanest, non-conflicting configuration possible, and I didn’t want to screw that up. I knew that if I installed the 2nd NVS810, it would not correctly recognize my Dell P2715Q’s as 4K-capable, and would only run them at degraded res, which is a real problem for me because I rely on the high res for a bunch of charts. But I figured I could spend the rest of the day figuring that out on my own, and not screw up what the NVIDIA guy was trying to do by installing another driver for the 970.

Get this… I installed the 2nd NVS810, and connected all 13 monitors. The system booted up, but NCP only showed 6 monitors connected! It also continued to see only two NVS810 devices. Assuming my prior hypothesis was correct, we’d have expected to see four. Hang on, it gets better. Now Device Manager shows only two NVS810s (not 4), but this time they are on PCIe Slot 6, bus 6 and PCIe slot 4, bus 12!

After puzzling on this I realized what I THINK is happening. When both NVS-810s are connected, suddenly the system only sees one of the two logical devices per card. If it’s only seeing the first four ports on each card, it would make perfect sense that there are only 6 total monitors visible. If we are only seeing two 4-port logical cards out of 4 total, it would make perfect sense that one of them has 4 monitors connected and the other only has two. After all, we’re not using 3 of the total outputs, so it makes sense. However, to verify this hypothesis would require seeing which monitors the system sees, then tracing all the cables to see if the ports they are connected to on the NVS810’s match up to the above theory. I didn’t have time/energy for that multi-hour project.

So at this point I conclude that the NVS810s just aren’t both going to work in this configuration. This is a critical point to stress with NVIDIA support, because if the NVS810s are not going to work out, we really need to drop everything and get them back to you. Remember I have one running in the system, so this means a tear-down during the trading week.

Downloaded and installed latest GEFORCE 365.10 driver. Monitors went all screwy during install, and two reboot cycles were required before Windows recognized both the “two” NVS810s (back to both showing PCIe slot 4, busses 5 and 7), and the GTX970. In this configuration I was able to eventually get back to where I started, i.e. the problem is bad as ever, but my system is running on 12 monitors and I am ready for the market week ahead.

I note that regardless of whether or not the GTX970 is installed, NCP seems not to allow “Span Mode” (part of PhysX) to be used on any devices attached to the NVS810. If you attach the GTX970, suddenly NCP will allow span configuration, but only for monitors attached to the GTX970. This is a problem because part of my plan for running on two NVS810s relied on Span working for 3 of the monitors. Without that feature, I’m dead in the water until we can get a resolution to VMware not offering the right monitor combos, and I don’t have much faith in that happening soon.

MY OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:

I’m getting really concerned about these NVS810s for the following reasons:

•They don’t appear to support PhysX/Span mode
•They refuse to drive my Dell P2715Qs any higher than 2560x1440. The GTX970 instantly recognizes them as 3840x2160-capable
•In general, my impression is that the NVS810 is designed for video wall applications and isn’t a particularly feature rich card other than number of outputs.
•I think it may only support 30hz refresh rates.
•It does not appear to support 4096x2160 resolution, meaning my 3 primary LG monitors are running at slightly degraded res well.

I think you should make it clear in the NVIDIA forum that we have no emotional attachment to the NVS810s, and that we got them because someone recommended only two cards for PCIe lane overloading fears. There aren’t many 8-monitor cards on the market, but there are plenty that drive 6. I’m starting to wonder if we should be seeking their advice on (3) 6-monitor cards that would better suit my needs? We should make it clear we don’t mind buying more expensive cards. The whole point of the NVS810’s was that we thought we needed to run all the monitors on no more than two cards for PCIe-lane concerns. At this point I think we’ve ruled that out as being the problem.

I’m not even sure what to do if we have to return the NVS810s. It took an entire weekend to break everything down and re-wire it from a combination of HDMI and DP to all mini-DP. Just no way I could do that on a weeknight, and if we are going to eventually wind up with cards that use mini-DP outs, I really don’t want to take everything apart TWO more times! The cards I have here (if we sent the NVS810s back) are all DP, not mini-DP.

Going to try local stores to see if I can find mini-DPxDP adapters. If not, we might just have to eat the cost of at least one NVS810 and return the other one.

Please double-check Newegg.com, and make sure the NVS810’s are not a replacement-only warranty item! No sake knocking myself out to get them back to you if we can only exchange them for more NVS-810s…

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#28 Tue, 03 May 2016 17:24:01 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#28 DisplayFusion Thanks, Keith, that's an excellent idea.

My partner is working the NVIDIA tech support angle. I've got a spare 256GB SSD lying around, and will definitely follow your suggestion. But I can't do that kind of surgery on my system during the trading week, so it'll have to wait for the coming weekend.

I'll report back on how it goes.

Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#27 Tue, 03 May 2016 15:33:42 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#27 DisplayFusion Yeah, those numbers all sound fine. It doesn't sound like CPU, memory, or video cards are the limitation, so I'm not sure what else could be monitored at startup to provide more clues.

If you have an extra hard drive or SSD kicking around, maybe try loading up a fresh copy of Windows on it and see if you run into the same issues? I'd recommend disconnecting all other drives to avoid any potential for formatting the wrong drive when doing this test ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#26 Mon, 02 May 2016 20:13:57 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#26 DisplayFusion vmware.exe is the biggest user of objects, at 533 User and 1,470 GDI. Still a full order of magnitude below thresholds you said get dangerous.

tws.exe is the biggest user of screen real estate, with something in excess of 20 separate financial market charts displayed at the same time. But it's still only using 257 User, 493 GDI.

Also, the symptoms start as soon as the system boots with >8 monitors attached, so I really don't think any app is doing it.

Feels to me like what I really need is to be monitoring SYSTEM resources with some kind of benchmarking tool, and comparing what that report looks right after boot-up with 6 monitors, and then with all 13.

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#25 Mon, 02 May 2016 20:06:25 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#25 DisplayFusion Spoke with Don at multi-monitor.com. Super nice guy, but unfortunately he wasn't super optimistic that his company could help. Said they don't do much with 4K in their shop and my problem didn't sound familiar. He said he'd run it by his techs but wasn't sure they'd be able to help.

Working on the Task Manager and NVIDIA Support suggestions now.

Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#24 Mon, 02 May 2016 19:11:20 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#24 DisplayFusion Yeah, I bet it's super frustrating! I've had 11 monitors connected up to a machine here in the past and didn't run into any major performance issues, but they were lower resolution (all were at or below 1920x1080).

It might be worth contacting NVIDIA's support team as well. Perhaps they've run into this issue with other customers as well? ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#23 Mon, 02 May 2016 17:40:12 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#23 DisplayFusion Keith,

Thanks so much for the prompt reply!

Yes, I've been thru three mice, just to be absolutely sure that wasn't it. But the symptoms are also pretty clear: When the system is "going slow", even something like clicking APPLY to change a setting in NVIDIA control panel can take more than five MINUTES of hourglass cursor to complete. So when I get to more than X number of monitors (X is around 6 or 7, approximately, but I haven't tested to determine the exact number where it starts to go sideways.

System lag begins at startup, even with no apps running and minimal system resource utilization according to Windows performance monitor. If I reboot the system with only 4 monitors turned on, the problem goes away instantly.

I didn't even know you could add tabs to task manager. Will try what you suggest and report back.

Spoke to Don at multi-monitor.com. Super nice guy and he was happy to help all he could over the phone. But he didn't offer much hope. Said he didn't remember encountering these symptoms on any of their multi-mon builds, and their tech would probably be starting from ground zero. He said he's run it past his techs and get back to me if they had any ideas, but he didn't sound very optimistic.

I just need to stop letting this thing consume my TIME.

Thanks again!

Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#22 Mon, 02 May 2016 17:01:08 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#22 DisplayFusion Ah, nuts! Too bad that didn't resolve the issue. Glad to hear you can make use of the extra hardware at least.

I'd be inclined to think it's a software issue somewhere then, maybe even a limitation in Windows for whatever reason. Couple of questions for you:

• Re: Mouse lag: Have you tried a different mouse? If it's a wireless mouse, try a regular USB corded mouse. I've seen certain wireless mice lag for no good reason in the past.
• Is the system laggy right as soon as it boots up, with no applications running? Or is it laggy only after getting all of your applications up and running?
• If you add the USER Objects and GDI Objects columns to the Task Manager > Details tab, are any processes using an excess amount? If you're approaching 10,000 objects in either of those columns, things will start to go sideways.

If the guys at that website you mentioned can't help out, please let me know and I'll see what I can dig up for you.

Thanks! ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#21 Sun, 01 May 2016 19:44:12 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#21 DisplayFusion *** Request for KEITH LAMMERS (or anyone else who can help) ***

Keith, while I tremendously appreciate the generosity you and @mjeffrys have shown in trying to help me figure this thing out, the situation has reached a point where what would actually be most helpful is your assistance in identifying an expert I can PAY to solve this problem for me.

I'm sure that with your help here and searching forums I could figure it out on my own, but I just don't have time to screw around with this any more and really need to figure out a solution that will work without any more screwing around.

Obviously my strong preference would be to find an expert who could help me find the most economic path to fixing the system I already have, including all the new parts I just dropped $2k on. But honestly, if I can't find that my next choice would be to find someone who can sell me an entire system (just the tower case, no monitors) that is GUARANTEED by the seller to actually work on the first try and drive all my monitors. Even if I had to drop another $5k on that, it would be painful but worth it to make the problem go away.

A google search found this: http://www.multi-monitors.com/Sixteen_Monitor_Computers_s/5137.htm

I'm planning to call them Monday to see if they will let me hire one of their techs to debug my current situation and fix it. Do you know anything about this company? Do you know any other vendors who can help me that you would feel comfortable recommending?

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#20 Sat, 30 Apr 2016 21:36:37 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#20 DisplayFusion UPDATE: Downgrading to supported 64GB config made no difference, as expected... ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#19 Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:57:39 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#19 DisplayFusion Just had an idea... I know the gaming crowd has a whole bunch of benchmarking tools they use to tune their systems for max performance. I don't know anything about these tools and have never used them.

Seems to me like a performance tuning tool would make a good diagnostic aid here - obviously SOMETHING goes wrong when all the monitors are connected, so I would think a performance tuning tool would identify the bottleneck pretty quickly.

My problem is that although I was a software guy in a former career, I know absolutely nothing about the benchmarking stuff. Any pointers on which performance tuning tools (preferably freeware or cheapware) that might be good diagnostic aids would be a huge help.

Thanks,
Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#18 Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:44:38 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#18 DisplayFusion @mjeffries, please don't apologize! Like I said, I REALLY appreciate your help, and I have no regrets. My application (trading financial markets) is extremely fault-intolerant, so having plenty of spare computer parts lying around really is a good thing.

My biggest problem is I'm down here in Mexico where everything takes a week and a customs hassle to import. I have a partner in New Hampshire who could build a system for me, but the only way to test whether it works is to have 13 high-end monitors to test with, and obviously most people including my partner don't have that kind of hardware just lying around.

I'm totally open to spending more money on a server motherboard, but it's going to be a huge undertaking. Can't get those kind of parts shipped direct to Mexico, so only way to do it is have my partner receive the parts in NH and then forward for another $100 Fedex fee...

Any other thoughts?

Thanks again!!! ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#17 Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:39:25 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#17 DisplayFusion Hang on guys, the story gets even better...

In NVIDIA Control Panel, on the Setup Multiple Displays page, the connected displays are shown on a per video card basis. Get this: It sees FOUR NVS-810's, even though only two are actually installed! The connected displays are correctly identified, but NCP sees them on four different cards when they are obviously only on two!

Erik ]]> https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#16 Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:25:55 GMT Binary Fortress Software https://www.displayfusion.com/Discussions/View/multi-monitor-masochism-keith-please-help/?ID=d153127f-e5df-46bd-a376-5ce6d4cd46fd#16 DisplayFusion Oh man, I'm so sorry! I really did think that the pci-e lanes were the route cause of your problem. I wonder if its a mother board issue now?

I know its rubbish debugging steps. But have you tried to see if you have the same issues with the same cards on the same pci-e slots?

Might be worth a try. ]]>