Is it possible to use two GT730 on linux?

Graphics / Linux Linux
1

Hi all,

I’m using two GT730, 2Mb each to drive 3 screens. I use my PC to develop mostly so I am not interested in gaming or performances.
The thing is I am able to enable the third screen only using nouveau and it has very bad performance and it’s barely usable.
When I switch to NVIDIA drivers the interface improves of course but there is no way to enable the third screen, it’s like the second graphics card cannot drive any screen.
I’ve tried with Ubuntu, Open Suse, Centos, Linux Arch with the same results, the third screen doesn’t switch on.

Is there anybody who can help me to investigate on this issue?

2

I am currently using drivers version 465.27.
This is my xorg.conf:

nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings

nvidia-settings: version 465.27

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Layout0”
Screen 0 “Screen0” 0 0
InputDevice “Keyboard0” “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice “Mouse0” “CorePointer”
Option “Xinerama” “0”
Option “AllowNVIDIAGPUScreens”
EndSection

Section “Files”
EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     "Mouse0"
Driver         "mouse"
Option         "Protocol" "auto"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

Section “InputDevice”

# generated from default
Identifier     "Keyboard0"
Driver         "kbd"

EndSection

Section “Monitor”

# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier     "Monitor0"
VendorName     "Unknown"
ModelName      "LG Electronics E1942"
HorizSync       30.0 - 61.0
VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
Option         "DPMS"

EndSection

Section “Monitor”

# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier     "Monitor1"
VendorName     "Unknown"
ModelName      "DELL E2016HV"
HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
Option         "DPMS"

EndSection

Section “Monitor”

# HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
Identifier     "Monitor2"
VendorName     "Unknown"
ModelName      "LG Electronics L194W"
HorizSync       28.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
Option         "DPMS"

EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device0”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “NVIDIA GeForce GT 730”
BusID “PCI:2:0:0”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device1”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “NVIDIA GeForce GT 730”
BusID “PCI:2:0:0”
Screen 1
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device2”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
BoardName “NVIDIA GeForce GT 730”
BusID “PCI:4:0:0”
Screen 2
EndSection

Section “Screen”

Removed Option “metamodes” “HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0”

Removed Option “MultiGPU” “off”

Removed Option “BaseMosaic” “on”

Identifier     "Screen0"
Device         "Device0"
Monitor        "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth    24
Option         "Stereo" "0"
Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option         "metamodes" "HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, VGA-0: 1600x900_60_0 +1366+0"
Option         "SLI" "Off"
Option         "MultiGPU" "Off"
Option         "BaseMosaic" "off"
SubSection     "Display"
    Depth       24
EndSubSection

EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen1”
Device “Device1”
Monitor “Monitor1”
DefaultDepth 24
Option “Stereo” “0”
Option “metamodes” “VGA-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {AllowGSYNC=Off}”
Option “SLI” “Off”
Option “MultiGPU” “off”
Option “BaseMosaic” “on”
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen2”
Device “Device1”
Monitor “Monitor2”
DefaultDepth 24
Option “Stereo” “0”
Option “metamodes” “nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {AllowGSYNC=Off}”
Option “SLI” “Off”
Option “MultiGPU” “off”
Option “BaseMosaic” “on”
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

The error I see attempting to enable the third screen is the following:

1103.994] randr: failed to create shared pixmap
[ 1103.994] (EE) NVIDIA(G0): Failed to configure Reverse PRIME on output VGA-2-0.

╰─λ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 2
Provider 0: id: 0x278 cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 3 associated providers: 1 name:NVIDIA-0
Provider 1: id: 0x4ea cap: 0x2, Sink Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 3 associated providers: 1 name:NVIDIA-G0

3

Please run nvidia-bug-report.sh as root and attach the resulting nvidia-bug-report.log.gz file to your post.

4

Hello generix, thank a lot for your time, a really appreciate your help.
I attach you the report

Greetingsnvidia-bug-report.log.gz (375.4 KB)

5

Please delete /etc/X11/xorg.conf, then try to use the output sink: reboot, log in, then run

xrandr --setprovideroutputsource NVIDIA-G0 NVIDIA-0 && xrandr --auto

Don’t know if that works.

6

Hi, unfortunately still doesn’t work.
I got the following error:
xrandr: Configure crtc 4 failed
in Xorg log the following entries again:

[ 262.305] randr: failed to create shared pixmap
[ 262.305] (EE) NVIDIA(G0): Failed to configure Reverse PRIME on output VGA-1-0.

7

Please also delete /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-mhwd.conf, try again and create a new nvidia-bug-report.log

8

Please, find attached the bug report log.

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (369.8 KB)

9

What a pity, I had hoped this will work with the new output sink.
The next option would be BaseMosaic but I guess that’s disabled on GT730 due to having only a x4 pcie connection so most likely doesn’t work. Please create /etc/X11/xorg.conf only containing

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Option "BaseMosaic" "true"
EndSection

and create a new nvidia-bug-report.log afterwards.

10

Hello,

please find attached the bug report. Seems that now the third screen is not detected.

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (377.3 KB)

11

Like thought, unsupported chipset:/
So you’re only left with Xinerama, please delete the xorg.conf and create a new one:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen       0 "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen       1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    Screen       2 "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1"
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Option         "UseDisplayDevice" "CRT-0"
    Screen         0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Option         "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP-1"
    Screen         1
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device2"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730"
    BusID          "PCI:4:0:0"
    Option         "UseDisplayDevice" "CRT-0"
    Screen         2
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen2"
    Device         "Device2"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection
12

Hi generix,

we have almost good news. After attempting to configure the screen from nvidia-settings, the third screen finally powers on, but it only shows the mouse arrow.
So at the moment, I see all three screens:
first screen on the left is working
second screen is black only shows mouse arrow
third screen is black only shows mouse arrow

for sure that’s an improvement, it is powered on :D

13

This sounds you have a 3 screen setup but Xinerama is disabled. Please create a new nvidia-bug-report.log

14

seems that xinerama it is enabled, according to nvidia settings, but here you have the bug report

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (397.7 KB)

15

Seems enabled. The composite extension should be disabled as this can cause corruption and crashes. Please add to your xorg.conf at the end

Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

Can you move windows between the screens?

16

No, I am not able to move any window to the other screens.
I will try to disable the composite, let’s see if it works.

Thanks!

17

almost there :)

I see three screens now, it works!

BUT…I am able now to move windows between screens, but the graphics are not working well, it’s flickering a little bit, the 3d effects have disappeared.

I attach you another bug report, just in case.nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (442.4 KB)

18

That won’t really work, desktop effects rely on compositing which isn’t supported in conjunction with Xinerama. Which DE/WM are you using, it should support Xinerama.

19

I use at the moment Garuda linux, which is a linux arch derivate. It’s running KDE plasma.

20

KWin should work fine on Xinerama without compositing. Please check if you get better results when changing KWin’s render backend gl2/gl3/xrender.