GPU Management
ISBoxer's GPU (video card) management features, for managing multiple video cards, are built into Window Layouts and the Window Layout generator, and are mostly hands-off.
GPU Management does not operate the same as CPU Management or CPU Affinity. The way it works is the game selects a display (monitor) to host the game window, and then DirectX and your video drivers will operate on the GPU that powers that display, for the entire lifetime of the game client. Your ISBoxer Window Layout will automatically select the correct GPU for each game window.
SLI and Crossfire modes
SLI (NVIDIA) and Crossfire (ATI/AMD) were designed to power a single Full Screen game window, and may not work at all in Windowed mode. Since you cannot have multiple game instances launched in Full Screen mode (it is exclusive by definition), this poses a problem when multiboxing. Recent driver updates may allow your SLI/Crossfire configuration to operate in Windowed mode, however your mileage may vary; historically, enabling SLI or Crossfire mode while multiboxing has caused problems with both performance and stability.
If you discover that your second GPU is idling while in this mode, or your system is unstable, you may be better off splitting the video cards to power different monitors.
Powering separate monitors
Multiple monitors can be used in single or multiple-GPU configurations, with certain performance limitations in each:
- Single GPU: With Windows XP (but not Windows Vista or later), allowing a game window to move from one monitor to another will cause a significant performance hit.
- Multiple GPUs: With any version of Windows, allowing a game window to move from one monitor to another that is powered by a different GPU will cause a significant performance hit.
ISBoxer's Window Layout generator provides a Cross-monitor swapping option that can be disabled to prevent either of these performance hits. Under Windows XP, this option should automatically be disabled for you, but can be manually enabled if you would like the functionality at the cost of the performance hit.
