Help! Business Solution/Non gamer needs 4 monitors working. Why so difficult?

jnguye13

Reputable
Feb 19, 2014
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4,510
I am sure there are many people like me needing the use of 4 independent monitors for work but just can't seem to get that working or at least at a cheap price that is. None of that gamer / eyeinfinity / crossfire / hybrid / SLI stuff or even splitters etc.

I'm sure daytraders, digital music composers, programmers, basic digital film editors, web and basic graph designers, accounting, and so on can benefit from this, but I've been researching for a long time and no one seems to know. Even no one from Asus Tech support have an ounce of clue. Why is that?

I need this set up for managing multiple task in my business, back then when I use to mass table 24+ poker tables online could have benefited from this. Whatever the reason is, business solutions should be cheap and easy. So let's cut straight to the chase, how can someone simply use 4 independent monitors for business related task? Graphic quality not a big importance but performance and price is definitely a biggie.

I have the following setup and was trying to setup SURROUND VIEW with the components below...

Motherboard: M5A78L-M/USB3 with the chipset of AMD 760G (780L)/SB710 and DVI/HDMI/VGA
CPU: AMD FX-8320 8 Core 3.5GHZ
Operating System: Windows 8.1
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 5450
Video adapter/cables: Variations of VGA, DVI, HDMI, DVI to HDMI (such thing as passive/active?)

Running two hitachi hard drives, crucial 240GB ssd, 16GB ram, Corsair 450w, not that any of this may matter, but just in case.
 
Solution
I have Intel Core i5-3470 and B75 chipset motherboard with one DVI port, one VGA port, one HDMI port. I also have Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 with twin DVI ports, one HDMI port, one DisplayPort. To connect up to 4 monitors, first I need to go into BIOS to enable "IGPU Multi Monitor". This enabled the integrated Intel HD Graphics 2500 from the CPU, which can natively support 3 monitors.

Monitor 1: DVI cable connect to HD 6850's 1st DVI port.
Monitor 2: DVI cable connect to HD 6850's 2nd DVI port.
Monitor 3: DVI cable connect to motherboard DVI port.
Monitor 4: VGA cable connect to motherboard VGA port.

My HD 6850 can connect up to 6 monitors using the DisplayPort and adapters. You can research the Eyefinity technology pages, even...

sedona

Honorable
Jan 13, 2014
174
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10,710
I have Intel Core i5-3470 and B75 chipset motherboard with one DVI port, one VGA port, one HDMI port. I also have Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5 with twin DVI ports, one HDMI port, one DisplayPort. To connect up to 4 monitors, first I need to go into BIOS to enable "IGPU Multi Monitor". This enabled the integrated Intel HD Graphics 2500 from the CPU, which can natively support 3 monitors.

Monitor 1: DVI cable connect to HD 6850's 1st DVI port.
Monitor 2: DVI cable connect to HD 6850's 2nd DVI port.
Monitor 3: DVI cable connect to motherboard DVI port.
Monitor 4: VGA cable connect to motherboard VGA port.

My HD 6850 can connect up to 6 monitors using the DisplayPort and adapters. You can research the Eyefinity technology pages, even if you don't use Eyefinity. I just enable extended desktop mode from Windows 7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcYJpdvA5mw
(There are many such videos on Youtube)

I believe your AMD FX-8350 does not have integrated graphics, and your HD 5450 is limited to 3 monitors only (need DisplayPort accessories for 3rd monitor). Your best solution is to replace your old graphics card with something with twin DVI ports in the region of US$110, like Radeon HD 7770 or Nvidia equivalent. Cheap $70 budget graphics cards will not have twin DVI ports, usually they have 3 different ports: DVI, VGA, HDMI. My HD 6850 has twin DVI ports and so do many $100+ cards. You will definitely need to research on DisplayPort adapters and accessories to connect the 3rd monitor and up. I just use two monitors through HD 6850 and another two monitors through the CPU integrated graphics (motherboard ports). The Youtube video I linked will explain it for AMD cards.

images

(Twin DVI ports will make things easier)

gpu500-image1.jpg

(DisplayPort "active" adapter)

Your XFX HD 5450's DisplayPort can only support 1 monitor (independent of the DVI/VGA ports). My HD 6850's DisplayPort can support 4 monitors (independent of the 2 monitors supported by DVI/DVI/HDMI). No matter what, you need a new video card.
 
Solution