Dual Monitor Extended Desktop from motherboard hdmi & dvi outputs?

Beastman2

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Apr 2, 2014
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Hello,

I am hoping someone will be able to help answer a question about dual monitor support for extended desktop use.

I am building a new system and despite looking at the manufacturer specs for the motherboard and reading through the manual available on line I can’t figure out if twin monitors with extended desktop will function. Here are some details:

1) I wish to use what is commonly (?) called extended desktop mode, on two monitors.

2) Both monitors have a DVI input and a VGA input. I would like the resolution for both monitors to be the same. They are both Samsung SyncMaster 245BW models.

3) The motherboard I am buying (I think) is the ASUS Gryphon Z87 mATX. This motherboard has at least the following outputs: one DVI-D, one optical SPDIF, one HDMI, (4 x USB 3.0 ?can be used for video?)

4) CPU i5-4430 3.0Ghz 4th gen. On the Intel website the manufacturer specifically does say that this chips on board graphics (Intel HD 4600?) will support dual monitor extended desktop mode but then also warns and defers to the motherboard manufacturer specs.

5) I don’t really want to buy a separate graphics card because I don’t do any gaming and not a whole lot of photo or any video editing. I would like to use the motherboards outputs.


• A philosophic note: I have read through dozens of forum posts on this topic and am amazed at the dual (and triple) monitor hell that Microsoft?/Motherboard?/and chip? manufactures are putting consumers through. What gives? I would think there would be tens of thousands of computer users (if not more) that would love to have a setup like this work without all the mystery.

Thanks to any and all that might be able to help.

How about an feature article on Tom’s Hardware addressing this issue?


 
Solution
The commonly accepted way to get multiple screens has always been just to throw in a low end graphics card, it is only recently that IGPs had the capability to handle reasonable loads, and until very recently most boards only had one video output port so dual screens from the motherboard wasn't even option.

The motherboard also indicates that it will support a screen on both the DVI and the HDMI so you can run dual screens off of it, the reason intel tells you to refer to the motherboard manufacturer is because if the motherboard manufacturer only puts one DVI port on there you can only run a single screen regardless of what the IGP is capable of feeding.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/GRYPHON_Z87/specifications/
The commonly accepted way to get multiple screens has always been just to throw in a low end graphics card, it is only recently that IGPs had the capability to handle reasonable loads, and until very recently most boards only had one video output port so dual screens from the motherboard wasn't even option.

The motherboard also indicates that it will support a screen on both the DVI and the HDMI so you can run dual screens off of it, the reason intel tells you to refer to the motherboard manufacturer is because if the motherboard manufacturer only puts one DVI port on there you can only run a single screen regardless of what the IGP is capable of feeding.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/GRYPHON_Z87/specifications/
 
Solution

Beastman2

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Apr 2, 2014
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Thank you for you helpful and prompt response!

This is the 2nd time (first one was in 2005) I have had to research this. Information on the subject has not improved since 2005- excepting of course at this site, Tom's Hardware. Interestingly I was able to make it work (dual monitors in extended desktop mode) even back then, without a video card.