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Graphics card advice for an 8 monitor set up

Tags:
  • Graphics Cards
  • Monitors
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 8, 2014 11:43:51 AM

Hi,

New here and can't seem to find answers with a quick search, hoping somebody can give some advice on what to get here.

Here is what's up

I am looking to beef up my system from 4 monitors to 8. Why you ask? I do Estimating for a Construction company and am doing my take-offs/counts off the screens rather than printing out 100's of pages of 24x36 blueprints (saves a ton of cash) and am finding that I need to view more pages at a glance rather than toggling/flipping back and forth between windows.

For some reason I can only get my system to recognize 4 monitors right now.

Here is what I currently have working.

i7-4771 3.50 Ghz
240GB SSD
1TB HD
32 GB RAM
(2) Asus R7 240 2GB ddr 3 pci e cards (has 3 outputs, but can only get 2 to work at a time)
(3) 29" AOC Q2963pm 2560 x 1080
(1) 24" Acer E230H 1920 x 1080

My MB only has 2 pcie 16 slots which are being used by current vid cards. I have 2 pcie x1 slots and 3 pci slots still open and available.


What I would like to add:

(1) more 29" AOC Q2963pm
(4) more 24" with small bezel monitors. Maybe more AOC's?

Advice/Suggestions:

How to tweak what I have to handle the added monitors?
Which Cards would work best If I can't tweak what I currently have?



Thanks so much for any help you can give.

bc








More about : graphics card advice monitor set

a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
September 8, 2014 7:13:10 PM

The most displays I'm aware of that a conventional gxf card can use is 3. You will need a minimum of 3 PCie X16 slots on the motherboard. What board do you have?
The GT 730 DDR5 is an economical card that handles 3 monitors. Obviously, you'd need 3 cards.

A more expensive way (or maybe not) would be to go with a work station card that is designed to handle more monitors. Like some of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Workstation-Graphics-Cards/SubCat...
They usually have Mini Displayports instead of HDMI or DVI, though.
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September 9, 2014 9:23:16 AM

clutchc said:
The most displays I'm aware of that a conventional gxf card can use is 3. You will need a minimum of 3 PCie X16 slots on the motherboard. What board do you have?
The GT 730 DDR5 is an economical card that handles 3 monitors. Obviously, you'd need 3 cards.

A more expensive way (or maybe not) would be to go with a work station card that is designed to handle more monitors. Like some of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Workstation-Graphics-Cards/SubCat...
They usually have Mini Displayports instead of HDMI or DVI, though.


Clutchc,

Thanks for the input. :-)

The mobo that I have - MSI H87-G43 - is this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

The current gfx cards I am using - ASUS R2740 - are these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
These have 3 outputs on them, but I can only get two to work at a time not all three. Is that normal?

I will look into the workstation card ... and yikes ... you were not kidding ... some of them are crazy expensive. wow!



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September 9, 2014 10:12:10 AM

A cheaper version of this would be getting Eyefinity 6 AMD Cards.
Can run 6 monitors on one card, but all ports are Display Ports, so I don't know if that is good or bad for you but you always can buy adapters, and it would still be cheaper than getting workstation cards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...
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a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
September 9, 2014 1:02:27 PM

I believe you can only have 2 displays active at a time with that card. To verify, see if you can have the 3rd display active when thr other is disabled.
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