Need Video Card for 3 monitors

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Hi guys,

I have an Asus P5QL/EPU motherboard. I would like to purchase a video card that will allow me to use 3 monitors w/o any issues.

My current video card is an amd radeon hd 6800 series. But i have problems with it when I try using 3 monitors. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

Which monitors in specific do you talk about? Anything higher than triple 1080p usually requires a good amount of VRAM on the GPU (3-4GB is a good amount). Personally I would have taken AMD for higher resolution displays anyways. The AMD r9 290 and 290x are excellent choices for triple monitors. The NVIDIA GTX 970 would have been an option, but I question it because if you go over it's 3.5GB limit, it drops significantly in performance. The GTX 980 is the best, but for the money the 290 and 290x are no doubt winners. Get one of those. I prefer any of Sapphires AMD r9 290 and 290x cards but it's all on you.

And no, I'm not fanboying or anything, in fact I'm on team Green but I respect AMD and their r9 290 and 290x are very good cards for this kind of setup.

Good luck! Hope this helped!

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

Ohhhh I just realized you are using a very old motherboard meaning the CPU would in most cases bottleneck the AMD r9 290 and 290x. Tell me what kind of monitors you are using because if they are high-resolution ones, a close-to-entire PC upgrade is recommended. The processor, GPU and everything.

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

I have 2 1080p ACER LED 21.5" 5MS S220HQL monitors.
I also use a 1080p LG LCD TV for the 3rd monitor.

My Processor is an Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

It's great how you have one of the higher end Quad core CPUs, but nonetheless it is still weak on its own and is not reccomended for triple displays. You will need to upgrade both your CPU and motheboard along with the GPU because triple 1080p requires such upgrades. An r9 290(x), i5 or i7 (an i3 may work, but is not exactly recommended), and any motherboard that supports those processors (preferably z97 but h97, h81, etc. will do).

And upgrade is a very very very good idea if you are doing triple 1080p. In fact, a must or need. This is because you need enough CPU horsepower and VRAM to drive all those pixels.

k1114 · May 3, 2015

Your current gpu requires an active dp for 3 or more monitors. What are you using the pc for? What is your budget?

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

I do have an active dp. It used to work ok w 3 monitors, there was a noticeable choppiness at times while watching movies. But now it doesn't work anymore. I can only get 2 monitors to work. I tried another active dp calbe, but no change. So i'm guessing it's the video card.

As for budget, buying all new products would be expensive at the moment. But I could afford to get only a video card. My budget is ~$300.

I use my computer for playing games & watching movies. But I also need multiple monitors for work so I can analyse multiple data at the same time on different screens.

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

In that case grabbing an r9 290 or if you can is the option. Because you're budgeting here. The 290, hands down and finished.

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

Kind of reminds me of LinusTechTip's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEj3T77ovQ

Luke's build with the r9 290. But just a reference you know...

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Zuhayr378 :

There are a lot of r9 290/x on the market. Can you recommend me one specifically? Thanks

disturbed force · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

Sapphire tri-x is the best and will keep the 290/x nice and cool.

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Hey, I noticed I can buy something much better than what I currently have for only ~$200. Is it possible for you guys to recommend me something that works with 3 1080p monitors for ~$200?

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

Well yeah, I mentioned earlier any of Sapphires ones. The tri-x is definetely a good one just like disturbed force said.

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

I've seen some r9 290s even if they aren't Sapphires ranging for around that. If you look at the video I referenced, Luke found his for less than $200 off another person. You could always try ebay or something along those lines but if not i think the r9 280 or 280x is still solid for that price range considering the price drops. .The r9 280 is great and should be found for a sub-$200 price tag and if you can spend a bit extra, an R9 280x is definetely worth it.

I still prefer Sapphire cards on this end, but any is good. XFX has a great warranty and from personal experience, pretty solid customer support, in the downside of not-so-great cooling but still good enough. Club is also decent in the middle of all companies but I don't think any company would do harm. The r9 280s are found for less than $200 and the 280x up to $230 sometimes for some good ones.

IF you can wait just a bit longer for AMD to release their 300 series cards, you should find better options. But the 280 or 280x at 3GB is no doubt the one to get.

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Alright thanks. Just a question about the r9 280 & 290, is it possible to hook up 3 monitors to them w/o using an active display port adapter? That is, just 2 dvi & 1 hdmi port?

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

Yes you can. All AMD cards as far as I know of HAVE to support triple displays, the R9 series even 6 with eyefinity.

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Sorry, I mean, is it possible to do 3 monitors without use of the Active DisplayPort?

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

Oh sorry about that, do you mean as in you want to use only display ports in the monitor? In that case I can only say no unfortunately. You will have to use the adapter. But I've seen very good ones if that'll help.The club 3D MST hub is a very good one according to what I have seen off reviews (funny enough they manufacture the lower-priced 280s and 280x's).

But then again, it's your only choice even if it raises the budget. Not sure why you're only using display ports but okayyy...

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Alright, can you give me a link to where I can buy it?

Zuhayr378 · May 3, 2015

arsenal009 :

YEESH looking back at the price gives even me second thoughts. $130??? http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=101393&vpn=CSV-5300&manufacture=Club3D

EVGA has one too. http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=200-DP-1301-L1
It's $99 but hey, even if I don't know much on it, if you ever have a problem EVGA will always be there.

The question remaining is why only displayports?

arsenal009 · May 3, 2015

Zuhayr378 :

Sorry, I think there is a misunderstanding. I meant can I hook up 3 monitors to an r9 280 or r9 290 WITHOUT using the DisplayPort at all.
I want to only use the 2 dvi ports & 1 hdmi port on the video card.

Zuhayr378 · May 4, 2015

arsenal009 :

Zuhayr378 :

Sorry, I think there is a misunderstanding. I meant can I hook up 3 monitors to an r9 280 or r9 290 WITHOUT using the DisplayPort at all.
I want to only use the 2 dvi ports & 1 hdmi port on the video card.

OHHH lol OF COURSE you can!!! ?Using the hub is so much more complicated so YES. YOU CAN.

k1114 · May 5, 2015

Unfortunately most are having issues and it still requires dp. Nvidia doesn't need it though.

arsenal009 · May 5, 2015

k1114 :

Ah ok. In that case can you recommend me an Nvidia card that can do 2 dvi & 1 hdmi (no dp required), with at least 2gb vram & max $200?

k1114 · May 6, 2015

http://www.microcenter.com/product/443973/GeForce_GTX_960_Overclocked_2GB_GDDR5_PCI-e_Video_Card
A 290 is going to be better performance and more vram. Why not just get another dp adapter?

Need Video Card for 3 monitors

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