3 Monitors - How to do it?

Forum Graphics & Displays : Graphics Cards 3 Monitors - How to do it?

How would I set up 3 monitors for one computer? Can I do it off of one video card or would I need at least 2? Since video cards come with two outputs already, would the 3rd monitor just run off of a cheaper pci x1 slot card? This would be under vista so what would I need to change in vista to make it work? Thank you.

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Reply to jeb1517

you need to search google for matrox triple2go

I don't think triple2go is his answer. If my memory serves, that is for splitting one video source onto three monitors. He had the right idea. The main video card plugs into your PCIe slot and drives two monitors. The second card depends on your motherboard. If you have an SLI/CF motherboard, you can use another PCIe 16x video card. (don't enable SLI or CF of course...) If you don't have an SLI/CF motherboard, then you can use either a PCIe 1x card, or a cheap PCI card. The third monitor plugs into that card. I've done this with win2000 and XP, I don't believe that it would be any harder with vista. Just drag the monitors around (and use the identify button) until you've got it right.

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Reply to 4745454b

Alright thanks 474646375638, I'll try that out. Do you think I could use onboard video instead of the PCIe x1 card?

Reply to jeb1517

That can get tricky. Some onboards will disable themselves as soon as a PCIe card is inserted. I've played with some AGP boards that disabled the onboard as soon as the AGP was inserted. All I can say is try it and see.

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------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

4745454b wrote :

correct, most motherboards share the lanes so when a card is inserted it disables onboard, altho there are lots of PCIe motherboards now that allow both to run.

Perhaps a cheap PCI (not PCIe) video card? aswell as a common video card with dvi/vga etc

Reply to apache_lives

I have a 4 monitor setup in one of my systems, a 7900GS with dual head and an asus board with 430 graphics, namely 2 onboard ports and 2 ports on the pcie. The 430 shares memory from main ram but thats not a big deal. I can do span/dualview without a problem. The thing is that a decent board with integrated graphics must let you enable the IGP AND de PCIE simultaneously. Try to stay away from chipsets/bioses that dont allow you to do this unless you chose the dual video card way.

Exitos!!

Reply to quartzlock

jeb1517 wrote :

you could conceivably get a vid card with three outputs, but you'd pay an enormous amount for it. you'd do it just as you described, and just how i've done.

i have one agp card (computer is about 2.5 years old, about time for an upgrade) and one pci card. the agp card is nvidia and the pci is ati. i have two monitors coming off of the pci card since those are the side monitors and i only use the central one, which is off of the nvidia card, for gaming.

right now i have 3 21" crt's all running 1600x1200 resolution for a combined desktop space of 4800x1200.
i COULD put a FOURTH monitor on this setup, since both cards have two outputs, but i've already had to reinforce the desk and have run out of space. three 21" crt's is a hell of a lot of weight to have on a desk

Valis

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Valis Enterprises
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Reply to valis

Man.... 3 CRT's ?????

I have an on-board ATI HD3200 which is surprisingly good....

Then I bought an Ati PCI-E Dual Head Video Card

Tried to run them together but wasnt Possible, the support guy told me
that PCI-E can't run together with onboard since they share the same GPU

So he recommend me to get a PCI Dual Head or whatever....

Questions:

If I do that

Which Video specs my system will use when gaming, Onboard?, PCI? or both?

What If I use two dual head PCI?

For dayjob, dual head works like a charm, no issues there

But what I wanted to have as an additional advantage
is a very cool game like left4dead, need4speed, rakion, etc... splited
on my 2 or 3 monitors....

Any Help?

Reply to rickymon

Heya Mods?

Can you do us a favor and lock this three year old thread?

Reply to Scotteq

What is wrong with leaving a thread open/up? More prevalent information could be added at a later time?

Reply to pcpgmr

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey

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