How to link 6 monitors

[Rex - the flatulent pony]

im a graphic designer, my client a fast food lunch bar wants to do menu board lcd monitors and link all these together, for graphics I'm thinking I'll just do something in basic powerpoint slides, but whats needed to link all the monitors to one SD card or a computer to serve them all?

 

[paperfox]

what kind of monitors and at what resolution?

for 6 monitors you will need:
3 graphics cards, HD 4550 or 4350, 2 montior per card, cheaper but requires 3 pcie slots.
or
2 of the newer HD 5750, 3 monitors per card, more expensive and only requires 2 pcie slots.

 

[jay2tall]

The 5xxx cards require 1 of the displays to be a displayport lcd. I would suggest looking on Matrox's site for a workstation solution. They are know for multiple display cards. It wouldn't be cheap though.

There is this card that supports 4 displays with an upgrade cable. You could run 2 if you had 2 PCI-E 16 slots
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/m_series/m9120pluslpx16/

 

[paperfox]

I thought that only eyefinity needed to use the DisplayPort output. But when using only 2D applications/desktop you can use the 3 other ports on the card. (ill try to find a source)

 

[paperfox]

That's only if it's the Digital part of the DVI connection, if using a VGA adapter and the analogue path/RAMDACs, then the TMDS for the HDMI should still remain unused and accessible.

But for dual DVI-D, then you'd be stuck with display-port.

found what i was looking for in this tread
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareuk.inc&cat=15&post=272067&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0#t2003738

 

[Rex - the flatulent pony]

thanks for the replies Guys, it all means zilch to me but its what I need to take to the shop to get things underway. k, Rex.

 

[crazy359]

yea if u aint gonna game then buy something cheap like 4650 X 3

 

[jebie]

thanks for the replies Guys, it all means zilch to me but its what I need to take to the shop to get things underway. k, Rex.

if i understood the question correctly, he just need a VGA splitter from 1 PC to 6 Monitor display the same thing...menu or picture in ppt format...

i think this may be able to help you:

http://www.national-tech.com/specs/svga-spliter/41h1-14918.htm

good luck

 

[DJRWolf]

Here is something that says it can connect up to 6 total additional displays.

Click here for link

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

DJRWlf, that's a USB connector, and it does not add 6 displays, it adds 1 per, which is limited to 6 without driver support under windows basic multi-monitor support, and likely you can do more with the increased # in Vista and Win7, but I'd need to double check to be sure.

However that's still alot of money per output.

REX, if all you're doing is showing the same thing on all 6+ screens, then buy a single cheap card or intergrated solution (heck an old intel Extreme would likely be fine), and then add the Splitter that Jebie recommended above. If you're not trying to display a bunch of things on many monitors, that's a pretty easy way to do it without worrying about multple cards, etc.
Heck even a single cheap dual output card and 2 of those gives you 2 distinct options multiplied by the splitter options for probably what it would cost you for any multi-card solution.

I'd say the VGA splitter (and preferably a built-in filter & amp to aid signal strength) would be the best way to do it for something as simply as just multi-screening the same menu.