How to run 3 monitors

[jerrygerald]

Hi, I am new to this, so please bear with me. I want to run 3 monitors using an ASUS CM5571 computer running Windows 7, 8 gig of ram and with a 300 watt power supply. The monitors will display text, charts, and tables. I do not do gaming. I would like to use the AMD ATI 5450 Graphics card with 512mb, and with DisplayPort, VGA, and DVI ports. As I do not have a monitor with a DisplayPort, I realise that an active adapter is required to convert the DisplayPort output to VGA or DIV. A 400 watt power supply is recommended for the ATI 5450. Would like to know if my proposed setup will work and if the 300 watt power supply is adequate. Thanks

 

[jefe323]

you need a bigger psu for it to work

you can get a passive dp->vga adapter for low resoultions

 

[siliconvideo]

First of all if they recommend a 400 W supply, that would be what I'd go with at minimum. Make sure it's from a quality vendor too.

Win7/64 with 8 gig ram is good.

The 5450 has HDMI, DVI and VGA, no display port. Normally you only get to drive 2 of the 3 outputs at once but I'm not sure for this card. I do know some of the higher end ATI card do drive 3 monitors (Eye Infinity types).

I looks like the Asus box already has a mother board video output you can use. The trick is get both integrated graphics and ATI card working at the same time. Sounds doable.

FYI display port uses a packetized video portocol while HDMI is just DVI with embedded audio and encryption.

Hope this helps.

 

[jerrygerald]

you need a bigger psu for it to work

you can get a passive dp->vga adapter for low resoultions

Thanks, apologise for not getting back sooner, away on other matters. Appreciate the passive adapter suggestion.

 

[jryan388]

A card like a Radeon 5570/5670 eyefinity edition or anything 5750 or above will be able to run 3 monitors.

 

[jerrygerald]

Best answer selected by jerrygerald.