Three monitors on a Dell

[zachbb]

Hi

I am trying to buy a new desktop computer from dell, but would like one that can support 3 monitors at the same time.

Do I need any extra cards or splitters to get three monitors running?

Thanks!

 

[borisof007]

In order to support 3 monitors from one video card, you will have to have an ATI eyefinity rated card. Otherwise, you can run an Nvidia SLi solution for running 3 monitors.

 

[borisof007]

There are older and less powerful ATI cards that are still eyefinity certified than the 5770. In any of the situations, I believe you would need an Active Displayport Converter.

 

[wolfram23]

^ AFAIK, you need either 56xx or 57xx as a minimum for Eyefinity. If it's for gaming, you pretty much need at least a 5850 just because you need a lot of rendering power but if it's just for 2D stuff a 5750 might be good.

You do need an active display port adapter, but the single link one's (like from ACCELL) is only $40 while dual link are $140. The difference is single link only supports a monitor up to 1920x1200.

 

[skolpo]

Depends on what Dell you're buying. Ever considered building the computer yourself? You can potentially save a good amount of money and have a much more efficient computer and not deal with Dell software.