Multi displays

[glenvern]

I'm in the process of building my own i5 system and need some advise on 'Multi display graphic cards'

I have three vga monitors, It now seems impossible to get a multi vga card and it would appear most now use dvi or hdmi.

1. If I buy a multi dvi card what is required to convert each dvi feed into vga.
Can I get away with just a dvi/vga converter (amazon 15p) on each dvi port and then continue to use my vga cables?
Will the three displays be a mirror version of each other? or is this down to the software supplied with the card?

2. Normal Graphic cards now support one vga, one dvi and one hdmi port - will the displays be mirrored or different on all displays if I connect to all three (using vga converters)

3. What type of graphics card is needed to be compatible with an i5 system - PCI or PCIE or either?

Sorry if I am making this sound confusing but it is to me and I'm hoping someone can deconfuse it for me.

thanx..

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Get an Eyefinity card from ATI/AMD

You can use A Displayport to VGA adapter on one screen
You can use the two DVI ports turn them into VGA with the cheap adapters.

You can then configure them all to show different image as a long wall, or mirror, however you want.

Here is AMD's page on it:
http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/TECHNOLOGIES/AMD-EYEFINITY-TECHNOLOGY/Pages/eyefinity.aspx

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

please tell me what your budget is and I will try and find everything you need for you,

Do you want to game or solely just control 3 screens?

 

[glenvern]

please tell me what your budget is and I will try and find everything you need for you,

Do you want to game or solely just control 3 screens?

(I need it for website building I have three different sized monitors. I don't like to see an 800 wide page on a 21 inch screen so I code for three sizes of screen).

Budget I'm not sure about as I haven't started to purchase anything yet until I have all my ducks in a row.
But I think not more than £60 - I think I am somewhere in the region of £700 for the whole build if I allow another 60 for the graphics.

MSI H55-GD85 ATX motherboard
i5 cpu
8gb Kingston
64 bit, Win 7
800gb WD SATA HD

 

[glenvern]

Get an Eyefinity card from ATI/AMD

You can use A Displayport to VGA adapter on one screen
You can use the two DVI ports turn them into VGA with the cheap adapters.

You can then configure them all to show different image as a long wall, or mirror, however you want.

Here is AMD's page on it:
http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/TECHNOLOGIES/AMD-EYEFINITY-TECHNOLOGY/Pages/eyefinity.aspx

Thanx for the link - I took a look but no prices or how many display outputs were available on the card.
Could not find Eyefinity, can you give me a page url?

 

[glenvern]

How would I configure the two dvi ports and the display port to show differing screens, would this mean new firmware/software or does the installation software give this you this opportunity? (I am assuming it comes with installation software).

And is there such a card with three ports?

 

[glenvern]

I think I may have found the answer -

USB 2.0 Graphics Card/Display Adapter (£32)

Seems I can use as many of these as I like. Unless I am reading it wrong?

They advertise them as either Primary, Extension or Mirror.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Ah sorry I was AFK for few hours... (school.... )

Anyways any HD5000 series card or above from AMD/ATI has these functionalities, you just have to find the ones with low graphics power to save money, but that still has all the ports you need.

Tom's had a nice article on this, I'll link you to it so you can read through it, it explains very nicely!

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

There, I found it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5450,2549.html

Just have a read through that, its a very good article that will pretty much explain all your questions.

The card they have used is also ideal for what you want to do.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask,
Sorry that I have been unclear previously

Cheerz,

 

[glenvern]

Many thanks for that article. afraid those cards are way too rich for my taste. I have to keep the cost down as low as I can having spent big money (for me that is) on the mb and cpu. a graphics card is not one of my priorities, all I need to do is see the screen to see what I'm typing. I'm hoping the USB 2 VGA leads will do the job.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Correct me if im wrong, but seeing these cards go for 40 bucks on newegg, not really that much of an investment. Your probably off cheaper in fact than buying 2 USB-VGA thingies.

Only adapter you will need is an HDMI-VGA, unless you can connect 1 of your screens via HDMI or DVI (where you then connect the DVI screen with a HDMI-DVI cable)

 

[glenvern]

I shall keep an eye on that one (Shipping to UK will push the price up a bit) thanx..

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Mate, you can buy them in the UK as well.

I promise you, almost any walk-in computer store which sells loose parts will have them, assuming they have them in stock.

These cards are VERY mainstream, it's not as if they are anything special to be honest with you.

 

[glenvern]

Yes I just did a hunt and found one on Amazon UK, and less than the USB thing so looks I have solved my problem.. thanx for all the effort and advice..

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

Yeah no problem mate.

Just make sure that you know how to connect the screens properly, the connections with these eyefinity cards can be a bit of a pain.

The article should explain it quite well.

BA plz

Cheerz and good luck with your build

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

EDIT: Double post, my bad.