Cheapest 3 Monitor Setup?

[rkwj25]

Hello,

I am trying to setup 3 monitor for my desktop computer. One of my monitors is connected with DVI and I am purchasing two that both use VGA. My motherboard has a HDMI, DVI, and VGA on board but what is the cheapest way to add the three monitors I need 1 DVI and 2 VGA ports.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[benski]

First question is what is your graphics card? Many cards that have 3 or more ports can't actually display on more than 2 screens at a time. If your card can actually use all 3 displays (doubtful) I would say use a DVI/VGA adapter on the DVI port for the 2nd VGA screen, and use an HDMI/DVI adapter for current screen running off DVI.

 

[rkwj25]

The graphics card is integrated on the motherboard but it is and AMD Radeon HD 4200. It is part of the 785 chipset.

 

[rkwj25]

Also can I use the integrated card for 2 monitors and buy a separate card to drive one monitor and use them together?

 

[jyjjy]

You can indeed run 2 monitors off the HD4200 and you should be able to use it with a discrete card for another 2 monitors.

 

[rkwj25]

How do I know which ones are "discrete". Sorry I have never been into gaming and don't mess with graphics cards much. Is discrete any card that I can plug into my motherboard?

 

[benski]

Yes, discrete just means a not built in dedicated graphics card.

 

[rkwj25]

Thanks for helping me so far! Just one more question I promise! Will this one work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121444

 

[benski]

Yup, should work fine if you have a free PCI-E x16 slot (I would assume you do, I don't think they made any motherboards with HD4200 graphics that didn't have x16 slots.)