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4 Monitors at one time

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Hello,
I currently have a computer in my office with 2 monitors connected to it. I would like the same computer to have 6 smonitors connected to it. We use the following programs. I have listed them in order of priority:
1.) Quickbooks Pro 2009 ( Soon to go to 2012 )
2.) Outlook
3.) Internet Explorer 9
4.) MapPoint 2011 (This is a 1.5Gig program )

Quickbooks Pro is a pain because you cannot move it's internal windows around and have to stretch the display in order to see multiple Quickbooks screens. So it will take up 2 monitors and some playing around all of the time to see multiple windows. Outlook will take up one of the monitors, now we are up to 3 monitors. Sometimes we have multiple sites open on Internet Explorer, so there are monitors 4 and 5, and MapPoint needs it's own touch screen monitor, so there is monitor #6. The machines that are in the office currently are running Vista, have 4 gigs of ram and I have stuck in a flash drive into one of the USB ports to add 4 more gigs of ram and they run really fast ( except Quickbooks searches ). What do you suggest I purchase in order to do 6 monitors ??? I would like to be able to click open a program and have the video card know to put it on the next available monitor. 24" Monitors would do just fine and I think that having them stacked with a bracket making an array of 2 high by 3 wide would be just fine.

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Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

What are the specs of the pc, particularly what motherboard do you have?

Low end graphics cards can attach two monitors each.
High end(>$400) graphics cards can attach 4 or more.
Each graphics card will need an available expansion slot on the motherboard.

When you open an app, the window will appear on the monitor where it was last closed.

At some point, you should consider windows 7 64 bit. A flash drive is no substitute for real ram, and ram is cheap.

Compaq Presario SR5450F Desktop PC Product

Motherboard
MCP73M01H1 (Napa)
Figure 1: Motherboard top view
•Manufacturer: Foxconn
•Form factor: microATX - 9.6 inches (24.4 cm) x 8.5 inches (21.5 cm)
•Chipset: GeForce 7100/nForce 630i
•Memory sockets: 2 x DDR2
•Front side bus speeds: 800/1066/1333 MHz
•Processor socket: 775
•Expansion Slots:
◦1 PCI Express x16 slot for graphics card
◦2 PCI Express x1 slots
◦1 PCI slot
Motherboard description
•Manufacturer's motherboard name: Foxconn MCP73M01H1
•HP/Compaq name: Napa-GL8E
Form Factor
•Micro-ATX: 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) x 24.4 cm (9.6 inches)
Chipset
•GeForce 7100/nForce 630i

I am waiting until Windows 8 comes out later this year, then I am going to upgrade all of the machines in my office from Vista to Windows 8. I think it is silly to buy Windows 7 right now because it will be outdated in a matter of months. There are 4 machines in my office right now.
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HugoStiglitz said:
This is a Duplicate Thread

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/347714-33-monitor-setup




I tried to post it initially and it gave me some type of "flood" error. Then I searched for help on this site and it said to wait a couple of minutes. I then realized that I posted 4 monitors instead of 6, I fixed that and then reposted it.

I do not want to lost contact with the person that gave me a response on the 4 monitor setup by closing out the thread.

What do you suggest I do so I can have only 1 question posted. Can the 2 threads be merged into one ? Please advise.
Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

You do not need any high powered graphics card for somewhat static images.

The pci-e X16 slot is the easiest to fill. A card such as this EVGA 8300GS for $30 would work fine.
Even though the card has three outputs, you can only use any two at the same time.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

The pcie X1 slots can also hold graphics cards. The X1 limits performance which is not relevant here. But, since X1 is not so common, the cards are priced higher.
Here is one for $60:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Even the pci slot can hold a graphics card like this 6200 for $45:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Pre built vendors will normally include a psu that is only capable of running the original installed parts.
These graphics cards are powered only by the slots they are plugged into, so you should be ok if the psu is 300w or better.

I don't think Windows 8 is worth waiting for. I see few feature plusses for the desktop user. A new os may well still have some issues which I would want to avoid in a business environment.
There are some windows 7 upgrade family packs that give you three licensed for $140 or so.

Socket 775 is three, going on 4 generations old. I don't know how much I would invest in upgrades. Perhaps it is time to think about having someone build you a modern pc to your specs.
Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

andrew12345678 said:
Ok,

I don't understand how to make 6 monitors work if the video card has only 2 outputs. Can you help me here ?


You will need two added cards.

Your onboard graphics handles two monitors, and each added discrete graphics card will handle two more.

I would add one card at a time to verify that there are no issues before planning on populating the whole office.

I really am sorry, but I am lost here. I want to make 6 monitors work off of 1 computer. If the card only has 2 outputs. Here are the slots that are in the machine.
◦1 PCI Express x16 slot for graphics card
◦2 PCI Express x1 slots
◦1 PCI slot

Can you tell me what to do ?
Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

andrew12345678 said:
I really am sorry, but I am lost here. I want to make 6 monitors work off of 1 computer. If the card only has 2 outputs. Here are the slots that are in the machine.
◦1 PCI Express x16 slot for graphics card
◦2 PCI Express x1 slots
◦1 PCI slot

Can you tell me what to do ?


1) You already have two working monitors which are connected to the motherboard rear panel ports.

2) Install a discrete graphics card in the pcie x16 slot. You can attach two monitors to that card.

3) Buy either a graphics card for a X1 slot, or a graphics card for the pcie slot. You can attach two monitors to it.

Edit----------------
The two added graphics cards should be both from the same chip manufacturer(NVIVIA or AMD) so you can use the same graphics driver for both. Vista can, I think, only have one graphics driver. Thinking about it, it is possible that your onboard graphics may use a different driver which will cause you a problem.
Windows 7 does not have that restriction. I suppose you could populate three motherboard slots with the same Nvidia cards and not use the onboard graphics.

Ok,

So I will have 3 video cards, 2 ports each to run the 6 monitors. I will stick with NVIVIA, since that is what the PC uses now. And I am going to guess that the PC on it's own will know that there is 6 monitors and what to do with the output to the monitors by itself ?

Next the PC has a 250 watt power supply, the current 2-port video card works fine. Is there enough power in the PC to handle 2 more video cards ? Or better yet, how do I figure out what the correct size power supply would be ?
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