6 monitor setup

andrew12345678

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Mar 24, 2012
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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.
 

HugoStiglitz

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Hello & Welcome to Toms

There is no such setting / program that will automatically open the next program on a free monitor. however each program will remember which monitor they were on last time and open up there again next time. so if you close IE on monitor 4 when you open it again it will be on monitor 4 again.

Get rid of the 4gb USB drive and add extra RAM internally. the speed of the 4gb pen drive is ALOT slower than ur internal RAM.

What motherboard do you have? if you only have 1 pci express port then you will be limited to eyefinity 6 edtion cards (very few made) that have 6 outputs on the same card.

if you can fit 2 cards it will be alot cheaper and you will have more options.

please post your motherboard model, then we can reccomend a video card/s and RAM to get you sorted.
 

andrew12345678

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Mar 24, 2012
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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


The machine is currently maxxed out with internal ram of 4 Gig's. I added the extra 4 Gig's with a flash drive to speed it up.

I do not want to go to Windows 7 right now with new machines because Windows 8 will be out later this year and I will not be able to put more ram in these machines, so I will be buying new machines after Windows 8 comes out.
 

HugoStiglitz

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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


do you have windows vista 64bit currently?

2x 4gb RAM (total 8gb RAM) $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168201614853

with only 1 pic express port avaliable its going to be hard to attach 6 monitors. your only hope is to pick up either a 5870 or 5970 eyefinity 6 edition card (from $300 to $500)

you can get to 4 monitors with a GTX 680 for ~$500

all of these solutions are going to require you get a better PSU for your tower.

OCZ 600w PSU for $63
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

I dont think its going to be practical to upgrade ur existing PC to run 6 monitors.

far better off getting a New PC that supports dual video cards and run 2x 3monitor cards (~$100 each)
 

andrew12345678

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Mar 24, 2012
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It is Vista 32 bit that is running on the machines right now. They will not accept any more ram than the 4 Gig's that I have on board. Also, the power supply is 250 Watts that the machines have. There are issues going to Windows 7 because the printers that are in my office are HP 3050's and I understand that they will have problems with Windows 7 if you want to scan which we do all of the time. Also, we have Office 2003 installed, another 32 bit program, so if I want to get the biggest bang, not only do I have to replace all of the computers and printers, I have to upgrade all of the software to Office 2010. So, I am aware that it is not only the machines that will have to be upgraded, I will have to replace all of the software too. This would be a huge expense !