4 screens 2 cards or 1? Gaming Rig Edition

[Thumpist]

Hi Guys,

I am building a PC for a friend and he has asked for two option I have got the first one [basic work pc] written up no worries but he also asked for a reasonably priced Gaming rig the kicker is he wants 4 screens.

I run 3 screens personally 2 through DVI and the third through the DP. But I ran into a few issues with that when first setting it all up, it was my first multiscreen setup after all.

Tl;DR I am looking for a Decent Graphics card that can support up to 4 screens for gaming, i doubt he will play across all four i think he just wants them for other activities. I just dont know what to look for in the specs of the GC when looking for 4 monitor support.

Appreciate any help you can give me

 

[MEMOFLEX]

Hello buddy,

First things first, does he want to use all 4 screens for gaming at the same time or to game on maybe 1 and use the rest for when doing work or other stuff? I know you said it was a gaming rig but thought I would make sure.

In regards to just getting four screens working I know that a number of AMD cards can do this with a single card. Nvidia however, i may be wrong here, only supports 3 on their 600 series with the exception of the 690 which can do 4+ although you mentioned reasonably priced as well and a 690 is not cheap. I think cards like the Nvidia Quadro can do 4 screens as well as some other niche cards in the green range.

Gaming at these kind of resolutions though would prove very difficult for a top end single GPU and even multiple cards in SLI and Xfire would probably struggle to some extent.

 

[jaguarskx]

You are better off using two graphic cards. The only graphic cards (excluding Matrox) which can support more than 3 monitors by itself are the Radeon HD 7000 series with the "Eyefinity 6" title which means it can support up to 6 monitors. Here's an example for $360, however, you need to realize that a single Radeon HD 7870 is not really enough to play games even with just 3 1080p monitors.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2617299&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=CICq6bzz-LYCFUWo4AodL3cAEA

Not sure about nVidia cards...

 

[Thumpist]

Thanks for the speedy replies, I dont think he will be gaming on multiple screens, the machine is basically being built to monitor stocks and business-esk stuff he just asked for a quote of a decent gaming rig as well.

I did find this one http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=611325&CategoryID=467 which said it can support up to 4 monitors on its website, which I thought may do the job but to be honest not loaded with knowledge when it comes to graphics cards.

Personally I run 3 screens but only ever game on one and run that off the one card and it seems to do the job without a hassle.

 

[jaguarskx]

Well I assume if it is advertised as being capable of supporting up to 4 monitors then it can. Only a review can truly verify that. EVGA is not known for lying so, it's support for 4 monitors should not be something you should worry about.

Me? I just run two monitors. No need to figure out which cards are capable of supporting 2 monitors.

 

[Thumpist]

Haha 2 monitors would make it much easier, I might try and persuade him to do something like that instead.

Thanks for your help folks

 

[MEMOFLEX]

Have had a look and supposedly you can run 4 screens off a 600 series Nvidia GPU but only as extention to workspace and not for surround gaming on 4 monitors. 3 is maximum for gaming so this should help with the 4 monitor conundrum.

Cheers