How to do multiple monitors with Nvidia

[zcarm]

Hey guys, I have an msi gtx 970 oc edition (the one with the crappy white cooler) and I am trying to get a three monitor setup running. As of right now I have an asus 21.5 inch monitor in the middle hooked up with hdmi. I have two old dell vga monitors flanking it and I am trying to figure out how to hook them up. I just want each monitor to operate independently with the middle one being the one I play games on. I have a dvi-i to vga connecting one of the dell monitors (it only has vga input). I just got a dvi-d to vga adapter and for some reason it won't hook up the third dell monitor. My screen display settings just won't recognize it for some reason. Is there some kind of Nvidia software that I need, am I even able to put out signal from that dvi-d port, or is my adapter that I bought just not fuctional (totally possible, it was $2.33 on ebay)

 

[Airm3n]

Most likely the adapter. I believe dvi-d won't output to vga being its digital and not analog.

 

[k1114]

If the dvi-d to vga adapter is passive, then it won't work. Those are not made for pcs and will not convert the digital signal to analog. It needs to be an active adapter.

 

[zcarm]

then what should I use to get the three monitors up and running?

 

[giantbucket]

if your motherboard has a VGA output, you can use onboard graphics in combination with the GTX card. obviously put the crap monitors to the onboarad port(s). walk into BIOS to re-enable IGPU.

 

[zcarm]

I went really cheap on the motherboard so there are no onboard graphics there :/

 

[giantbucket]

sometimes, life just sucks. buy a different monitor, or buy a cheap old graphics card for $3.99 to drive your extra monitor.

 

[k1114]

A cheap old gpu maybe the cheapest option. Otherwise get an active adapter. It's cheaper to get dp or hdmi instead of a dvi-d adapter. I didn't really look around much for prices but they are probably going to be around the $15 range. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6J02E43943&cm_re=dp_to_vga_active-_-9SIA6J02E43943-_-Product