Budget 3-Monitor Setup?

[rwoody]

I feel like this is a really stupid question, but I'm new to multi-monitor stuff, and I can't seem to find a clear explanation yet... What must I have for a 3-monitor setup? Now I'm not talking about the obvious stuff...I have a computer with a 4690K running with a GTX970. My GPU has a DVI port, HDMI port, and 3 displayports. I thought I heard something about needing at least one of the monitors to be on a displayport natively for it to work, so in my mind that means I need 3 identical monitors that have a displayport (since I don't want mismatched monitors). From what I'm seeing online, almost every monitor has HDMI and DVI, but only the really expensive ones seem to have displayport. Does this mean I need to spend $300+ per monitor to run Nvidia Surround? Are there any monitors under $200 that I can match up 3 of them to do this? I'm only looking for 1080p for the resolution. The BenQ EW2440L and Acer R240HY monitors are reasonably priced and have nice thin bezels, but neither have displayports. My head hurts.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

You want to buy 3 IPS or IPS-like monitors, those lower end panels based on IPS such as AHVA, PLS, etc. You need the great viewing angles, otherwise you'll get color shift when looking at the two TN or VA monitors on the left and right.

Next you want is a monitor that has got VESA mount for a stand. You don't need to use only displayport, or one displayport, you can use all that are available to you. DVI-D, HDMI, DisplayPort are all digital, meaning they can't look any different in terms of picture quality.

It's entirely based on luck, whether or not you will get matching monitors or not. Most of the times, manufacturers use outsourced panels, so even after calibrating, they're impossible to match.

For the EW2440L, you'd have to use what's available on your graphics card's output, so you'd have to use one DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, but it'll work, which is what's important. The EW2440L doesn't have VESA mounting capability, and it's using a VA panel, which isn't ideal even if you put three monitors on there stands in a triple setup. The R240HY doesn't have VESA either, but is using an IPS panel. I would stick to IPS if I were you, VESA or not.



All the best!

 

[rcknroll35]

Hey rwoody,

FIRST thing first, your current computer can run 7 monitors: 3 monitors on your motherboard if it supports it (the intel 4690K support 3 monitors with its integrated graphics) and 4 monitors on the GTX 970.

So you have plenty of options.

Now, what you read is that there is a LIMIT to the number of LEGACY connectors (DVI or VGA) on any integrated graphics or external video card, which is why you're confused. Almost all video card or integrated graphics will LIMIT TO 2 LEGACY CONNECTORS.

This means that on your motherboard (check your manual to make sure you're allowed to connect 3 monitors as it could limit to 2):

- you can connect 1 DVI, 1 VGA and 1 HDMI monitor
- you can connect 1 DVI, 1 VGA and 1 DisplayPort monitor
- etc depending on the connectors on your mobo, but these are the most popular (check your manual)

And on your GTX 970, you can connect a mix of DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI monitors on most GTX 970, but there are none (that i know of) with VGA connectors because they are phased out.

Sooooo if i take a reasonable guess (without knowing your exact motherboard), i'd say that you can buy the Acer R240HY you were talking about that have DVI, VGA, HDMI connectors on the back (AND it comes with one of each cable) and connect those directly on your motherboard (you might need to ACTIVATE both external graphic card AND CPU graphics in your BIOS, refer to your manual for that it's pretty simple). Connect 2 monitors to the motherboard, which means the last monitor can be connected to DVI or HDMI on your GTX 970.

---
NOTE: if you want to use Nvidia Surround instead:

if you want to connect all 3 monitors on the GTX 970 because you play games in Nvidia Surround, then you can connect 2 monitors using DVI cables you already have or Displayport-to-HDMI cables (http://amzn.to/1mbVHkb) and the last one using HDMI only which will work perfectly.

so possible configs for Nvidia Surround on a GTX 970 (depending on what outputs your card has):
- 1 DVI + 2 HDMI
- 2 DVI + 1 HDMI
- 1 DVI + 1 Displayport to HDMI (http://amzn.to/1mbVHkb) + 1 HDMI

in other words, it's pretty simple

---
example: on this site, there is a 3 monitor computer using only the integrated graphics + motherboard for 800$ for a whole system including the monitors:

- http://multimonitorcomputer.com/3-monitor-stock-trading-computer.php


Source of why i know this: i run a 9 monitor computer with 8x 21" monitors and 1x 27" monitors on 1x ATI Radeon 5570, 1x Geforce GT 720, 1x Geforce GTX 970 and i can run 2 monitors on my motherboard (although my Core i7 3770S can support 3). So technically, I can connect up to 14 monitors on my current system. And i lost TONS of time figuring out what works and what doesnt...

 

[rwoody]

Thank you guys for the information! That helps quite a bit. I will probably go with the 1x DVI, 1x Displayport to HDMI, and 1x HDMI configuration, that way I can run Surround from my GTX 970. Now here's hoping it can handle 3 monitors with decent FPS.