How do I hook up 5 monitors to my Gigabyte GTX 770 GDDR5-4GB Graphics Card?

[collegebound23]

How do I hook up 5 monitors to my Gigabyte GTX 770 GDDR5-4GB Graphics Card?

Can I not use any VGA ports on my motherboard? I tried to do that but it doesn't work. Is there a setting I can turn on to use those ports?

I currently have 4 monitors connected to my GTX 770 graphics card but it only has 4 slots. Please let me know what adapter to buy or if I can use any existing ports to connect more monitors to my rig. Thank you!

Here is my graphics card: http://amzn.to/2sszG86

 

[XaveT]

Usually onboard video gets disabled if you put in a graphics card. You can check your BIOS and see if it supports both enabled (most likely it will not).

Your best option is probably to get a second cheap video card. If you aren't planning on doing anything intensive on that monitor (like no heavy 3D or video work) then you can find a 1xPCI-E card that should work fine. Something like (http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-nVidia-Quadro-NVS290-256M-PCIe-x1-Video-Card-458707-002-460815-001-w-Cable-/112405364544) should work if you just need VGA, and it's $15 on ebay.

 

[collegebound23]

Usually onboard video gets disabled if you put in a graphics card. You can check your BIOS and see if it supports both enabled (most likely it will not).

Your best option is probably to get a second cheap video card. If you aren't planning on doing anything intensive on that monitor (like no heavy 3D or video work) then you can find a 1xPCI-E card that should work fine. Something like (http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-nVidia-Quadro-NVS290-256M-PCIe-x1-Video-Card-458707-002-460815-001-w-Cable-/112405364544) should work if you just need VGA, and it's $15 on ebay.

Thank you very much for your response XaveT! Is there an adapter that I can buy for my graphics card instead of getting another PCI-E video card?

Also, why is the motherboard on-board VGA slots disabled if you have a graphics card? Why do they do this?

 

[InvalidError]

Also, why is the motherboard on-board VGA slots disabled if you have a graphics card? Why do they do this?

VGA slot? You mean integrated graphics? Most people who have discrete graphics don't need integrated graphics so many motherboard manufacturers disable integrated graphics by default when a discrete GPU is detected to save power and reduce unnecessary driver bloat in the OS.

 

[XaveT]

Thank you very much for your response XaveT! Is there an adapter that I can buy for my graphics card instead of getting another PCI-E video card?

This was an interesting way to think about it, so I looked into it. My knee-jerk reaction was "... What?" I'll admit.

So, if your graphics card is exactly like the one you listed, it actually has (4 ports):
1x DisplayPort
1x HDMI
1x DVI-D (Dual Link)
1x DVI-I (Dual Link) (White port with four single pins around the long slot pin)

The last one may be what you need here. I vaguely remember from the early years that you could use a converter to change DVI-I into VGA. There are also adapters which have two VGA. So if one of your current monitors has a VGA you can switch to using, it may work to have two VGAs connected to that DVI-I with an adapter (like https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA50M2RK4542).

I'm hesitant to recommend this, because the idea is sooooo old. I don't know if modern hardware (or software) works this way anymore. However the part mentioned above is $8 USD, so there's isn't much to lose. It may take a month to ship to you though.

I would still strongly recommend a second card, but this might work.

But I make no guarantees.

 

[collegebound23]

Thank you very much for your response XaveT! Is there an adapter that I can buy for my graphics card instead of getting another PCI-E video card?

This was an interesting way to think about it, so I looked into it. My knee-jerk reaction was "... What?" I'll admit.

So, if your graphics card is exactly like the one you listed, it actually has (4 ports):
1x DisplayPort
1x HDMI
1x DVI-D (Dual Link)
1x DVI-I (Dual Link) (White port with four single pins around the long slot pin)

The last one may be what you need here. I vaguely remember from the early years that you could use a converter to change DVI-I into VGA. There are also adapters which have two VGA. So if one of your current monitors has a VGA you can switch to using, it may work to have two VGAs connected to that DVI-I with an adapter (like https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA50M2RK4542).

I'm hesitant to recommend this, because the idea is sooooo old. I don't know if modern hardware (or software) works this way anymore. However the part mentioned above is $8 USD, so there's isn't much to lose. It may take a month to ship to you though.

I would still strongly recommend a second card, but this might work.

But I make no guarantees.

Wow thank you so much XaveT!!!

Do you or anyone know the benefits or cons of using this adapter vs. getting another cheap $15 graphics card on ebay?

 

[InvalidError]

I'd simply use integrated graphics. Most motherboards have an option to set "VGA" or onboard graphics from "Auto" to something like "PCIe Priority".

 

[helpstar]

which motherboard is it?

which monitors are you using?

the DVI to 2xVGA Splitter will just clone the display, don´t know if this is helpful

Using Display Port might help:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2923941/how-to-create-an-insane-multiple-monitor-setup-with-three-four-or-more-displays.html

 

[XaveT]

Do you or anyone know the benefits or cons of using this adapter vs. getting another cheap $15 graphics card on ebay?

Well, I do know that the second card thing would indeed work. That card I listed earlier is a professional card, so it would sacrifice speed for quality. It wouldn't been very capable for 3D anything, but it should run standard 2D stuff. There are other choices out there, but I would need to know more about what you plan to use it for.

If you want to game or something similar on it, you will have to get a better, more recent card. But that should let you do desktop things.

The adapter may or may not work. If it does turn out to just be a "splitter" then it would duplicate the displays only, and be useless for you. I can't find enough information one way or the other on that. I'm working mostly from memory on that even being a thing, since I can't find any information on the subject now at all. I did have a setup like that before, so it can work (Dual link DVI-I to 2 discrete VGAs via a Matrox card) but I have no way of knowing if Nvidia does it, or if that was something special about my past hardware.

So what are you doing on the computer in general, and what will the 5th display be doing?