5 displays - graphics card?

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Zeon

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#143526 17-Apr-2014 16:33

Hey guys,
I've been running 4 displays for a while and its been great but i anted to add a 5th display. My computer has Intel HD 4000 graphics which drive 2 monitors and until recently had a NVidia Geforce 7300 which drove 2 more (has 2 monitor conenctions only). The Intel HD4000 can only support 2 monitors and my motherboard only has 1 pci-E slot so i could only replace it, not add another graphics card. I replaced the Geforce with it with an ATI HD 3600 I found which has a DVI, HDMI and displayport output. Unfortunately this card doesn't seem capable of driving more than 1-2 screens (you can't have more than 1 if you use display port it seems but 2 if you have 1 DVI and 1 HDMI).

Anyway any suggestions for a cheap card I could use to run the 5 screens?

I read this:
http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/151

And can see a HD5 series card is $50 at Pbtech. Will this work?

I also am having a few issues with speed. Could having different video cards driving different displays cause this? Like ti gets a bit freezy etc.when scrolling around web pages.

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#1026987 17-Apr-2014 16:46

What connection options are there on the card? Would you have to daily-chain expensive DisplayPort monitors for example?

Options include adding a PCIe x1 card if you have a spare small PCIe slot, or a USB to VGA/DVI adapter for basic display requirements (i.e. no 1080p videos for USB3, or no videos at all for USB2)

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Mike

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insane

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#1026990 17-Apr-2014 16:49

We use ATI HD5450's to drive three monitors in low profile cases. Just need to make sure you don't get the HDMI model as that can only do two monitors. The one we have has display port, DVI and VGA.

Card was around $60, and then another $50 for an active display port to DVI converter.

Zeon

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#1026995 17-Apr-2014 16:56

yea its a mini-ITX case so only a single PCI-E slot. That's good advice, thanks Insane. Will order those I think.

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Zeon

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#1026996 17-Apr-2014 16:57

Dynamic: What connection options are there on the card? Would you have to daily-chain expensive DisplayPort monitors for example?

Options include adding a PCIe x1 card if you have a spare small PCIe slot, or a USB to VGA/DVI adapter for basic display requirements (i.e. no 1080p videos for USB3, or no videos at all for USB2)

Cheers
Mike

I have access to a heap of spare older monitors, not buying fresh ;)

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Zeon

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#1027026 17-Apr-2014 17:31

Interesting I also see this card:
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=422424

Its $86 but means you don't need an active display port adapter which is $35.

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hellonearthisman

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#1027094 17-Apr-2014 20:06

If you have USB 3 then you could add a USB3 graphics device or a USB3 PCI-E 1X to 16X port.

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raytaylor

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#1027156 18-Apr-2014 01:04

A guy recently bought a 6 screen desktop custom built from our sister company which he plans to use for currency trading.

Anywhoo, the guy that built it reckoned he used a motherboard with 3x PCIe slots, and 3x dual head graphics cards all of the same make and model - so the drivers dont conflict.

Ray Taylor

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Zeon

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#1027944 19-Apr-2014 21:39

raytaylor: A guy recently bought a 6 screen desktop custom built from our sister company which he plans to use for currency trading.

Anywhoo, the guy that built it reckoned he used a motherboard with 3x PCIe slots, and 3x dual head graphics cards all of the same make and model - so the drivers dont conflict.

Hmm that's an interesting option. I had a look and there is an Intel motherboard with 2x pci-E x16 slots and PCI slots. I've got quite a few spare cards. I could put in 2x ATI HD4000 series and 1x Nvidia 6200 PCI (all of which I own) plus the 2x Intel for 8x total?

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insane

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#1027996 20-Apr-2014 00:37

You can't use the internal and the PCI/pci-e at the same time, but nothing wrong with using both pci-e and PCI at the same time. On one workstation I'm doing exactly that to get three screens, ATI HD2400 + nVidia 6100 PCI, both low profile, and no problems with drivers.

Zeon

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#1028023 20-Apr-2014 06:58

insane: You can't use the internal and the PCI/pci-e at the same time, but nothing wrong with using both pci-e and PCI at the same time. On one workstation I'm doing exactly that to get three screens, ATI HD2400 + nVidia 6100 PCI, both low profile, and no problems with drivers.

OK Good to hear... In my setup it seems you can use internal and PCI-E at the same time e.g. at the moment I'm using Intel HD 4000 off the motherboard for 2 monitors AND an ATI 3600. Now to find an ATX case that will fit on my desk - really want a minimalist Lian Li

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raytaylor

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#1028081 20-Apr-2014 10:22

Often being able to use onboard graphics depends upon the processor you use these days.

Also I have been using onboard + AGP or onboard + PCIe since the dawn of time.
Its usually just an option in the bios to enable it, often with the "which display to "prioritise" which will have three options along the lines of
- onboard
- pcie
- disable onboard

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Zeon

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#1058434 3-Jun-2014 11:35

Hey guys,
Lol forgot about this for a while but I now have 7 monitors on my desk with only 4 running :p. I need a solution which will scale so I think I will look at those USB3 adapters as you can seem to add as many as you want. Anyone using them? I presumably can run graphics intensive tasks on my main PCI-E GPU driven monitors while these things are running?

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nathan

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#1058456 3-Jun-2014 12:10

mDP1.2 monitors that support daisy chaining aren't expensive any more BTW

Dynamic

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#1058459 3-Jun-2014 12:21

Linking DisplayPort monitors together would be the nicest solution, but replacing several LCDs may be uneconomic. Having said that buying muyltiple USB3 display adapters isn't dirt cheap either.

If you go down the USB3 route (which will play all but 1080p video IIRC) I would be interested to hear of any CPU use increase. There is no harm connecting these to an older USB2 port or buying USB2 to VGA/DVI/HDMI, you'll just lose the ability to play anything resembling half-decent video.

There are a number of USB Port Replicators on the market that do dual display output - the HP 3005pr is one example that I have used recently. Be sure to download the latest drivers, in my experience.

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nathan

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#1058461 3-Jun-2014 12:25

if you have a video card that supports the mDP1.2 MST for daisychaining but don't have the monitors that support it you can also buy a MST hub and use that between the monitors and PC

Personally I don't find USB2 / USB3 DisplayLink particularly reliable or stable

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