Graphics card with 3 or 4 DVI outputs...

Arran · 11 Dec 2009

Hello all,

I was wondering if some of you could point me in the direction of a graphics card for which I would be able to run 3-4 monitors on.

I have a client that is after a 3 monitor setup for professional gambling so would like to be able to stream 2 games at once plus have a seperate monitor for live odds etc...

Is currently doing it all on 1 monitor so you can imagine how frustrating that must be, it would do my head in thats for sure...

He's after an entire custom system build but I thought I'd start with the graphics card and build the system around that...

I have thought about a X-Fire or SLI setup, I'm just wondering if all outputs on 1 card would be better than 2 on 2 cards...

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Billy · 11 Dec 2009

How's this? It's basically 2 video cards.

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 $239.99

stormy13 · 11 Dec 2009

The only cards that will allow you to use more than 2 outputs are the new ATI HD 5xxx series. SLI or Crossfire is un-necessary and not worth the hassle of configuring for something like that.

For the most part any 2 video cards will do, but if he is looking at a new build the easiest option would be to go with a AMD based 785G chipset motherboard and pair it up with an ATI HD 4xxx series video card, and then use the outputs on the onboard video and video card.

I say easiest because the above works very well for up to 4 monitors/displays (use it myself occasionally with 3 displays myself). It is just a matter of enabling the "SurroundView" option in the bios; and configuring which display is primary, secondary, etc in the display options once the drivers are installed.

If you decide to go this route and all he does is his online gambling then just about anything from the HD 4670 and down will do. If he plans on playing any games or such then look at the HD 4830 and up.

Arran · 12 Dec 2009

Thanks for your responses...

I was of the understanding the the 4 series cards wouldn't work together with the onboard from the 785G chipsets, or was the 780G? I've got one or the other and it will just disable with my 4870 plugged in...

Edit: Sorry mines a 790GX...

Right I've had a little look around...
I want Dual DVI so: http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle

...and for the mainboard: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/171803

What doyou think of those 2 items? Would they work?

I'm trying to put together 3 different price options for him so he can mix and match if need be...

stormy13 · 12 Dec 2009

That should do nicely. And the best part is that board will take just about anything from a cheap Athlon II x2 all the way up to a Phenom II x4 955, from looking at the supported CPU list.

Also had a quick look at the manual and it does support the SurroundView option.

Edit: Just had a look at the manual for your motherboard (darn Asus and their dial up servers), and yours does support SurroundView. You just have to set it up in the bios and it should work. If I am reading it right and you want to try it you need to do the following,

-go to the Advanced section and under "Onboard Devices Configuration" set the primary display adapter to PCI-E

- still under Advanced go to the "Internal Graphics Configuration" and that should allow you to set the SurroundView to enabled.

Arran · 15 Dec 2009

Oooh thanks for all your effort!

I'll have a little play later on :)

jaslx8754 · 15 Dec 2009

You can use two video cards. I run 3 dual Radeon X1300 cards in my PC to get 6 monitors. I believe the limit to the number of monitors would be the number of slots available on the motherboard. One card is a PCIe 16x and my other cards are just PCI. Keep track of which screen is running off the PCIe 16x slot cause that the monitors you want to run your video on. Multi monitor requirements for Windows 7 is that all video cards must run the same drivers. The driver for this card also support the x1600 and x1550 cards. These run better than the the highest rated Geforce PCI cards but use more power. The power consupmtion would be too high if you run multiple PCIe 16x cards but I believe that would also be possible. Note that most motherboards will not support the use of the onboard video when running add-on video cards. You can buy a few of these cards on Ebay for as little as $30. It's important to upgrade the PSU when you run more monitors. Running your PSU close to it's limit will lead to creashes when the power level drop on the increased demand and will cause premature PSU failure (as well as hard drive crashes). When running the OEM power unit I'd crash when plugging in USB devices.