How to use 3 Monitors, Different Branded Graphics Cards

pingiscoolest · 23 Aug 2012

I am currently running 2 monitors on my PC, but I would like to add a third that I had on hand. My computer has an AOD 790 GX/128M Motherboard, with quad-core AMD Phenom II CPU. I currently have a Nvidia NX8800GTX GPU installed, which has my 2 monitors connected to it. I have a graphics card that I could install, however it is an ATI X1300. I would be willing to connect my third monitor either through the motherboards embedded graphics, or through my ATI card. Is it possible to do either of these? I am worried about a driver issue since the 2 GPU's are different brands, and I am not sure it is possible to use embedded graphics at the same time as a card. If this is not possible, what would be the cheapest way to add a third monitor? Thanks!

Zepher · 23 Aug 2012

I know some AMD boards allow onboard along with an add in card, my brothers last 2 AMD systems allowed this, he ran 2 monitors off of an 8800gt ad his tv off of the onboard hdmi, and his other system had a gtx260 for the monitors and the onboard hdmi for the tv.
I asked him if there was a bios setting to enable both and he didn't remember.

I guess you can go into the bios and search fir the onboard setting and see what options there are.

With Windows 7, you can run different brands of cards at the same time, so you could just pop that ati card in it "should" work.

If none of those options work for you, you could get one of those USB adapters that run a screen. They are about $35 to $70 depending on make.
I used 2 of the Startech branded ones for a client to hook up 2 dvi monitors to his laptop so he could have 3 screens.
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-E.../dp/B002ZT08U6