Need to support 4 monitors...

S

SomeoneSpecial

Obliviot
First - a disclaimer... I'm not particularly tech-savvy... But I'm trying :) So please be patient with me!

I've been doing a ton of research online and looking to find a way to run 4 monitors off of the Dell XPS box that I've got here. It's pretty loaded machine, running Windows 7 64-bit and 24GB of RAM and a ridiculously upgraded processor.

This site keeps coming up with reviews and such on all the cards that I've searched... So I'm reaching out hoping that someone might be able to make a recommendation to help me make this new setup work.

The machine currently has an ATI Radeon 5870 card that will apparently support 3 monitors... but with 4 ports - 2x DVI, 1x HDMI and 1xDisplay Port. It's a pretty beefy looking card that takes up 2 bays. With that card installed I only have a PCI bay open... And I tried adding an NVIDIA GEFORCE 8400 GS 512MB... But it won't even recognize that card exists in the machine. (I checked Win7 compatibility and that seems fine - so I'm not sure what the issue is here. The card was working fine in the previous box - also pretty heavily upgraded... But had 2 PCI Express and 1 PCI - so I was running 3 cards to support 5 x 24" Monitors and a 46" TV - It was pretty insane!).

Do you have any suggestions as to what I can add/replace my existing card with to try and get all 4 monitors working? The old box was running was essentially running 6 displays (all separate screens), and though I've resigned myself to 4 (5 would still be ideal, 6 perfect!), I'm at a loss and not sure where to go. None of the electronics stores/manufacturer's tech support lines that I've been able to get a hold of seem to have any recommendations - which baffles me).

The only recommendation I've had is to use an "Active Display Port" - but that will still only allow me to run 3 monitors off this card. I need to get 4 running off this card... Or find a card that will run and be recognized in the PCI port that's available.

I tried an ACCELL ULTRAV Display Port to DVI Multi-Monitor Adapter... But it treats all the monitors that are plugged into it (was using 2 but it will support 3) as one screen... So any window "maximized" there would instantly span 2 screens. VERY frustrating).

Any help that anyone can give me would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thank you so much :)
 
TheCrimsonStar

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey
Well your issue there is mixing AMD (ATI) and NVIDIA cards. You can't run both at the same time unless your motherboard has a special chip to allow it, and there are only a couple that exist with that chip if I am not mistaken. You would need to get another AMD card to go with it. Might I suggest this card. It's a PowerColor Radeon 6870 Eyefinity 6 Edition. It's specially made with 6 mini DisplayPort connections on it for multi-monitor setups. It comes with 2 Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapters, and 4 Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapters. This should EASILY be able to handle those 4 monitors, provided you have all the right adapters ;)
 
DarkStarr

DarkStarr

Tech Monkey
Not quite, you can easily run ATI/Nvidia. The problems occur when you start trying to use the Nvidia GPU for PhysX. As stated however, you need the Eyefinity 6 Edition of whatever card you get and then that one card can drive 6 monitors. However, if your going to sell your current GPU to get an Eyefinity 6 edition I would be interested in it.
 
RainMotorsports

RainMotorsports

Partition Master
If he isn't running anything serious Galaxy has a 4 display GTX 460 i believe. Extra monitors can also be achieved by usb devices that basically run off the graphics card as a virtual device. Not sure how they work these days but way back when all this was crazy you would just target images to different parts of the frame buffer cut it up and output it seperate video outs.

I might have been wrong on the model here is the 560 Ti with 4 mini hdmi - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162082

Its actually an idiotic myth that nvidia cant run more than 3 monitors from a single low end card. Some people concentrate on the thought of gaming, others the physical hardware aspect. In the end you can do it, but all your going to be doing is powerpoint presentations lol.

It just requires a little extra hardware and some help from the video card. I do see galaxy went with the wide single screen split in half as one of the ways of achieving it.
 
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Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
If the monitors support DisplayPort, or at least two of them, then things should be as easy as "upgrading" to an HD 6870. With that card you could use 2 x DisplayPort and 2 x DVI and be good to go. I am checking with Sapphire to see if its FleX cards can support 4 with only a single DisplayPort connection, since things would be a bit less expensive that way.
 
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