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3 monitor set up

antrock101

antrock101

antrock101

Associate
Joined
29 Dec 2009
Posts
111
Hey Guys,

I currently have a 260gtx and it only supports 2 DVI. I am looking at add a 3rd VGA monitor on. So I will have 2 x VGA and 1x DVI can anyone suggest a card to support 3 gfx cards i'm not bothered about it being any better performance wise than my current card as that plays all the games I need (smite ect) on medium or full

thanks
 
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A NVidia 650 Ti, 650 Ti Boost or a 660 will run 3 monitors fine.
You should be able to pick one up fairly cheap 2nd hand.

Some 650 Ti cards come with 1 vga port + 2xdvi + 1xhdmi inputs like the Asus 2gb 650 Ti, or a mixture of those 3 input types, so you might need to shop around to find a card that has 1xvga + 2xdvi inputs to suit your monitors.
 
I went ahead an purchased this but didn't realise the adapters properly

1 x HDMI (with 3D)
1 x DisplayPort 1.2
1 x Dual-Link DVI-D
1 x Dual-Link DVI-I

Whats is the diffrence in DVII and DVID?
 
antrock101 said:
I went ahead an purchased this but didn't realise the adapters properly

1 x HDMI (with 3D)
1 x DisplayPort 1.2
1 x Dual-Link DVI-D
1 x Dual-Link DVI-I

Whats is the diffrence in DVII and DVID?
Click to expand...

A DVI-D connector on a graphics card sends out a digital signal only, while a DVI-I connector, which carries both an analog and digital signal, can send out a digital signal (for digital displays such as flat panel LCD monitors) as well as analog signal (for older displays such as a CRT monitor)
 
if you are using lcd's for your three screen setup and you have an AMD card you can used any combination as long as one of the three is the display port.

My three screens are all connected via HDMI at the monitor end's and at the card end I am using :-

1 x DisplayPort 1.2 ( with an adapter )
1 x Dual-Link DVI-D
1 x Dual-Link DVI-I
 
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Do you want to play games across all 3 monitors, or use it purely for desktop stuff?

If you want just desktop stuff, then ANY PCI/PCI-Express card will be suitable, or even on-board, and will give you an additional desktop.

For gaming across all 3 screens - you need it all on one card.
 
antrock101 said:
any reason one has to be a dp, didn't realise I had to spend money on an adapter doh!
Click to expand...

Before the R9 290 series, AMD cards could only produce two clock signals. VGA, DVI and HDMI each require a clock signal - DisplayPort doesn't. This means the card can run 2 screens by DVI/HDMI/VGA, but the third (or more) needs to be connected by DisplayPort.

You can get DisplayPort adapters to other connections - DVI/VGA/HDMI - but they come in two varieties, Active and Passive. Passive adapters simply rearrange the wires so the GPU "sees" a DVI/VGA/HDMI monitor on the other end of it's DisplayPort connection, and so has to use one of it's clock generators to make that monitor work. Active monitors take the DP signal and electronically convert it to DVI/HDMI/VGA (including making it's own clock signal) so the GPU "sees" a DisplayPort monitor, even though your monitor actually isn't. This is why a Passive DP adapter can be used if you're connecting the first or second monitor, but not for the third or fourth (assuming the first two monitors are connected by non-DisplayPort). Active DP adapters enable you to run the third or fourth monitors.

The R9 290 series introduced the ability to run three screens by DVI/HDMI provided they're identical enough to be able to share a clock generator - usually meaning the same model of monitor.

You are going to need to connect:
GPU DVI-I to VGA Monitor
GPU DVI-D to DVI Monitor
GPU DP to DP-VGA Active Adapter to VGA Monitor (something like Startech's DP2VGA2 will be perfect, and can be found for about £20)
 
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