Will this card run three monitors?

[x64x]

Hey guys, bit of a newbie question here. At the moment I'm running dual screens off an old gtx 460, and I'm looking at upgrading to this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-118-GI&tool=3

Now, I want to be able to run three screens. I only plan to game on my main screen, as I've never really enjoyed the surround experience, but as I am a digital artist, it would be incredibly productive for me to run a third screen. Would this card be capable of this, say 2 screens running off the dvi and one running off of the display port or hdmi?

Thanks for any help!

 

[ShivP]

Yes I believe that'll be possible, two DVI + one of the other outputs should work fine. However I think it only supports 3 monitors max

I'd be looking at the AMD R9 280 at that price range also, the 760 is a great card but the 280 is better

 

[x64x]

Yes I believe that'll be possible, two DVI + one of the other outputs should work fine. However I think it only supports 3 monitors max

I'd be looking at the AMD R9 280 at that price range also, the 760 is a great card but the 280 is better

Thanks for the reply

I guess I just looked at Nvidia since that's what I've always ran. Am I right in thinking that with AMD cards one of my monitors will need to have a mini display port in order to run multiple screens? Cos I'm pretty certain my screens don't have that hahah.

 

[Confused Stu]

The requirements were changed a little when the R7/R9 series were introduced, and you should be able to run 3 off a 280 using the DVI/HDMI ports on the card. The only caveat is that all screens must be plugged in when the PC is turned on, you can't hot swap screens or add a new one while the PC is up and running. I thought the screens all had to be the same make/model, but I can't find any mention of that in Google searches this morning, so I may have made that up.

If you do end up needing to use the Displayport/MiniDisplayport connector for any reason, you can always use an Active adapter to connect this to a DVI/HDMI/VGA monitor - I have used a few inexpensive Startech adapters in the past and each worked perfectly (http://uk.startech.com/AV/Displayport-Converters/?filter_CONVERTTYPE=Active)

 

[x64x]

The requirements were changed a little when the R7/R9 series were introduced, and you should be able to run 3 off a 280 using the DVI/HDMI ports on the card. The only caveat is that all screens must be plugged in when the PC is turned on, you can't hot swap screens or add a new one while the PC is up and running. I thought the screens all had to be the same make/model, but I can't find any mention of that in Google searches this morning, so I may have made that up.

If you do end up needing to use the Displayport/MiniDisplayport connector for any reason, you can always use an Active adapter to connect this to a DVI/HDMI/VGA monitor - I have used a few inexpensive Startech adapters in the past and each worked perfectly (http://uk.startech.com/AV/Displayport-Converters/?filter_CONVERTTYPE=Active)

Awesome! Thanks for the help! My screens are all the same Asus model, so that shouldn't be a problem anyway. I heard that they had to be the same for Nvidia Surround too. I think I might just go ahead and order the 280 tonight

 

[Confused Stu]

You can use mismatched screens with AMD (I used to run 2 x 24" 1920x1080 screens around a 26" 1920x1200 one) but you might need to use the DisplayPort for this to work, and you'll probably find your GPU memory doesn't downclock when idle, so the GPU will idle hotter. If you're running the same screens, you should find your GPU runs at normal idle speed and temperature, but this seems to be a very grey area.

Enjoy the 280, it'll be an awesome upgrade from the 460. You might even get away with almost the same settings in games, but with the resolution at 5760x1080 rather than 1920x1080.