Adding a third monitor

[John L]

Anyone know what type of card would be required to add a third monitor (supposedly dual out of the box) to this computer?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004G5ZTM4/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/189-9469152-3136548

 

[smdgrfx]

If you want 3 screens like one big desktop, you will need a newer generation of ATI video cards. The lowest one I think is the ATI 5770. I have one and 3 - 23" monitors is nice!! Unless you get a dual video card and a splitter, but they will only clone the one monitor. Not give you 3 independent screens. Look into the new ATI cards - it's called eyefinity. And one of the monitors has to be display port or you need a $100 active display port adapter. The 5770 video card can be bought for under $150.

 

[choucove]

You are probably looking for a new AMD card, as stated above, similar to the AMD Radeon 6850. You can go with something like the ATI 5770 as state above to give you eyefinity for a little lower cost as well.

Sapphire Radeon 5770 with Eyefinity

ASUS Radeon 6850 with Eyefinity

Here's the problem. If you're looking to add any kind of graphics card to your existing HP desktop, be aware that it might not work because of a limited power supply. Unless you already have a high-performance gaming quality graphics card in your system that you are replacing (with a minimum 450 Watt or better power supply) or are planning to add in a new power supply as well, the standard PSU from these base systems is not enough to run additional hardware besides what they ship it out the door with (and even THEN it's questionable!)

Just to give you an example, a customer called me wondering why his Dell Optiplex towers in his office wouldn't work anymore after he installed a brand new AMD Radeon 5890 in two of them (he wanted to start using Adobe Creative Suite on these older systems.) I pointed out to him that the included 380 Watt power supply from Dell was 4 years old and the recommended power supply to run an AMD Radeon was 600 Watts. There just isn't enough power in the pre-built computers for additional hardware especially a performance graphics card.

Be sure before you purchase any upgraded graphics card that your system can handle it. Any graphics card that supports Eyefinity for more than 3 monitors is going to require at least one 6-pin PCI-Express power connector from your power supply and is going to require at least a 450 Watt power supply to keep it running without risking random power restarts or hardware damage.

 

[ProWraps]

heres my setup:
2 24" for working, and one 20" for email.

all running dvi.. have a dual dvi for the 24's and single dvi card for the 20".

was a pain to setup, but works great now.

 

[smdgrfx]

ProWraps - so, you are using 2 video cards? I was thinking of trying the same thing in one of my other work stations with an older card, but wasn't sure if it would work.

 

[ProWraps]

yeah i couldnt find one with 3 outs. and most of the 2 outs only had one dvi port and one rgb. it was a few trips to Frys electronics to get it to work. some one them didnt support the resolution of the monitors either. like i said it was a pain.

this was a year ago. im sure now its probably easier as hardware keeps progressing.

windows a bit a tough to get them to recognize, setup primary monitor, arange them etc. but in the end, i got it working.

then you run into the motherboard being able to handle two cards. bios settings etc. which socket it will make primary blah blah. you gotta deal with agp, pci, pci express. like i said, its a pain. the motherboard is KEY to allowing this setup.

i wish i could remember exactly what im running. i dont want to tear my box open to find out.

 

[smdgrfx]

Thanks for the tips! I will probably try it this week. I have everything I need actually. My mobo and power supply support two PCI-X video cards and I have an extra video card already.

 

[njshorts]

Note- I installed 3 of those desktops for a client, all had HP's standard issue 250 watt psu. Plan on upgrading it, we popped one with a single add-on card.

Also, your video quality will differ since it has a DVI and VGA onboard, plus whatever your card is.

Consider doing something like an nVidia quadro for a 3-4 monitor setup that all runs off the same hardware.

 

[ProWraps]

ah that sounds like a much better setup. i wish i could have found a card with 3-4 dvi ports on it. im sure its not cheap though. would LOVE to ad a 4th to the setup.

i could care less about speed etc, as its just for static work in the shop, no games. seems now-a-days you end up paying for cards with processing speeds faster than your processor. none of which would be worth it for shop work.

do you know which model has 4 dvi outs? i would be very interested in converting to it and adding a 4th.

edit: looks like their quadro plex system is the way to go.

hope it isnt this one!!! holy crap!

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=PQrHTZfGIZL2tgOZnuHqAQ&ved=0CFcQ8wIwAA#

 

[njshorts]

If you're like me (as it sounds- just looking for general wrap design, sign layouts, etc...), get a cheap set of dual dvi cards like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130395 - It's what I'd do if I had two x16 slots. Great price, plenty of hardware behind it plus EVGA's warranty and build quality with OpenGL 2.1 support...

Quadros are expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133258

One of my employees will have some ATI input Monday, I don't keep up with em... but he mentioned something about relatively inexpensive single card ATI options.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I use a 5970 card that has 3 outputs. 2 DVI and 1 mini display port (have to use an active mini-dvi converter). I have a 28" Hannspree, 22" Samsung, and 21" Cinteq running off of it.

I wouldn't mind a forth monitor, but it won't fit on my desk or on my wall (my hannspree is mounted on the wall, other two are on stands). I don't know if I could go back to 2 monitors now. I know I wouldn't be able to make it with 1 anymore.

 

[ProWraps]

been using a 2 monitor (and three) since 199-something. couldnt go back. the lack of productivity is severe. i paid a sh*t ton for a laptop to mirror my desktop and with one screen, no matter what is inside of it, its worthless.

 

[John L]

Thanks for all the advice. I would have never thought of the power supply. All good info. Thanks.

 

[phototec]

Cooler the better!

Thanks for all the advice. I would have never thought of the power supply. All good info. Thanks.

Yea, also DON"T forget more fans in the box, if you up-size the existing power supply, you will be introducing more heat inside the box. So, add more case cooling.

Another good idea is to add hard drive coolers (fans) to keep you hard drive working longer, heat is a big enemy of hard drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=577&name=Hard-Drive-Cooling

 

[choucove]

If you are wanting to run more than three monitors off of a single graphics card, you're going to have to go with DisplayPort. If you're doing design, this is a plus, as DisplayPort is currently the highest quality graphics connector available, and several of the best design monitors out there (such as the Dell U2211H and Dell U2410) have connectors as well for DisplayPort.

The kind of card you're looking for is something that supports Eyefinit 6, such as the following ASUS Radeon 6950:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121437

The next option would be going with a specific sort of nVidia Quadro card running multiple DisplayPort outputs. This kind of graphics card is not going to give you the same kind of graphical power as the AMD above, but it's specifically built for design work and the business environment:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133317

Given the price and options, I'd recommend the ASUS Radeon 6950 (there is also a larger 3-slot graphics card available that is slightly more powerful and also slightly more expensive) but I know that the standard PSU in a base HP system is not going to be powerful enough to run that kind of graphics card.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

If you are wanting to run more than three monitors off of a single graphics card, you're going to have to go with DisplayPort.

You don't have to. Worst case scenerio you would have to have an "active" adapter in order to get it to DVI or VGA etc, however, there are video cards that have 3 or more outputs that are all HDMI or DVI etc. My dad runs a computer that has one video card and has 4 DVI outputs.

 

[particleman]

I have a 3 monitor 22" setup with an ATI 5870. It is sweet, nothing else to say hahaha. Once you work on a setup like that it is VERY hard to go back. I'm running 2 DVI with one display port-> active DVI converter. When I originally did this setup it was not that common, now it is very common and probably the easiest. However, you can easily add multiple graphics cards and accomplish the same thing. Windows can manage multiple graphics cards pretty easy and accomplish the same results as far as using regular programs in windows. ATI and Eyefinity really shine in gaming though. I have done a few setups with multiple graphics cards, a pci-e simple card usually works fine.

 

[njshorts]

If you are wanting to run more than three monitors off of a single graphics card, you're going to have to go with DisplayPort.

not true, there are a number of options, see my post above-

If you're like me (as it sounds- just looking for general wrap design, sign layouts, etc...), get a cheap set of dual dvi cards like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130395 - It's what I'd do if I had two x16 slots. Great price, plenty of hardware behind it plus EVGA's warranty and build quality with OpenGL 2.1 support...

Quadros are expensive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133258

One of my employees will have some ATI input Monday, I don't keep up with em... but he mentioned something about relatively inexpensive single card ATI options.

as an update, Patrick (ATI guy) was busy prepping for a few wraps today... if I remember, I'll tell him to hop on tomorrow.

 

[choucove]

Sorry, yes I was wrong in what I said, I apologize. What I was meaning was most all of today's modern graphics cards don't have four or more of the same display output connector (like four DVI ports) except when using DisplayPort. I didn't even think about using the active adapters! Also, I hadn't seen any graphics cards out there that run 4 DVI ports, that's pretty neat. Most of the Eyefinity cards today just come with a single or dual DVI and between two and four DisplayPorts.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Sorry, yes I was wrong in what I said, I apologize. What I was meaning was most all of today's modern graphics cards don't have four or more of the same display output connector (like four DVI ports) except when using DisplayPort. I didn't even think about using the active adapters! Also, I hadn't seen any graphics cards out there that run 4 DVI ports, that's pretty neat. Most of the Eyefinity cards today just come with a single or dual DVI and between two and four DisplayPorts.

I don't think his is eyefinity, but next time I'm over at their place I'll take a closer look at it.

Mine does have that, but I use an active adapter, so I could run it to my Cinteq.