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educate me on multiple-monitor computer rigs

post #1 of 23
7/10/10 at 7:56pm
Thread Starter 
I am interested in setting up a multiple monitor rig. Preferably 3 monitors. Mostly for work, not gaming.
Do I need two video cards? How do I know that a video card can handle this?

Any recommendations? I would prefer not to build from scratch and I am a little bit cost-conscious.

Thanks.
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post #2 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:15pm
Are you looking for a budget solution or what? There are a couple of ways to tackle this. I believe there is a Matrox Parhelia card that will support 3 monitors on the single card, but you can also get 3 cards. The problem with a ton of cards is that you might not have enough free slots. You can also get a cheaper card than the Parhelia(there are a lot more cards that support 2 monitors than 3) and use your onboard card as well for the 3rd. Some motherboards don't allow this configuration.

That's just covering the technical stuff, but what's the reason for wanting 3? The only useful application I can think of for having 3 monitors is video editing. I've heard some of those trading gimmick programs recommending 3, but it still sounds overboard to me. 2 widescreen monitors is already more than someone can concentrate on at one time.
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post #3 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nerdykarim View Post
I am interested in setting up a multiple monitor rig. Preferably 3 monitors. Mostly for work, not gaming.
Do I need two video cards? How do I know that a video card can handle this?

Any recommendations? I would prefer not to build from scratch and I am a little bit cost-conscious.

Thanks.

The video card will have 2 DVI outputs or something similar. You can also get a Matrox double- or triple head if your video card has only one output. Matrox also make cards that can drive many monitors that aren't too expensive.

--Andre
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post #4 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:23pm
Thread Starter 
Sounds like two would be a lot easier than three. I'm just doing research and I love screen real estate.

If a video card has, like, two DVI and a VGA, I can't just connect 3 monitors to it, right?
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post #5 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:26pm
Sometimes you can --- it depends on the card. However, since VGA is analog, and DVI is usually digital, you can get two very different color and sharpness qualities between the VGA and DVI. The only way to find out is to try it.

--Andre
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post #6 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:33pm
Nvidia is generally what you want for a workstation, especially if you do any data visualization stuff OR work with large amounts of info that really eat up all your processing / memory. Having a solid graphics card takes all that strain off your actual workstation.

I use a dual monitor set up at work, I could see going to four, but three seems strange. Have you worked on a multi display machine before? I'm not sure why you'd want three, that is really wide....unless you plan on having news / email or something you only glance at once in a while on the third monitor.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/workstation.html
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post #7 of 23
7/10/10 at 8:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milpool View Post
Nvidia is generally what you want for a workstation, especially if you do any data visualization stuff OR work with large amounts of info that really eat up all your processing / memory. Having a solid graphics card takes all that strain off your actual workstation.

I use a dual monitor set up at work, I could see going to four, but three seems strange. Have you worked on a multi display machine before? I'm not sure why you'd want three, that is really wide....unless you plan on having news / email or something you only glance at once in a while on the third monitor.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/workstation.html

Thanks--that's pretty much what I was looking for. Two for work, one for email/chat/sf/etc on the side. If it would be substantially cheaper to just get two, though, then I'll probably just do that.
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post #8 of 23
7/10/10 at 11:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nerdykarim View Post
Thanks--that's pretty much what I was looking for. Two for work, one for email/chat/sf/etc on the side. If it would be substantially cheaper to just get two, though, then I'll probably just do that.

Two is really easy. Pick out the monitors you want, and get a card that has 2 outs. The biggest cost is going to be the new monitor(s). Unless you are using a laptop, then all you need is a new monitor.
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post #9 of 23
7/11/10 at 7:58am
I have three screens at work (but also two computers on my desk). Important -- just don't go out and get a second monitor, make sure you use identical monitors, e.g, exact same model and such, or you'll go nuts.
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post #10 of 23
7/13/10 at 2:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntsman View Post
I have three screens at work (but also two computers on my desk). Important -- just don't go out and get a second monitor, make sure you use identical monitors, e.g, exact same model and such, or you'll go nuts.

Hmm, this is not quite true. If your graphic card is not too old, you can manage each monitor individually.
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post #11 of 23
7/13/10 at 3:21am
Whatever you do, do NOT get an ATI card. Driver issues will drive you nuts. nvidia, FTW
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post #12 of 23
7/13/10 at 4:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tiecollector View Post
Whatever you do, do NOT get an ATI card. Driver issues will drive you nuts. nvidia, FTW
I've been using ATI since the 9800 and I never had any problems.
!luc
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post #13 of 23
7/13/10 at 6:30am
I believe all of the Radeon 5000 series cards have Eyefinity, which lets you drive at least 3 displays from a single card. Depending the card and displays, you may need an adaptor since the cards usually have only one of each connector type, unless you buy a dual slot card.

Not sure if Nvidia does triple-head on a single card now but you can do it with two.

Running 3 monitors is nice. I keep an old 20" rotated to portrait for my music playlists.
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post #14 of 23
7/13/10 at 12:38pm
On my desktop, I have 4 monitors hooked up to 2 video cards (unfortunately, I don't think multi-monitor SLI is available for the cards I have). Getting the same monitors is not necessarily required, but it will make your life tons easier, as you won't have to worry about the monitors not being the same height/size/etc. and adjusting pixels & desktop location accordingly. But yes, it's painstakingly simple to do, as long as you have video cards that have multiple outputs (Mine, for example, are older, so they have 2 DVI outputs). Shouldn't be too hard to do.
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post #15 of 23
7/13/10 at 12:49pm
The biggest issue with different monitors(for me) is the color difference. 2 monitors of the same brand and the same size can drastically different colors. You'd think calibration would alleviate this problem, but it just isn't the case unfortunately. That sort of thing may or may not bother you though.
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