4 monitor setup

[Lazarus52980]

Good Morning all.

I have a friend asking me to help him either purchase or build a system that can run 4 monitors independently. Could anyone tell me what graphics cards I would need for this, and how many of them I need to get that setup? I would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for the guidance.

 

[Quasmo]

Depends on the budget. You can easily pick up two ATI 6450's fr about $150 total, and that would easily drive 4 monitors without display port. There are some cards that support 4 natively, but they're a little more expensive.

 

[KingFatty]

Use a motherboard that has an integrated graphics processor where the motherboard has its own video ports. Often times you can find such motherboards at the same price as regular boards, they are very common now. A relatively recent motherboard (e.g., within the past year or so?) with integrated graphics should allow you to activate the integrated graphics even if you add another discrete/separate video card. But best to verify that by looking at the manual of the motherboard (online PDF etc).

Then, just get whatever video card you want. Maybe a $15 AMD 5450 or Nvidia 520? Install the card and get graphics support on both. that's the cheap way to do it.

If you want gaming performance, then perhaps consider getting a pair of powerful video cards and disable the motherboard integrated graphics (or buy a motherboard without integrated graphics).

 

[superjim]

If you do get a motherboard with integrated graphics be sure that the dedicated video card you buy is of the same manufacturer to lessen the driver issues. Yes, you CAN run both nvidia and AMD drivers side by side but it's a major headache from what I've seen.

So if you get the 880G chipset which has the Radeon 4250 graphics, stick with an AMD video card (5450, 6450 for example). Likewise if you get a motherboard with nvidia nforce chipset, stick with nvidia video cards (420,520).

 

[ther00kie16]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-1&isNodeId=1&Description=radeon+flex&x=0&y=0

Flex cards aren't that expensive. However, integrated graphics is a nice, cheap option if he isn't gaming. Something to consider is that Ivy Bridge (release date 4/8) will support 3 displays. So if you add a cheap $20 card to that, he'll have up to 5 displays if he wants to add one in the future (something I find people always wanting to do). If he's gaming, depends on his gaming needs. Also might as well get a newer AMD that can handle 4+ displays with 1 card.