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Monitor Wall

G

Guitar

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Oct 12, 2008
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So we've got like 12 old monitors laying around, mostly 1280x1024 old Dells. I wouldn't mind doing something to them like de-bezzeling them and putting them up on a wall or something. How feasible would do this be? Is there software to do this? Could I run these off a single machine or would I need multiple machines for it (which I have access too)? I want them to display one big image. Just an idea I'm throwing around.
 
This sounds cool. This would be a really cool eyefinity setup if it can even go that high.
 
What inputs do the monitors accept? That will probably be the biggest factor in how much this would cost to do.
 
My info may or may not be out of date, but it might get you started.

Regarding Windows: If you stick to 10 monitors or less, you don't need any additional software. Plug them in and arrange them all in Dispay Properties. If you want all 12, you'll want software like UltraMon to able to arrange them all in the formation that you want. You might want UltraMon regardless of the number of displays because of features such as stretched Taskbar and wallpaper that spans all screens.

Ideally you'll use video cards that are identical or at least use the same driver. Mixing cards that use the old Catalyst with cards that use the new Catalyst isn't recommended, same for nVidia.

I've seen some Linux projects where the image from several machines is spanned over a monitor grid. Depending on what you want to do, multiple machines could be an option.
 
The monitors are mostly all VGA. I'm not really interested in buying anything high end to do this, just something relatively cheap and fun to do.
 
Quadro 440 NVS are pretty cheap for 4-ports cards, I've seen them for $80-$150 used. They have two DMS-59 ports which will support two VGA or DVI ports each, depending on the cable.

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But if you want to keep it as cheap as possible, what do you have laying around? Having similar video cards is ideal, but couldn't hurt to try and get a bunch of different ones working together.
 
I'll have to check. Unfortunately I just got rid of a bunch of old hardware. I'll see what I can find over the weekend.
 
You'll need active VGA splitters. If you simply use plain splitter cables the signal will be lost, making the display dimmer on each monitor. You'll also need a VGA card that can support more than 2 digital outputs (That's 5450's and such out of the equation)
 
So this is all I have: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIGABYTE-LE...075?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1c4211b16b

A rx13256dl-rh that I found in the server closet. The rest are just old crappy VGA cards. This card had attached to it a dual DVI output cable. But only one..so I assume this could only run two monitors max?

So essentially if I could run four with the card above, I'd need a triple PCI-e slot board and that would work? Or with the mentioned active VGA splitter, could I split effectively all the displays into two and it acts as two monitors and not just mirrors?


EDIT: Looks like I would need three cards to run 12 displays as a splitter only does do an identical picture to each monitor.


The other options would be running two 5870 Eyefinity cards with display port to VGA adapter outputs right? I only see one on eBay though, they look harder to find.


Also, I actually have 16 Dell monitors I could use - a few from different eras but all 1280x1024.
 
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A couple of Matrox QID Pro 256mb would work as well. I have a couple of them somewhere. hell if I know where but they work well with multiple monitors. Each card supports 4 monitors.
 
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Well I was looking through my PC stash and found the two Matrox cards as well as a brand new Nvidia Quadro NVS 290 256MB PCIe card. It is HP OEM and not in a fancy retail box but the factory HP OEM box. Has cables and software. Card is still sealed in it's static bag.

If this interests you make me an offer. I'll toss in free overnight shipping if in the USA.


I also found (5) AMD 6450's I was saving for a project but these only support 2 monitors each.

I have the Matrox cards on ebay now but I'm looking to make more money off them listing at $250 each but open to offers.
 
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Guitarrassdeamor said:
Too expensive for my blood. Appreciate the offer - make some money!

I just got an HP NVIDIA Quadro NVS 440 on eBay for $21.20 shipped. :D It's a start!
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That's a great deal. I suggested the NVS 440 earlier because I couldn't think of any other solution that would be cost effective for supporting a large number of analog monitors and wasn't ancient.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7460&cm_re=motherboard-_-13-157-460-_-Product

Cheapest board I can find with 3 slots...4 are really expensive. That board also has 2 HDMI, one DVI, and one VGA input. If only, lol. This is going to take a while, need to get rid of the equipment sitting around at work to gather some of the cash. But I'm going to get this video card, make sure it works, then start on the wall part maybe by taking apart one of the monitors and making sure I can mount it how I want to.
 
Look into the bitcoin boards with multiple pci slots. I think asrock did a good one but I am not sure if they are all pci 16. I know the msi big bangs do that but they are expensive.
 
Will look. However, there are a few PCI-e x1 cards on eBay, so if I can get maybe two of those and regular PCI-e ones than I will be set.
 
Some update..looks like the video card I got is bad. :( One of the ports is dead it seems - I can't get video from it at all, and it isn't cables or monitors. Doesn't at boot or in Windows, monitors aren't recognized. The card is an HP in a Dell but that really shouldn't matter - correct drivers are installed and cards show the other two monitors correctly. Sigh, should've known...

I took apart one of the older monitors and looks like mounting them will be pretty simple and I'll just paint the bezels black so they are less obtrusive.


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The sad 2 screens :( - Setup in my kitchen because I don't eat there and why the hell not!

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Bummer dude. PM me your address and I will send you out my Nvidia Quadro NVS 290 256MB. Consider it a donation to your monitor wall. :D


I should mention that it is brandnew and never used but its been sitting in a box since 2008. I've never tested it.
 
WhiteNoise said:
Bummer dude. PM me your address and I will send you out my Nvidia Quadro NVS 290 256MB. Consider it a donation to your monitor wall. :D


I should mention that it is brandnew and never used but its been sitting in a box since 2008. I've never tested it.
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That's awesome man, I appreciate the offer! He's apparently going to send me another...so we'll see what happens with that. But I'm also bidding on one right now. It's gonna take me a while to get the mobo and stuff needed to support at least 3 cards (assuming I can get one that does PCI-e 1x) either way, so I'm trying to get to maybe 2 x1 cards and 2 x16 so I don't have to buy a motherboard with 3 or 4 PCI-e x16 slots.
 
Well if you end up needing it just let me know and it's yours.
 
Just wanted to drop in and say depending on what you're trying to display on the screens, you may be looking for digital signage software, often used on large format displays for advertising purposes. This could be hosted by one machine(or monitor if you bought something integral). Many manufacturers have their own propriety, but it can be unlocked, or jailbroken to run on any monitor. Additionally, there's hardware/software signage boxes that are effectively little computers with pre built software you can configure over keyboard/mouse/network. They serve the function of displaying custom content as well as manipulating that content to be viewing over multiple adjacent monitors.

If you still with a standard OS, you'd be resorting to things as you are now, regarding the matrox style graphics cards.
 
I am just trying to display whatever...movies, if I put this up at work, our software builds, things like that, etc. Whatever. DSS as you're talking about above just seems like something that pushes stuff out to PCs to display ads and such...which is not what I'm trying to do. Correct me if I'm wrong?
 
Won a PCIE 1x card tonight for $28.36 shipped tonight. :) Other company sent out another card so should have that Wednesday as a replacement.
 
Looks like a fun project.
 
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