So for a triple monitor display?....

[satindemon4u]

Simple question. For 3 displays to run I need two video cards, correct? Currently my card has two monitors and a TV plugged in. I can only have 2 running at once and if I'm not mistaken then I need to find something like a low profile card to run the 3rd monitor, yes?

 

[entropy13]

For three displays to run you need two Nvidia video cards. Recent AMD cards can run three displays with just a single card.

 

[satindemon4u]

The current card I have now is nVidia. So I guess I need another? AS stated, low profile?

 

[mlee49]

Why does it have to be low profile? Does your case limit that? If so, your question is answered.


Do you mean low powered? Like one that doesn't require an additional PCIE power cable? If so, then you should know from your power supply.

I think you can answer your own question here.

 

[nv40pimp]

I have an additional related question. I've been running 2x screens for a while and I've been wanting to go up to 3... I have 1x Gigabyte GTX460. Obviously to go with 3x screens I need another card... but my question is this...

With 1 GTX460 and 1 low end card for the 3rd display will the GTX460 still maintain good performance in games (aside from the drop in FPS due to more resolution)? Or will the lower end card drag down the performance of the 460?

 

[yangwangbrock]

I have an additional related question. I've been running 2x screens for a while and I've been wanting to go up to 3... I have 1x Gigabyte GTX460. Obviously to go with 3x screens I need another card... but my question is this...

With 1 GTX460 and 1 low end card for the 3rd display will the GTX460 still maintain good performance in games (aside from the drop in FPS due to more resolution)? Or will the lower end card drag down the performance of the 460?

To my understanding you cannot even run the game on the third monitor as it is a separate card from your SLI set up. SLI only supports up to 2 monitors. You could use your 3rd monitor as a display monitor but not gaming.

You need eyefinity from ATI to run games on 3+ monitors.

 

[cadaveca]

You need eyefinity from ATI to run games on 3 monitors.

NVSurround supprots gaming on 3 monitors, and requires 2 cards. I think it may be limited to specific models, but it definitely works.


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/06/29/nvidia_3d_vision_surround_experience/

 

[Frick]

For monitors on one card for $109. Maybe not what you need but pretty good anyway.

Galaxy 21GGE4AM9EKP MDT X4 GeForce 210 Multi Displ...

Note this though:

Does not give 4 configurable desktops like other cards.
With 4 - 1920X1200 monitors, it gives 2 - 3840X1200 desktops, each on a pair of monitors. With 2 monitors that have different resolutions, it will use the lowest to create the max resolution for the pair; a 1920X1200 paired with a 1680X1080, gave resolution of 3360X1080. Windows 7 desktop theme backgrounds scale to fit horizontally so you lose the top and bottom of the picture. Windows that always open in the middle of your first display will be split between those two monitors. If you make a window full screen it will fill two monitors. Because it pairs the monitors, it was not practical for the project that I was doing.

 

[DigitalUK]

you should be able to use a cheap nvidia card for the third monitor and SoftTH the primary card will be used for power the 2nd card just for output. i was using this afew years back.

 

[nv40pimp]

So essentially for daily tasks on 3 screens (web browsing, desktop apps, etc) a cheapo card will work... But to game I'll need to go SLI for 3 monitors to even work in the game?

 

[cadaveca]

Yes.

You can run both secondary monitors of the slower card, to free up the main card for 3D, too. This is what I do when not running Crossfire. Nice el-cheapo passive card for the secondary monitors works well for me, personally.

 

[DigitalUK]

as long as your main card is up to the resolution you can game fine, i done it myself you couldnt use the other output on the nv cards anyway when in sli mode (not sure if they have sorted that now)

 

[satindemon4u]

I myself use a 32 inch tv for gaming and then two monitors (want all 3 damn it haha) for every other use.

 

[kciaccio]

For three displays to run you need two Nvidia video cards. Recent AMD cards can run three displays with just a single card.

I am actually using one Amd card to run 6 monitors.

 

[satindemon4u]

See, I am tempted to go ATI for that reason however I cannot stand ATI for every single other reason. Just personal choice and opinion I suppose...

 

[Jflynn0]

just tried it

I must say that I tried the three display set using two gtx570 and three 25.5in screens. They punished the cards playing bf3. I had to drop game settings down to Med just to get good fps, ultra was so bad like 8-12. So just my two cents if want to game with surround you need very good cards with large amounts of vram