3+ moniters on 1 computer

[Yo-Yo Freak]

ok so i was wundering if it is possible to take something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816036 and link 2 of them and use 3 monitors on 1 computer from 1 DVI slot, or possible chain even more Y addapters together to be able to use 5 monitors on 1 computer? i know the chain would be kind of long but as long as it works and doesn't affect the monitors. thanks for everybodys help ^_^

[RooTxBeeR]

Why would u want 3 monitors for 1 cpu? i can understand multiple towers on 1 monitor, but i dont get what your getting at, i am sure theres a way tod ow hat u want but prob some tricks involved.

[lycanthrope79]

im by no means as knowledgeable as some of the other players that post here, but i would just make sure that your CPU can handle 5+ instances of WoW, if thats what you plan on using it for. For the price of 5 monitors it might be worth it just to buy another computer, and split the load between the two computers. As far as i know, linking multiple Y adaptors is possible, ive never tried it but it seems like it would work, its what they were designed for. Im actually thinking about doing the same thing with my setup, linking Y adaptors together, if you get a definate answer please let me know. good luck :thumbsup:

[Tsunami]

the product you need is http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/

it will allow you to run 3 monitors in panaramic view. just make sure your video card can display a 3600x1000.

here is a good instructional video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe51ddUQnu8

[Yo-Yo Freak]

ya i was looking at the triplehead2go addapters but i was wundering if there was anything cheaper, even if it took a bit more configuring to work. all i basicly want to do is if i go with 5boxing on 1 comp i would like to use 3 monitors and have 2 instances of WoW on the screan to the left, my main in the middle, and 2 more on the right. was originaly thinking of just going with 2 monitors, main on 1 and slaves on the other but then i was thinking of farther down the road. with 3 monitors they can be setup for a more realistic surround gamming type of feel for other games. thanks for the input everybody i think i will probably go with the Matrox TripleHead2Go, its $300 but i'm sure it will pay for itself in to time. as for the graphics cards what i am looking at is GTX280 1gb 512-bit SLI so i'm fairly sure that can handle 3 monitors. i have read alot of stuff on weather or not SLI works in WoW or not but it works great in other games so as long as i can 5box wow i will be content.

[wowphreak]

If yer graphics card only allows for one output then get another one that has 2?
its cheaper to get another graphics card then getting the TripleHead2Go

[Yo-Yo Freak]

from what i have read is that multiple monitors runing out of multiple video cards (IE 2 monitors out of 1 card and 1 monitor out of another) doesn't work if the video cards are SLI, and that is axactly what i want to do. i plan on running 2 or 3 way GTX280 SLI. but either way i have been looking around and i don't really care if i have to pay $300 to run 3 monitors vs $20~ to run 2. i am just fine with spending that extra $280 because like i said down the road it will pay for itself, and if it doesn't well atleast i have a kick ass monitor setup :P lol. but origianly what this post was all about was if there were any cheaper ways to setup 3 monitors from 1 video card. i realise now that even if there was a makeshift way to do this it would more then likely be verey cheap and unreliable.

If yer graphics card only allows for one output then get another one that has 2?
its cheaper to get another graphics card then getting the TripleHead2Go acualy the GTX280's are $400 and up so it wouldn't be cheaper to get another lol. i am thinking though that i will go with 3 way SLi to handle high resolution on each moniter.

[pinotnoir]

I run 3 monitors with vista 64. I have two ati 3870 video cards and plug two monitors into the main card and 1 monitor into the secondary card. Works fine and you can check out my gallery in the gallery section to see what it looks like.

[Yo-Yo Freak]

but with those 2 cards are they crossfired? see i am planning on using sli on mine and i have read that you can't run multiple monitors off of different cards that are slied. i need to do a little more reserch and see if this is correct but from what i have read that is the case. and btw nice setup Pinotnoir

[wowphreak]

Just dont set em up in sli mode then?

The only reason to go with the triplhead head things is if yeh can only have one graphics card on yer system.

basically yer choices are usee 2 graphic cards or the triplehead thing either will work.

[pinotnoir]

If you want to run 3 or more monitors with 2 video cards you cannot use crossfire or sli.

[Tsunami]

If you want to run 3 or more monitors with 2 video cards you cannot use crossfire or sli.

SLI or crossfire mode will only support one output. that is why you will need to use triplehead2go, so you can get the resolution necessary to display three monitors.

I don't think it would be necessary to go with 2x nvidia 280's. 2- 4870's with 2gig ram will be a much better deal and work great in xfire mode. also check out the 4850x2 or 4870x2,

tom's hardware just did a nice review of the best video cards for december and they said the 280 is a little expensive for the money considering how good some of the cheaper cards are.

[Yo-Yo Freak]

i'm still looking around and either way i won't be able to buy anything for at least 4 months and by then who knows, there could be some new super powerfull graphics card for the same price as these, or these could drop a bunch. right now i'm just looking at a rough estimation of what i am saving towards. currently i'm looking at between $4,000 and $5,000 for a completely new computer, and this is just a rough estimation. i'm also trying to decide between 2 of the 4870x2's Xfired and 3 way sli with the GTX280's. both seem to be about the same and have there own advantages and disadvanteges but i'm mostly looking for performance, cost isn't a verey big issue.

[pinotnoir]

If you want to run 3 or more monitors with 2 video cards you cannot use crossfire or sli.

SLI or crossfire mode will only support one output. that is why you will need to use triplehead2go, so you can get the resolution necessary to display three monitors.

I don't think it would be necessary to go with 2x nvidia 280's. 2- 4870's with 2gig ram will be a much better deal and work great in xfire mode. also check out the 4850x2 or 4870x2,

tom's hardware just did a nice review of the best video cards for december and they said the 280 is a little expensive for the money considering how good some of the cheaper cards are.

Why waste money on the tripleheadgo when you can just plug your monitors into your 2 video cards?

[oMek]

crossfire supports 2x monitors, and i THINK the new nvidia drivers also now support 2 monitor sli.


If you want to run 3 or more monitors with 2 video cards you cannot use crossfire or sli.

SLI or crossfire mode will only support one output. that is why you will need to use triplehead2go, so you can get the resolution necessary to display three monitors.

I don't think it would be necessary to go with 2x nvidia 280's. 2- 4870's with 2gig ram will be a much better deal and work great in xfire mode. also check out the 4850x2 or 4870x2,

tom's hardware just did a nice review of the best video cards for december and they said the 280 is a little expensive for the money considering how good some of the cheaper cards are.

[Tsunami]

sli and xfire only support one 3d program running at one time. the new drivers only allow you to use one monitor for 2d and the other for 3d. they do not support 3d in both monitors.

there are curtain reason that you would want to run 3 monitors. one of them is a more realistic gaming environment, e.g. racing games look fantastic with the increased screen size. 2400x1800 up to 3600x1000. in order to be able to display 3600x1000 you would need to run 2 vid card in sli or xfire or turn the detail down, but that defeats the purpose.

3 video cards for 3 monitors is another solution

[wowphreak]

yer missing something here delete the crossfire and sli thing get 2 random graphics card slap them in yer comp attach 2-4 monitors and then just set it up so that sli/crossfire is disabled.