Card to support 4 monitors

Quote from Agassi:

Bolimomo:

Are you sure about this? I don't know. I am not a techie. When I see through the glass window through my computer, I see a lot of empty slots. But I don't know which one is which. I don't even know the difference between PCIe and PCI. I see a lot of blue colored slots and 1 big black colored slots. You already know my mother board. So based on this, i need to decide.
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Pardon my jumping in...

Your mobo has 2, x16 slots, 2, x1 slots, and 3, PCI slots.

If you run up to 4 monitors, you'd use only the x16 slots.... 2, dualheads. You could run up to 8 monitors if you had quads in each slot.

If you want to run 4 monitors now and more later... and you don't want to go to the expense and limitations of quad cards, your proper choices of video cards is limited... and it's very important you choose right.
 
Quote from Agassi:

Already picked the last 2 from BJ's on Thanksgiving. Saved $50 on each monitor. U think bad deal?
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Look on the back of the monitors. What ports do they have? If you don't know which is which, post the make and model number and somebody will look it up. You may want to exchange the monitors based upon which ports they have.
 
Quote from Agassi:

Bolimomo:

Are you sure about this? I don't know. I am not a techie. When I see through the glass window through my computer, I see a lot of empty slots. But I don't know which one is which. I don't even know the difference between PCIe and PCI. I see a lot of blue colored slots and 1 big black colored slots. You already know my mother board. So based on this, i need to decide.
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From your previous post, this is the model motherboard you have:

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8Z77V_LX/

Looking at it in the picture it has two PCI Express 3.0/2.0 slots, and three older style PCI slots. A lot of pci slots for a newer board actually.

PCI Express is used for video, where PCI is usually used for sound or other expansion cards.

I'm guessing you have no cards in any of these slots?

overview.jpg
 
Before I paid up for a vid card, I would get some cheap cards off ebay and use the savings to buy a reconditioned computer or two. You are far better off in trading to have multiple cheap computers, each running three or four monitors, than trying to do it all on one machine.

Your PC will die at some point, usually right before the open when you have big positions on that are about to move against you. I say this with some confidence because it happened to me...yesterday. Luckily I use multiple computers, so I could double up on one of the others.

Trading typically does not require anything beyond a basic vid card. I mix PCIe and PCI cards with no issues.
 
Quote from Agassi:

When I see through the glass window through my computer, I see a lot of empty slots. But I don't know which one is which. I don't even know the difference between PCIe and PCI. I see a lot of blue colored slots and 1 big black colored slots. You already know my mother board. So based on this, i need to decide.
More...

Thanks Scat and dart for jumping in.

Agassi: According to the motherboard make/model you provided, you have only 2 PCIe X16 slots. Lots of empty slots, yes. But as I said up-thread, you need to know what bus type those empty slots are. The motherboard vendors typically provide a mix of bus types for giving you a chance to keep some older hardware.

Well, it is not the end of the road. You can still run 6 mon to 8 mon with dual cards. You just need to have cards for the PCI bus (the older bus). I have computers that use a mix of both PCI and PCIe X16 before. If you stick with the same make, there is a good chance that their drivers are compatible but you never know for sure until you have tried. Or you can hang 2 monitors off the USB-to-HDMI adapters. Not a big deal (can't watch video on those monitors though).

You are limited by your existing hardware - what you have and what you just bought. So try the make the best out of them. All your monitors will take HDMI it looks like. But your video card may not give dual HDMI output. You may need to "adapt" one of the output somehow. From DVI to HDMI or from DVI to VGA or something.
 
Thank you every one. I think after reading this thread, I should be good to take my A+ computer hardware examination !!

So it looks like I have 2 PCI E slots. After chatting with Dart, I prefer to go with a card with no fans. I was told that fans eventually fail after 2 or 3 years. So I do not want to go with a card which has a fan.

Question: What are the risks of going with 2 quad cards with no fans to support ? I do have a fan inside my machine. I also have 850 Watts of power supply.

What is the best quad card with no fans? I want to purchase 2 of them and have 8 monitors running. Thanks again every one.
 
There aren't all that many quad cards, period. Nothing for $30.

There is no special risk to running quads... just their cost and if the card fails you may lose all 4 ports/monitors until you can get a replacement.

There is the Nvidia Quadro NVS 450.

Also, the AMD FirePro 2460.

Alternative.... Buy 2 NVS 295/300 dualheads, PCIEx16. When you want to add monitors, buy NVS 295/300 PCIEx1 cards. They work just fine. Save money, too.

Also, check the ports on the back of your monitors. Did you get the monitors with only VGA and HDMI ports? If so, you're going to have to jump through hoops.

Are you getting the idea yet... that you can't just buy parts any old parts and presume they will all work seamlessly together for your desired result?

The correct process for 4 or more monitor rig...

1. Decide on monitors.... how many, what resolution, will you be running VGA, DVI, or DP? (You might be able to run HDMI with DVI/DP if the card allows.)

2. What video cards will accomplish your goal? VGA + other could work if you're OK with VGA display.

3. What mobo/computer will accommodate those video cards?
 
Quote from Agassi:

So it looks like I have 2 PCI E slots. After chatting with Dart, I prefer to go with a card with no fans. I was told that fans eventually fail after 2 or 3 years. So I do not want to go with a card which has a fan.
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Generally, for add-on cards no fan is better than having fans. Mechanical parts will eventually fail. They typically fail faster than electronic parts. But 2 to 3 years seems a bit overly pessimistic.


Quote from Agassi:


Question: What are the risks of going with 2 quad cards with no fans to support ? I do have a fan inside my machine. I also have 850 Watts of power supply.
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If the card is engineered to work without a fan, you should be okay. There are typically multiple fans inside your computer, not just one. The well-designed chassis typically has two fans for better air circulations. The power supply itself typically has a fan of its own. The CPU cooler has a fan (or two) of its own. Your video cards may have fans. It's an orchestra in there.
 
Quote from Agassi:

Is there any equivalent of this one which can run 4 monitors (i.e. each card to support at least 4 monitors) without fan in it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150655
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You need to be careful with these cards thave have a D-sub output port. (D-sub is VGA). The one you linked gives you 3 ports: VGA, HDMI and DVI. But it doesn't mean you can drive 3 monitors with the card. Typically you choose 1 out of the two. And I think typically you choose between DVI and HDMI because their digital signals are the same, where HDMI has the audio channels where DVI doesn't. So with a card like that, you would use EITHER:

VGA + HDMI or
VGA + DVI

You said you don't want to use VGA (although your monitors support it)... you may not have a choice if you use these dual cards. One of monitors would go through the VGA port.


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I second everything that Scataphagos said. You have an excellent technical advisor right here on ET.

Dual cards would be less costly. You can go with 2 x PCIeX16 (dual each) and 2 x PCIeX1 (dual each) to drive 8 monitors. You do have 2 PCIe X1 slots on your motherboard.
 
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