Here is The Feedback You asked for on Running 4 Monitors from PCIe x1 slot

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kevinqc

Few weeks ago I had a Crazy idea of Running 8 Monitors on my Dell XPS 8300 which has only one PCIe X16 slot which can run 4 monitors using ATI FirePro 2460 Video Card.

But I came up with a crazy idea of using a cheap ( $22.00 ) PCIe X1 to PCIe X16 converter & plug a second Video Card in PCIe X1 slot to Run another 4 monitors, totaling 8.

Monitors were all 24 inch Dell U2412M ( 1920x1200 )

I asked your opinions & you were very helpful & many of you wanted to know the result commenting that : " Many ET Users would like to Run 8 Monitors using a cheap computer "

Here is my original Thread :

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228038

The Result :

I took out the NVIDIA GT 530 card from X16 slot so now no video cards on MB.

I inserted the conveter in PCIe X1 slot & plugged the FirePro 2460 card & connected 4 Monitors & everything got detected automatically by Win-7 ( Ultimate )

I opened 4 diferent symbols each having 15 studies on them & they were updating in real time. I then added another charting application few word docs & IE windows & it also worked fine. Then I ran 2 Recorded videos using 2 different players on top of those charts & it ran ok for a while but after a while it wasn’t running smooth. May be card got hotter but I am no expert on that but you guys might know the reason.

So yes (1) Converter works (2) I was able to use PCIe X1 slot to run 4 monitors (3) Running video might not be possible on top of charts but it never died on me either.

Then I plugged just the FirePro Video Card in X16 slot & ran 4 monitors with 4 charts & played two videos & it worked just fine.

I didn’t try running 8 monitors using one PCIe X1 & One PCIe X16 slot because of cabling problem & not having big enough desk but I assume it should work if you just run charting applications & not the video with it.

I haven’t tried using 2 PCIe X1 slot to run 8 monitors because I didn’t have the 2nd conveter. I bought only one for experiment.
I might buy a second converter just for the hell of it & try running 8 Monitors from two PCIe X1 slots only OR 12 Monitors using 3rd PCIe X16 empty slot.

So I welcome your comments on this.

OK, this was all for fun but I am now serious about building a 12 Monitor system from scratch & need your help on doing that
.
I am opening a new thread on that to keep two threads clean & focus on each separately.

Please check out that thread & help me build a sturdy & very Reliable system.

Thank You all geniuses again. You guys are great help.
 
wait you don't have enough desk space for an 8monitor setup so you are only running 4 currently??

but you are starting to build a 12mon setup even though you still can't even fit 8mon?


Why?
 
Quote from kevinqc:

"... I welcome your comments on this.
More...

In theory, the converter should have worked.

Perhaps others will try it on their computer and post the results. (It's not a given that it will work on all computers, however. The BIOS has a say in all of this.)

Running 4 monitors from an x1 slot isn't new. There have been quad-port, x1, video cards on the market for years... the 500MB/s bandwidth for an x1 slot is plenty big enough to run 4 monitors with ease.... but some BIOS (mostly cheap computer ones) won't run video cards from both the x16 and x1 slots simultaneously.
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

In theory, the converter should have worked.

Perhaps others will try it on their computer and post the results. (It's not a given that it will work on all computers, however. The BIOS has a say in all of this.)

Running 4 monitors from an x1 slot isn't new. There have been quad-port, x1, video cards on the market for years... the 500MB/s bandwidth for an x1 slot is plenty big enough to run 4 monitors with ease.... but some BIOS (mostly cheap computer ones) won't run video cards from both the x16 and x1 slots simultaneously.
More...

You are probably right. I have not tried running 8 monitors simultaneously using one card in X1 & another in X16 but I am going to & as you said it might not work.

Before I started it all, I was serious about running 8 to 12 monitors on one system whether this converter would work or not but I didn't have much to lose so I did it just for fun & I still might try running 12 monitors using second converter & another PCIe X1 slot, provided 8 works out now using X16 & X1.

I was more driven by the encouragement I got from many of you ET members otherwise I don't know much about hardware.

You had some great inputs in that thread & I thank you.
 
Quote from kevinqc:

You are probably right. I have not tried running 8 monitors simultaneously using one card in X1 & another in X16 but I am going to & as you said it might not work.
More...

I did a test of single/multiple video cards.. x16, x1.. all combinations I could try with my cards... on a Gigabyte board with X58 chipset. Every single/combination worked properly.

Can't say for sure that every X58 mobo will handle every possible video card combination, but it looks like X58 has its act together regarding multi-card rigs.
 
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