HP H8qe and 4 monitors

M

Maverick1

Am looking at possibly upgrading my current Dell Precision Workstation with this HP H8qe:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...&series_name=h8qe_series&a1=Usage&v1=Business

which comes with 2 PCIe (x16), 1 PCIe (x4), 1 PCIe (x1) slots.

I am currently running 4 19 inch dell monitors.

My question is this: One of the upgrade options for the graphics card on the H8qe is

2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

I talked to tech support and they said that if I used an adaptor on one of my 4 screens to fit the HDMI and a splitter on the DVI I can fit all 4 screens on the card above.

Is that a good idea? Or would that tax the card and cause overheating/noise? My workstation is noisy and pretty annoying.

Also, could I get a less pricey model (one of the home pavilions) instead and find a way to run 4 monitors on them?

Thanks for any pointers/ideas.
 
Quote from Maverick1:


2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

I talked to tech support and they said that if I used an adaptor on one of my 4 screens to fit the HDMI and a splitter on the DVI I can fit all 4 screens on the card above.
More...

I am skeptical of that. I think you can have this card to support 2 monitors. I would question if it can support 4. From the specification page, it said "multiple monitor support" as Yes. But did not say how many.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-530-oem/specifications
 
Quote from Maverick1:


I am currently running 4 19 inch dell monitors.

Also, could I get a less pricey model (one of the home pavilions) instead and find a way to run 4 monitors on them?

Thanks for any pointers/ideas.
More...

Perhaps you can choose a less pricey model as you suggested, the home pavilions, and upgrade the graphics card to either the Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 or the ATI Radeon 6850, as both have 2 DVI inputs. Then you can run two monitors into each DVI slot with a splitter.

Personally, I've found the Nvidia NVS 290 cards are fine for running dual monitors (I use a Dell Workstation with 2 NVS 290's). The newer model is the NVS 295, however I didn't see if HP gives that option.
 
Quote from Maverick1:

"... I talked to tech support and they said that if I used an adaptor on one of my 4 screens to fit the HDMI and a splitter on the DVI I can fit all 4 screens on the card above.

Is that a good idea?
More...

Nope. With a splitter you get the same image (degraded at that) on both monitors.

You need either a quad-port video card (like Nvidia Quadro NVS 420) or 2 dual-port video cards. And as this computer has 2, PCIEx16 slots, you should be able to run either.
 
I thought the FX 380 has two dual link DVI.

one of the reviews said he is running 4monitors.


Scat,

I know this is your expertise. please correct me if I am wrong. I am seriously considering this setup. Thanks.

J.T
 
Quote from babykuttan:

I thought the FX 380 has two dual link DVI.

one of the reviews said he is running 4monitors.


Scat,

I know this is your expertise. please correct me if I am wrong. I am seriously considering this setup. Thanks.

J.T
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"Dual link" has to do with the amount of data it can process, not connecting 2 monitors.

If the reviewer said he's running 4 monitors, then he must have 2 video cards.. or "splitters"... but a splitter doesn't extend the desktop by 2 monitors, it merely duplicates the image on a second monitor.

For 4-monitor extended desktop, you need 4-ports in one fashion or another.

You could always buy 2, Quadro NVS 295s on eBay.. should be $30-$40 each, including the necessary DVI-DP adapters.... or some other quad-port card.
 
Quote from Scataphagos:

Nope. With a splitter you get the same image (degraded at that) on both monitors.

You need either a quad-port video card (like Nvidia Quadro NVS 420) or 2 dual-port video cards. And as this computer has 2, PCIEx16 slots, you should be able to run either.
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This is my current system: running 4 screens. 2 of those are on an NVDA Quadro PCI E and are connected in the back via a VGA splitter head to 2 dell monitors. And the quality of the image (different image) has been ok for me. The other two are on an NVDA GEforce FX 5200.

So am I misunderstanding your comment re the splitter?

I know you mentioned the Quadro NVS 420, but would you recommend any from these cards? The first one is what comes with the machine by default:

1GB AMD Radeon HD 7570 [DVI, HDMI, DP, VGA adapter]

2GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 530 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
3GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]
1GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti [2 DVI, mini-HDMI. VGA adapter]
1GB DDR5 Radeon HD 6850 [2 DVI, 2 mini-DP, HDMI. VGA adapter]
 
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