Quad monitors w/o Crossfire

[twite]

Hi, i just picked up a second Sony via 19" Lcd monitor, and now i want to set up a quad monitor configuration with the 2 sony's, 1 Lg 37" lcd, and a 17" samsung lcd.

Ok, i have and ATI x1900xt video card, but for some weird reason, it seems the price of the card has actually gone up since i bought it a year ago. I don't really need to run crossfire, because i simply don't need that performance..especially at that price. So basically what i am asking is can i install another cheep(er) pci, or pci-e video card and run them simultaneously, but w/o the drivers being conflictive. Obviously you cant run two different cards in sli, but that is not what i am trying to do. Just simply use the second video card to create an extended desktop with my 4 monitors. Also if this somehow does work, will ATI catalyst even recognize me other 2 monitors hooked up to the other video card, or will i need some kind of 3rd party software to do this. Advice?

 

[twite]

Bump.......

 

[CMH]

no harm trying it out with the cheapest PCI/PCIe graphics card you can get your hands on...

And once you figure it out, get back to me, I'm thinking of doing the same thing

 

[twite]

Thats what i was thinking about doing, but then i realized that my configuration is rather unique. I don't think i could configure it to work unless it was all on the same program (such as catalyst.)

As you can see the LG is above the rest, so that would all have to be configured on 1 program.

 

[MetalX]

Do you really need FOUR monitors?! One of which is 37"?

 

[twite]

Need? No.

I just thought it would be cool. I spoil myself.

But since i have them i would like to use them.

 

[CMH]

They're all.... different.

If I end up having that many monitors, I'd probably spring for a whole new set of identical 19" LCDs or something.

 

[LinkedKube]

I dont see the point of setting up multiple monitors at difference sizes, imo its tacky. Passed that what is the real benefit. I currently have dual 22" lcd's very functional. web browsing on one and playing games on the other. I'm even thinking about getting 2 more for a 2x2 set up on a stand. If you're going to go for a quad monitor setup, at least make it look cool if its not at least functional. So that you have an excuse to why you have monitors of all different types hooked up to one card(which is quite rare, and probably a killer on a lower end card).

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

No one seems to have answered the question yet, so here goes:
I'm assuming your X1900XT has dual DVI links? You can use two of these in that case to give you connections to all the monitors from the two DVI outputs. As for software, I think you'll just have to try out the Catalyst Display Manager Wizard to see if it supports all the monitors.

 

[CMH]

I wouldn't say having 4 monitors of different sizes to be of no functional value. Actually, the only drawback of having 4 monitors of different sizes is that it's not aesthetically pleasing. Really.

I am currently running 2 monitors of different sizes, and I find it to be so useful, and having more than that would help as well, even with a low end card. We are not going to use them for gaming. Work is where the extra monitors come in handy. I actually disable my secondary monitor until I start working.

Also, there's very few applications related to work that would actually require, or would be beneficial having, a high end graphics card.

There are few benefits I can see running dual monitors, among them is being able to watch a movie while being on MSN/doing something else.

 

[LinkedKube]

I guess what I thought about most was that 37" tv, by all means, its pretty nice. I use my monitors at all times. I seriously thinking I'm drawing 1500watts everyday all day on my entire system. I'm not sure what the power wattage is on that tv. I"m assuming pretty low eh? Only reason I would put a lcd on a pc would be for media/games.


Back to the real issue. There are in fact dvi splitters on newegg that you can buy, as I remember I was looking for lcd monitor accessories hoping that I could find a quad stand and stumbled across dvi spliters. It basically makes 2 dvi ports into 4. Well goodluck to you and your setup.

 

[twite]

Thanks for all the opinions. As far as splitting the connection, that would just create a mirror image on the 2 monitors. I wanted it to be an extended desktop where you can drag all the programs up to the 37", then left and right through the 19 and 17 in monitors. That is how it is with my sony 19 and 37 currently, it just isnt shown with my screen saver.

The 17" monitor was givin to me in exchange for work, and the 37" original purpose was to be a t.v, although i now use is as my monitor 95% of the time. So basically, tacky or not, i have what i have. I could see fully utilizing all 4 monitors, as CMH said it helps a lot for work. Currently i have 1 monitor alone dedicated to my media player, and the other for browsing and and any other editing programs that i am using.

Having the 2 other monitors running in an extended desktop would allow me to have my Instant messenger running, my spreadsheet, and my ebay stuff (turbolister and my nifty vista widget) and any editing program running in real time.

 

[LinkedKube]

i know that ultramon supports multiple monitors, did you try that? Its free.

 

[twite]

Cool.

I'll try it out when i purchase a vid card for the other 2 monitors.

This may solve the problem of running all the monitors on one program. Thanks.

 

[Gavin_Capacitor]

You can use as many monitors as you have DVI ports, you can even mix and match nvidia and ATI (for awhile i had SLI and a radeon 7000 to power extra monitors.) HOWEVER: you have to have cards from the same manufacturer if you have vista.
tl;dr:

you can buy a cheaper PCI card to power 2 more monitors.