I have a total of 4 monitors in my house, I require all of them as I program and need a lot of screens for different classes.
I'm getting myself a dedicated graphics card but it only has 3 ports. I know I can enable a setting in the BIOS that allows both the graphics card and on-board graphics to work at the same time.
My motherboard has 3 display connectors (HDMI, VGA and DVI). Will the graphics card still do every thing it should (increase rendering speed/frames on games) regardless on what screen it's connected to?
I really want to use the 4th screen as it will come in handy, but I have to plug one connector into the motherboard, will this affect performance at all?
34 Answers
Short and simple answer: this is a bad scenario. Technically it should work flawlessly, but most times one card will disable the other. It depends on Motherboard and graphic card's model
The proper way to do so is to get a graphics card that supports 4 monitors. VGA/HDMI/DVI will need 4 physical outputs, however, display port supports multiple monitors per connection.The driver behaviour depends on operative system, but unless you have nVidia Optimus technology using both cards is not an easy bet outside Windows.
In my own experience, MOST GRAPHIC CARDS WILL DISABLE ONBOARD GRAPHICS when used. Without further details like motherboard, driver version or graphics card it is hard to give you an answer.
Those are the cheapest 4 monitor video card I could find. I know nVidia, so I didn't even look other brands.
- 4 monitor graphics card, 150 $ - 2x HDMI, 2x DVI
- 4 monitor - 5 port graphics card, 200 $ - 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, 1x VGA
If you plan to get a new card, double check it, because there are nvidia 750 versions which only support 3 monitors, so it can be a bit tricky ;)
Also keep in mind that usually, if you buy a card with 2 hdmi, 1 vga and 1 dvi it will not allow you to use vga and dvi at the same time, being a 3 monitor card with 4 different ports!!!
Another option, as I pointed before, is using a single displayport port for multiple monitors, however, it has to be supported by the GPU, which is a more common feature in ATI cards. The downside is that you need an external device that splits your single port into multiple. This is an example:
1 to 3 DisplayPort splitter 140$. StarTech is not a cheap brand, you can surely find it cheaper, however, as you can see, those are expensive devices.
Regarding your specific question: It completly depends on: Motherboard model, Operative System and driver used.
3I have something similar set up with 3 monitors: I have 2 monitors connected to an NVIDIA GTX 460 GPU (which only supports 2 displays) and a third connected to my onboard Intel HD Graphic 4600 GPU. I've not noticed any performance issues between displays, but the motherboard does have an Intel Z87 chipset which allows me to enable both GPUs. Whether or not you can do this depends on your specific chipset and CPU configuration.
Most ATI cards will support up to 6 monitors through display port, you would just need the adapter to split the connections. I have been thinking of getting a 4 monitor setup and was eyeing up a RX580 to drive them for decently cheap.
Edit apparently I can't comment on responses yet, but nVidia drivers only allow for 3 monitors per card regardless of physical connections, with the occasional exception of their Quadro line. If you want four monitors with one card on a budget, you'll have to go ATI.
There are many new devices on the market. It all depend on your PC and laptop and the connections it supports.
Here are a few:
# DisplayPort to DisplayPort Multi-Monitor Splitter - 3-Port MST Hub
# Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort Multi-Monitor Splitter - 3-Port MST Hub
# Targus USB-C Universal QUAD HD (DOCK520USZ)
# Regular price $274.99
# Can drive 4 1080p monitors,
# Dual DisplayLink® DL-3950 chip technology supports:
# 4 x HD (1920 x 1080 p60) displays or
# 2 x 2K (2560 x 1440 p50) displays.
# USB-C™ Universal Quad 4K (QV4K) Docking Station with 100W Power Delivery $399.99
# Supports:
# 4x 4K DisplayPorts (3840 x 2160 p60) or
# 4x HDMI (3840 x 2160 p50) ports
# Dell Thunderbolt Dock (3 montitors) -- !!! BAD reviews! !!*****
# Supports:
# 3x FHD displays (1920 x 1080 p60) or
# 2x 4K displays (3840 x 2160 p60), or
# 1x 5K display at 60Hz
