6 Monitors on USB

[piasabird]

I am watching this video from Plugable.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYUdAWOGJ_Y

They were running 6 monitors off of a single USB3 plug from a Laptop using a 7 port USB3 powered hub. These guys are a little crazy. Sometimes people ask questions about multiple monitors so I posted this.

 

[inachu]

It was not worth it when USB monitor adapters first came out. They would only last for about 6 months then burn out.

 

[paperwastage]

the displays are still driven off the CPU right, not GPU?

 

[piasabird]

There are probably some pros and cons. I wouldn't expect to be able to stream an HD video to 6 monitors at once. Might work fine for a 2d stock chart. I have no clue what makes a USB video device work. Most new processors are probably capable of running 3 monitors off of IGP. So I don't know how this works. There may be some software that emulates virtual video like that VIRTU software that came out with Sandy Bridge. According to the HDMI standard v 1.4, one HDMI cable is capable of transmitting 2 1080p HD streams. I was mainly looking at possible resources for a Raspberry pi 2b to order and play with.

 

[mfenn]

the displays are still driven off the CPU right, not GPU?

That's correct. They are implementing most of the GPU logic in software. Modern CPUs are powerful enough to do this fairly competently, though a real GPU is of course better.