8 monitors? UPDATE 05JUL05!!!

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E

eXx08

Banned
May 28, 2005
2,363
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Seriously there is no need for 8 monitors, 2 mabey even 4 is stretching the limit.
 
R

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
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Only if Halle Berry is going to read a book topless on the sun deck outside my office window.

I am setting this up as a network monitoring station where I can see any and everything on my network.

Oh, I'll post pics of it and the 40" plasma display that will sit next to it once I'm done, if someone can help me get these running right.

Currently, the AGP card is working fine, but the 3 PCI cards are having fits. I'm using the latest Catalyst drivers, but they just don't seem to be working properly.
 
C

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
I'd seriously look at Matrox MMS cards, probably can get them for not too much off eBay. Two of their cards will give you 8 monitors. And with Matrox, you've got a much better compatibility guarantee.
 
mobobuff

mobobuff

Lifer
Apr 5, 2004
11,099
1
81
Well I'm not surprised that 3 cards are having difficulty sharing the PCI bus. You could sell the 3 9200s and look into getting some of those Matrox multi-monitor system cards.
 
R

russell2002

Senior member
May 16, 2005
272
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Do you not want DVI for all lcd screens ?

I have 6 outputs on my 2000 pro system.

1 X Matrox P650 - 2 dvi outputs
2 X Radeon 9250 - 2 dvi and 2 vga

Its far better to have less cards with more outputs, less chance of problems with too many video cards and stretching the screen may work better than extending the desktop.

The most I have seen is 12 monitors all with Radeon 9250's
 
V

Valkerie

Banned
May 28, 2005
1,148
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Matrox cards are the way to go. They offer the best support for graphics and networking combined.
 
R

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
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Originally posted by: russell2002
Do you not want DVI for all lcd screens ?

I have 6 outputs on my 2000 pro system.

1 X Matrox P650 - 2 dvi outputs
2 X Radeon 9250 - 2 dvi and 2 vga

Its far better to have less cards with more outputs, less chance of problems with too many video cards and stretching the screen may work better than extending the desktop.

The most I have seen is 12 monitors all with Radeon 9250's
Click to expand...

Well, if someone can do 12 monitors with a bunch of Radeon 9250's, then I should be able to do 8 with an AGP 9600 and 3 9250 based cards. Damn thing is getting BSOD now from file ati2mtag.sys file.
 
T

Tiamat

Lifer
Nov 25, 2003
14,068
5
71
Try it with 2 cards in first. If you get 4 displays, add in the next card, if you get 6 displays to show nicely.... add next card...
 
R

russell2002

Senior member
May 16, 2005
272
0
0
The only issues I had were solved by firstly having the latest drivers, but more importantly installing each card one by one and allowing ATI's control software to be installed each time.

Alough only one version of the ATI control panel can run at any time when I only installed it once and then only the drivers for remaining cards the remaining cards had several similar issues.

Also my general approach for multimonitor systems is to do it bit by bit rather than sticking all in at once and expecting it to work straight away.
 
R

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
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Originally posted by: russell2002
The only issues I had were solved by firstly having the latest drivers, but more importantly installing each card one by one and allowing ATI's control software to be installed each time.

Alough only one version of the ATI control panel can run at any time when I only installed it once and then only the drivers for remaining cards the remaining cards had several similar issues.

Also my general approach for multimonitor systems is to do it bit by bit rather than sticking all in at once and expecting it to work straight away.
Click to expand...

I've resorted that that method and the AGP card is working fine now. I went into Safe Mode, deleted all the cards and then ran a driver cleaning app against the system and started fresh. My co-worker jammed all four cards in and crossed his fingers against my recommendation, but he's off the next two days so looks like i have to fix it now. Oh well. I'll post pics of the completed project once I'm done.
 
BurnItDwn

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,354
1,863
126
Hmm... I maxed out at 4 monitors, and that was a few years ago. For now, I'm content with two, three if you count the one connected to another box on the same desk.
 
N

Nebben

Senior member
May 20, 2004
706
0
0
I haven't done that many. I've had 6 working fine before, with no issues -- but only just to try it out. Normally, I use 3. One 21" right in front of me, and two 17" on either side of that. I usually have the third one turned off unless I'm doing work in Excel or working on a paper or something. Or playing Poker ;)

I have never actually used Radeon cards, but they generally seem to be more easily used for multi-monitor setups than Nvidia, so I'm sort of surprised you're having problems. I can try to help if you don't get things resolved... let me know how it goes with the step-by-step installs.

And post pics for sure :)
 
L

LED

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,127
0
0
Has anyone here ever run 8 monitors off of a Win2k PC before?
Click to expand...
Yrs I have...G100mms, G20mms. aeon and V550 ...even had 1 extra (actually2) for the tv
 
R

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
0
0
Well, I've got six monitors running solid right now. I've found I have to add one card at a time and then run the full driver setup with each iteration. Not a problem, but time consuming while taking care of everything else at work. Last card will go in today and the last two monitors will be connected. I'll post pics once they're wall mounted.
 
V

Vegito

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 1999
8,329
0
0
I got a few ws here I setup with 8.. work in financial industry so you need it..
and they're 8 20" lcds not the smaller 17-19" stuff..

You have several options, matrox g200 mms or g450mms, quad dvi in 1 card.. use 2 slots..
 
C

Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
how big is the network you are monitoring and what software are you using?

and damn, how you sweet talked your boss for the budged, amazing :D
 
R

Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
5,774
0
0
Well, I've got all 8 monitors working now. Found out that the earlier suggestion was correct. Everytime I installed a new card, I had to completely re-install the entire driver package. Monday I will work on getting them wall mounted in an 4x2 array on the wall and then I'll post pics of it. It should be awesome.

The network I monitor is about 30 routers, 500 switches and 4000+ connected hosts. We use IT Monitor by OSI Soft, an amazing application that is completely flexible and configurable. The plan is to setup a comprehensive dashboard in IT Monitor that will display virtually every single critical node on the network visually. In addition to my setup of 8 20" LCD panels, I still have to setup a 4 panel set for the server folks for server monitoring as well. Previously we had a 42" plasma display for this type of thing, however, it suffered some burn in and we stopped using it for static information display like that. The plasma monitor will still be put to use, just in a limited role.
 
IEC

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
14,604
6,091
136
Originally posted by: ProviaFan
Wow, sounds awesome! I'm bumping to subscribe to find out when the pics are up. :D
Click to expand...

Mmm... I can only dream of such pretty multi-monitor configs. *Drools*
 
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