Anyone know the best way to run 3 CRT monitors?

[Octoberblue]

I'm building an Athlon XP system for a business and they need 3 monitors running on it. They want 3 seperate things up at once, not a span. Like Word on one monitor, Excel on another, and Internet on the third.

Would it be best to get an nforce2 chipset with integrated video and then add an nvidia card to be managed with nview? Can nview handle three crt monitors? And is sticking with one solution, either two ati cards or integrated nvidia and nvidia, the way to go for compatibility? Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

Also, I'm running Windows XP Pro.

... What about using Nvidia's onboard graphics (agp bus, right?), and then putting a dual head nvidia pci card in a pci slot. (I found a dual head Jaton MX440 card on newegg.) With nview... anybody think that would work? Better yet, anybody tried it? (This client definately doesn't want to spend the money on Matrox, just wants a basic, reliable 3 monitor setup non-spanned for different windows in each monitor.) What do you guys think?

 

[Peter]

Only ATi's integrated-VGA chips keep running when you add an AGP card. All others disable.

The neatest way to do 3-head for a business desktop is Matrox's P750 graphics card. The cheapest way would be a dualhead AGP Radeon plus another Radeon on PCI.

 

[futuristicmonkey]

I remember reading on ATI's website that you could add a Radeon 9x00 (9500 or higher I think) onto one of their IGP boards and you could then run 3 monitors at the same time. I think they called it "SurroundStorm" or something. Go take a look at atitech.ca or ati.com.

 

[ShinX]

Get a matrox parhelia ,the card was designed for triplehead

 

[BFG10K]

The Parhelia is still far too pricey. A cheaper option is a dual display AGP card combined with a dual display PCI card, a configuration which gives you four monitor outputs.

 

[blazer78]

matrox parhelia surround gaming is the only way to go.

 

[VisableAssassin]

should be able to get a dual head geforce and a pci card.... if you use NV hardware you only need to use their twin view software...but I only speak from my dual monitor experience...not triple LOL
Ive never used an ATI card in dual head mode...so i cant speak for one.
but a AGP dual head and a PCI single or dual should hook you up nicely

 

[Edge3D]

For what you're asking for.. NV is the far superior choice to any manufacturer.
ATI offers "surroundview", which is SPANNING support with 3 monitors.
For that you must have one of their motherboards (currently only Intel based) with their integrated video and a ATI card as well. I have little confidence in their software's abilities at that.

Parhelia also offers "surroundview", but its far too pricey. Unless you have gobs of money and work on Wall Street its probably not worth it.

The best solution not considering spanning as you asked would be Nvidia PCI/AGP cards.

Their software works the best and is the most intuitive. I know because I've used all of these mentioned implementations with 3 monitors.
With the NV solution, you can use up to as many monitors as you have PCI slots! So you can use 3 monitors, or beyond.

If you are worried in the slightest about gaming performance, forget all multimonitor solutions.
Your best solution then is a dual monitor setup using an Nvidia dual output video card... it is far superior to ATIs dual output in games.

Also, using the Nvidia solution you dont need to have an Nforce to get started.. just pop in as many NV PCI cards as you need or a NV AGP card and as many NV PCI cards as you need.

The NV software is fantastic, full featured and reliable.
Good luck!

 

[Peter]

So? ATi's Hydravision does just that. Pile up as many AGP and PCI Radeons as you find suitable, and use them. Spanned, separate, you name the mode.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Edge3D
For what you're asking for.. NV is the far superior choice to any manufacturer.

Um, no.

"Multimonitor" = "Matrox" - THE END. nVidia and ATI do the dualhead 3D thing just great - but if you want to get into >2 monitors, and even more so if it's going to be 2D - you should go Matrox. The P750 has the requisite stupidly good 2D they'll appreciate for long hours of multimonitor Word/Excel/text, and it does it all on one card.

- M4H

 

[VisableAssassin]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Edge3D
For what you're asking for.. NV is the far superior choice to any manufacturer.

Um, no.

"Multimonitor" = "Matrox" - THE END. nVidia and ATI do the dualhead 3D thing just great - but if you want to get into >2 monitors, and even more so if it's going to be 2D - you should go Matrox. The P750 has the requisite stupidly good 2D they'll appreciate for long hours of multimonitor Word/Excel/text, and it does it all on one card.

- M4H

well i cant argue with matrox's multi monitor support...however I can argue with their prices

 

[Edge3D]

Originally posted by: Peter
So? ATi's Hydravision does just that. Pile up as many AGP and PCI Radeons as you find suitable, and use them. Spanned, separate, you name the mode.

ATI and Hydra vision does not do this. At least to my knowledge. Could you provide a link proving this? I'd be very interested in reading about it.
I'd certainly raise enough of a question about it to validate not only for me.. but for the original poster because he is going to have to research it anyway.
If you want him to consider ATI its going to take more that just that single one line statement.
Plus, I'd be interested in reading about it.

As far as I am aware, only NV offers "unlimited" PCI cards and monitor support.

Matrox isnt a bad choice if you can afford a $350+ Matrox Parhelia. But Nvidia offers IMO the better value and choice, or ATI could possibly do the same.. I just have no first person experience. And most everyone will tell you that NV software engineering is > ATIs. In fact, NV software is the best in the industry unless you talk about 3rd party.

 

[Octoberblue]

What about using Nvidia's onboard graphics (agp bus, right?), and then putting a dual head nvidia pci card in a pci slot. (I found a dual head Jaton MX440 card on newegg.) With nview... anybody think that would work? Better yet, anybodo tried it?

(This client definately doesn't want to spend the money on Matrox, just wants a basic, reliable 3 monitor setup non-spanned for different windows in each monitor.) What do you guys think?

 

[LTC8K6]

The Matrox P750 is not that expensive is it?

Okay, it's $212 at Newegg.

 

[Edge3D]

Originally posted by: Octoberblue
What about using Nvidia's onboard graphics (agp bus, right?), and then putting a dual head nvidia pci card in a pci slot. (I found a dual head Jaton MX440 card on newegg.) With nview... anybody think that would work? Better yet, anybodo tried it?

(This client definately doesn't want to spend the money on Matrox, just wants a basic, reliable 3 monitor setup non-spanned for different windows in each monitor.) What do you guys think?

That would work. I havent tried that EXACT setup.. but it'd work great.
You should be able to put an AGP card in there with dual head, along-side the onboard.

Matrox is great, its just too expensive.. I'd only recommend it for Wall Street or something.. and even then... you dont get to Wall Street and get rich by wasting money... just my personal outlook on getting rich

As far as software, I havent used anything superior to Nvidia's.

Im extremely curious on the claims that ATI can do what I've seen the NV hardware do with multiple monitors... I wish someone would post a link to some proof...
from all the sites that I've examined it appears NV has drastically superior multimonitor support.
I dont believe Hydravision allows any amount of PCI cards and any amount of monitors.

 

[Rent]

Originally posted by: Edge3D

Originally posted by: Octoberblue
What about using Nvidia's onboard graphics (agp bus, right?), and then putting a dual head nvidia pci card in a pci slot. (I found a dual head Jaton MX440 card on newegg.) With nview... anybody think that would work? Better yet, anybodo tried it?

(This client definately doesn't want to spend the money on Matrox, just wants a basic, reliable 3 monitor setup non-spanned for different windows in each monitor.) What do you guys think?

That would work. I havent tried that EXACT setup.. but it'd work great.
You should be able to put an AGP card in there with dual head, along-side the onboard.

Matrox is great, its just too expensive.. I'd only recommend it for Wall Street or something.. and even then... you dont get to Wall Street and get rich by wasting money... just my personal outlook on getting rich

As far as software, I havent used anything superior to Nvidia's.

Im extremely curious on the claims that ATI can do what I've seen the NV hardware do with multiple monitors... I wish someone would post a link to some proof...
from all the sites that I've examined it appears NV has drastically superior multimonitor support.
I dont believe Hydravision allows any amount of PCI cards and any amount of monitors.

Hydravision doesn't even support the 9x00 series cards or the new X800 series. AFAIK, Hydravision does not offer what the OP is asking for. In my experience with it, I found it to be total crap.

You can get Matrox Dual Head G450s for cheap. If I had the time and $$, I'd test it out myself, however I don't ever have both of those at the same time, so I can't.

In all hoensty, I think a Matrox P750 with triple head would be the easiest setup to manage. You won't have to bother with getting 2 cards to play nice and 2 sets of drivers. Its more costly, but IMO far easier.

 

[Edge3D]

I ditto that sentiment on the Hydravision.

As far as the NV cards playing nice.. they do. Its incredibly slick with the newer NV software.

It only takes one driver install for the NV dualhead.. while ATI installs two drivers for even a single card! Its ridiculous, inefficient, offers no advantages and in my experience introduces problems.
Its one of many examples of Nvidia having vastly superior software support. Sometimes it majorly comes into play, sometimes not.. with multiple monitors it makes all the difference.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: VisableAssassin

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Edge3D
For what you're asking for.. NV is the far superior choice to any manufacturer.

Um, no.

"Multimonitor" = "Matrox" - THE END. nVidia and ATI do the dualhead 3D thing just great - but if you want to get into >2 monitors, and even more so if it's going to be 2D - you should go Matrox. The P750 has the requisite stupidly good 2D they'll appreciate for long hours of multimonitor Word/Excel/text, and it does it all on one card.

- M4H

well i cant argue with matrox's multi monitor support...however I can argue with their prices

Guys, Parhelia isn't the only Matrox card to support greater than 2 monitors. There are certain G450's and 550's that can do this. And a slimmer pricetag than the parhelia. As far as I have heard, you dont need much graphics horsepower for Word, Excel or web browsing.