Best way to connect a monitor+three 1080p HDTVs to a PC

[xscess]

I want to connect a 24" LCD monitor plus three 1080p HDTVs to a PC. At first I was planning to buy a XFX Radeon 6950 & Corsair 750/850 PSU to upgrade existing XPS 8100 (i7 860, 6GB) and connect the monitor to DVI, and use 1 HDMI (native) & 2 mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters to connect 3 TVs (to use it in extended display settings).

I just talked to ATI rep and he said there are no ACTIVE mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters available, so I would need to use mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort(female) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...4877746&sr=1-1) + DisplayPort to VGA (http://www.amazon.com/Accell-UltraA...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1294877746&sr=1-1) adapters to connect two TVs and there might be some signal loss in this setup.

Now is there any way out than buying/building a custom rig with Crossfire as XPS 8100 have only one PCIe x16 slot.

The whole setup will not be for gaming but to run Powerpoint or similar presentation software, so graphics "power" is not an issue here.

Thanks a million in advance.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I haven't seen any active mini displayport to HDMI adapters either but what you can do is grab mini displayport to DVI then DVI to HDMI. HDMI and DVI and pin compatible for the video part of HDMI, so it will just be a passive adapter.

Ex:
http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-0...883603&sr=8-10

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10231&cs_id=1023104&p_id=2505&seq=1&format=2

ta da!

 

[NoQuarter]

I agree with OverLoRDI on the adapter situation. Other option would be to get 2 video cards, 1 cheap just for outputs.

edit: oops didn't see the mobo only had 1 PCI-e slot.

 

[Qbah]

There are also PCI-e x1 Radeons, HD4350, available on newegg. However, they're pretty pricy (go for around $100, ouch!). So if your motherboard has at least one more PCI-e slot, this will work fine.

Just grab a regular HD5450, like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-358-_-Product

And something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-177-_-Product

Those two cards will work fine together. You will be able to use the HD5450's two HDMI ports for the HDTVs, the DisplayPort for your LCD and use the HD4350's HDMI for the third HDTV.

Since GPU "power" is not required, I would think this is the best solution. Though you may want to confirm with the AMD Rep if both HDMI ports will be usable at the same time on the HD5450 (I personally don't see a reason why not). No adapters required, everything's native and it's ~$150 out of the pocket (compared to ~$300 for a HD6950 + extra for the adapters).

EDIT: Or try contacting Gigabyte about the HDMI usage for the HD5450 maybe?

 

[xscess]

@ OVerLoRDI & Qbah

thanks a million for lightning fast replies...

tomorrow I'm gonna call ATI & Gigabyte to find out about Qbah's HD5450+HD4350 option first and if it's not possible than will go with OVerLoRDI's mini displayport to DVI then DVI to HDMI option.

 

[lsv]

What about a PCIE and a PCI video card? The XPS 8100 has a PCIE x16 slot, PCIE x1 slot and PCI slot.

 

[Patmage]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814139055
Quad DVI on that. Though the reviews don't offer much confidence though. Would just need 3 cheap dvi to hdmi adapters then.

Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139047 also a pci version.

 

[xscess]

@ lsv & Patmage

Thank you guys... besides Patmage's Newegg link the only PCI card I could find is HIS HD 4350 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Radeon-HD4.../ref=de_a_smtd) which as per Amazon "not yet been released" and available for pre-order. HD 4350 not released yet ??

Anyway I'm gonna go for Qbah's HD5450+HD4350 option first if it's doable.

 

[lsv]

@ lsv & Patmage

Thank you guys... besides Patmage's Newegg link the only PCI card I could find is HIS HD 4350 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/HIS-Radeon-HD4.../ref=de_a_smtd) which as per Amazon "not yet been released" and available for pre-order. HD 4350 not released yet ??

Anyway I'm gonna go for Qbah's HD5450+HD4350 option first if it's doable.

Good stuff, another solution may be finding a cheap(er) Matrox card or display solution, they always had a thing for multiple outputs and expansion. Though you may need 2 of the dual-head external cards.

In any case, using a PCIE+PCI or that Jaton card should work just fine for your purposes. May e-mail Jaton and see if they're active and how driver support is.