graphics card supporting 3 monitors

[Jackl56]

How can I tell if a graphics card supports 3 concurrent monitors?

sure it can have VGA+HDMI+DVI ports but they may not all be operational at the same time

my aim is to have 3 extending monitors (it's ok also if only 2 are extending and the 3rd is a mirror of one of them)

Thanks

 

[Elixer]

They usually tell you how many monitors they can support in the product's description.
If that fails, you can always see AMD's or Nvidia's FAQs like http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/MultimonitorFAQ.aspx

 

[jackstar7]

Extending monitors is no problem for almost any modern mid-level card at this point, and many entry-level cards, but you have to be clear about if you want surround/eyefinity in gaming/etc or just a single main monitor and then extended desktop real estate.

The more you explain (including your budget/desired performance level), the more we can help.

 

[KingFatty]

You should approach this very carefully, and search for information for each specific card by brand and model number (not just the type of GPU chip).

The reason is a given vendor might disable features for a given GPU chip, so the reference version of the card might support 3 monitors, whereas the vendor-specific model may not. This can save money by avoiding a need for circuitry and components on the printed circuit board that holds the GPU.

 

[Pariah]

If you're not trying to game on them, if you have a CPU with VGA ability, you can use it for the third monitor and use your dGPU for the other 2 screens.

 

[Janooo]

I have i7 4770K with an MSI Z87 gaming motherboard and it can do 3 monitors.
No additional video card.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I have i7 4770K with an MSI Z87 gaming motherboard and it can do 3 monitors.
No additional video card.

May not be as simple as that. I have ASRock Z87 Extreme 4, it has DVI, HDMI, VGA, and DisplayPort outputs, and while it supports 3 monitors, it has restrictions on what kind. Basically, the only way it can support 3 monitors is if one of them is DisplayPort. This was not disclosed anywhere on ASRock website or the manual, had to find that out the hard way. Comparing to the times of long ago it's much easier to drive multiple monitors with one videocard or motherboard, or combination of above, but there are still little gotcha's that you have to look out for. Connecting multiple monitors to the same system can still be a frustrating experience.

 

[Headfoot]

Yes, DisplayPort runs on something different than DVI and HDMI. Most cards can do 2x DVI and HDMI but not 3 unless one is display port. 290/x/390/x cards can do 3x DVI and HDMI (I got a 290 doing exactly this).

 

[Flapdrol1337]

What screens do you want to connect?

It should be pretty easy but there could be snags if you want to use 2560x1440 screens or something.