Need to hockup 5 monitors off 1 computer

[Bull Dog]

getting 2x PCi-e cards does not mean that you would be doing SLI. Heck for all I care, get 2x X300's and stick them in a nForce4 SLi motherboard.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: Bull Dog
getting 2x PCi-e cards does not mean that you would be doing SLI. Heck for all I care, get 2x X300's and stick them in a nForce4 SLi motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128318

2x X300 or 7300gs

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: tuteja1986

Originally posted by: Bull Dog
getting 2x PCi-e cards does not mean that you would be doing SLI. Heck for all I care, get 2x X300's and stick them in a nForce4 SLi motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128318

2x X300 or 7300gs

why would you spend 3x more than you need to?

4x pci-e mb $245(WORTHLESS SINCE HE's DOING 2D)
7300gs HM(steals system memory)- $65(x4)
or7300gs 256mb- $79(x4)
or
x300- $70(x4)
or
x300se- $48(x4)

Minimum, $437
Maximum, $561

Wheres if you go pci which fills all his needs
Motherboard:$45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131572
Radeon 7000- $29(x4)

price: $161


also s754 processors are cheaper and he dosent need the caspabilities of s939.

all prices are for retail boards with full warranties since it's for business.

 

[L00PY]

ATI Xpress 200 Mobo or NVidia 6150 with onboard DVI + VGA (1 digital + 1 analog)
Cheap PCIe video card (2)
Cheap PCI video card (2)

Max of 5 analog connections or 5 digital connections depending on the cards you choose.

You could probably get all three for under $200 if you really wanted to be cheap and only needed analog. All digital depends on how much the cards price out at -- but you'd have that cost regardless.

 

[ChonChon]

get an sli board. buy 2 cheap matching PCIe cards, and one PCI VGA card, thats it, you're done.

 

[kylebisme]

Why are you suggesting he spends extra cash on an SLI board with PCI cards will do him just fine?

Oh, and are all the monitors up front going to be displaying the same thing? If so then a VGA-spliter would be a much simpler solution.

 

[daveybrat]

I agree with snowman, why spend all that money when you can purchase a VGA splitter box? That is, if they will all be displaying the same image.

 

[Steelski]

Originally posted by: daveybrat
I agree with snowman, why spend all that money when you can purchase a VGA splitter box? That is, if they will all be displaying the same image.

VGA splitter boxes usually have terrible ghosting on all the monitors if they are used. Especially cheap ones. I would go with the motherboard and integrated graphics and two cheap PCI/PCIe cards. make sure that whatever you get that all the cards are from one manufacturer as Nvidia and ATI display drivers dont mix.

 

[lifeblood]

I have a similar system running where I work.

Don't expect to use any onboard video and the AGP/PCIe slot. Many motherboards automatically disable the onboard video if they sence a video card in the AGP or 16x PCIe slot.
Use either all nvidia or all ATI. Dont mix because the drivers won't work together.

I tried using the PNY Quadro NVS 280 which runs 4 VGA displays plus the onboard video. It worked but it hesitates constantly and the users are not happy with it. We are switching to a fast PCIe card to drive their primary monitor and two dual PCI cards for the other monitors.

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: Steelski

Originally posted by: daveybrat
I agree with snowman, why spend all that money when you can purchase a VGA splitter box? That is, if they will all be displaying the same image.

VGA splitter boxes usually have terrible ghosting on all the monitors if they are used. Especially cheap ones. I would go with the motherboard and integrated graphics and two cheap PCI/PCIe cards. make sure that whatever you get that all the cards are from one manufacturer as Nvidia and ATI display drivers dont mix.

Yeah I wasn't thinking cheap but rather that a spliter box would make for a lot less hastle. Obviously you'd want to buy a nice spliter box that doesn't jack up the image.

 

[jiffylube1024]

If you want to be cost effective, just build a PC with either an AGP or PCI-express slot in it as well as at least 2 PCI slots. Buy a basic AGP or PCIe dual ported card (or single ported if you find one for dirt cheap) and pick up two ATI Radeon 7000 PCI cards. You'll have ports for your 5 screens and one to spare.

You can get the 7000 PCI for example at tigerdirect here.

--------

Dual PCI-e motherboards are not cost effective because even basic PCI-e cards are overpriced right now (such as the X300), plus dual PCI-e slot motherboards cost more too.

 

[Mr Demon]

no unfortunetly they will all be displaying something different, otherwise I would have already told him to go with a vga splitter. All your comments have been great guys I honestly wasent expecting to have such a great feedback.

 

[ChonChon]

the 7000 cards have delays many times, and ghosting SOMEONE depending on certain things -- ESPECIALLY FOR 5 MONITORS, i do NOT suggest 7000 PCI OR AGP cards at all.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322722

2 of those wouldbe better. yes theyre about $10 or so more then the 7000s, but well worth it. great quality on those from just a monitor point of view -- for games anyone should hurt themselves to think to get those for anything more then...hmm...i dont know pacman or something!

good luck, let us know.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: aweigh
Ok, get yourself one of those motherboards that features both AGP and PCI-E, as well as 1 or 2 regular PCI slots. Now put in 1 PCI video card, 2 PCI-E video cards in SLI and 1 AGP video card. There, now you have 5 displays.

are you crazy?
he only needs 3 cards total.. 1 AGP dual head 2 PCI cards 1 dual head 1 stand alone.
we do this alot here at this company

 

[RussianSensation]

ASRock P4 Dual-915GL - $58
Supported CPU List
Supported AGP graphics cards
Supported PCIe graphics cards

The mobo already has an integrated video. So, 2 ports from AGP card 2 ports from PCI-E and 1 port from the on board 915GL integrated video.

Asus EAX300SE-X/TD/128M PCIe - $55 (free shipping)
PowerColor ATI Radeon 7000 32MB TV/DVI/CRT AGP - $30 (free shipping)

Both passively cooled. Total: $143.

Of course you have to add cpu and ram.

Intel Celeron D 315 2.26GHz 533MHz Retail - $56 (free shipping)
DDR 512MB PC3200 (400MHz) MUSHKIN 2-3-3 - $30 after MIR

Total cpu+ram+mobo+2 graphics cards: $229

 

[Mr Demon]

dont forget russian, it is impossible to have both integrated and agp/pci working at the same time... not to mention that Asrock is the worst motherboard manufacturer I've ever delt with... in the 12 motherboards of Asrock I sold, 8 broke down the following month, and of the rma batch that came back, 3 we're still defective... Since I was working on a budget a while back, I bought an RMA board back and fitted it with a 2600+... it died 3 months ago after 2 usb ports died, the last pci slot and finally the onboard ethernet controler... I killed it off with a sword from my roommate... greated feeling in a long time, lol.

 

[L00PY]

Are you know the meaning of the word "impossible"? Both the IGPs listed above have in their featureset the ability to use the IGP with a PCIe card. Just for kicks, I went ahead and enabled "Surroundview" on my mobo and sure enough, I now see the option for 4 displays in CCC with only one video card installed. The LCD off PCIe card and CRT off mobo setup works the same as the LCD and CRT off PCIe card setup I usually use. Granted, I don't have a PCI video card to throw in and test, but I don't see why it wouldn't work too.

You only need 2 video cards to get 6 displays off of 1 computer provided you choose the right mobo.