Planning on building triple or quadruple 19" surplus monitor setup

[Battousai01]

Hi guys, I am wondering if it is worth it to build a triple or quadruple 19" monitor setup using surplus 19" monitors? I am also planning on debezeling the monitors (if possible).

Basically, I have found several 19 Inches Dell E197FP monitors being sold in a local surplus shop here and I can probably spend around $100-$110 for three monitors. I am just wondering if it will be cost-effective than to buy three newer 19-20 inch wide screen monitors.

Also, how do you come up with resolutions for triple monitor setup? do you add up the resolution? i.e. if a single monitor has a resolution of 1280 x 1024 at 75 Hz, and then you made a three-monitor setup, will that equate to 3840 x 1024 at 75 Hz?

 

[lakedude]

I just have one 27 inch, however my friend has a 3 monitor setup. Yes I believe the total res will be as you say or at least that is one way of doing it. Of course you could just clone the display 3 times but I doubt that is what you are going for.

Things may be different now but my friend had considerable difficulty getting all 3 monitors to work at the same time. I believe the issue was that DVI/HDMI will only run 2x monitors at the same time (at least with his video card). I think he had to use display port or some combination of HDMI/display port to run 3x monitors. Sorry I can't be more specific...

 

[Battousai01]

I just have one 27 inch, however my friend has a 3 monitor setup. Yes I believe the total res will be as you say or at least that is one way of doing it. Of course you could just clone the display 3 times but I doubt that is what you are going for.

Things may be different now but my friend had considerable difficulty getting all 3 monitors to work at the same time. I believe the issue was that DVI/HDMI will only run 2x monitors at the same time (at least with his video card). I think he had to use display port or some combination of HDMI/display port to run 3x monitors. Sorry I can't be more specific...

Thanks for the reply!

 

[cbn]

I ran 1280 x 1024 Nvidia surround (triple monitoirs) back in 2014 (or was it early 2015).

I didn't like the experience for the most part. (re: in the games I played there was some trouble with the field of view....and I can only imagine this would be even worse with triple 16:9 monitors in landscape)

With that mentioned, perhaps things have changed since then?

 

[cbn]

I think he had to use display port or some combination of HDMI/display port to run 3x monitors. Sorry I can't be more specific...

Yep, you will need an active display port adapter to make this work.

P.S. I had to pay something like $30 back in 2014 for my adapter, but it appears they are getting cheaper now. With this mentioned, make sure you check the reviews on the cheaper brands of these adapters.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Don't bother. I was way happier with a single 1080p display than with triple 1280x1024.

Of course, now I have a 4k...