Will a 4550 output to 3 different displays at once?

[Jephph]

One of my clients got hosed when he had a local computer shop build a computer for him. He's got 3 monitors he wants to output to, a 1080p TV, a 1920x1200 LCD and a 1280x1024 LCD. Well, the computer shop guy told him that a Matrox card would be what he needed, so that's what he put in his computer. The Matrox outputs to 3 displays, the only thing is that the Matrox card doesn't support output at those resolutions. You either have to run the 1920x1200 LCD at 1280x1024 in order to run all 3, or run it at 1920x1200, but not be able to run one of the other displays.
If I were to replace his Matrox card with something like an HD4550, would he be able to run all 3 displays at their full resolutions? I saw an Asus HD4550 card on newegg that has 1 VGA, 1 DVI, and 1 HDMI output on it. I figure the VGA can be used to run the 1280x1024 LCD, the DVI can run the 1920x1200 LCD, and the HDMI can run the 1080p TV. Is that feesible?

 

[tcsenter]

The Radeon and GeForce products still have just two independent display controllers, so there can only be two independent outputs total (per card). Whether or not you can split one of them to display the same output on two monitors (at identical resolutions and refresh rates), I'm not sure.

Since this board has VGA D-SUB, the DVI and HDMI may be shared. If so, they cannot be used simultaneously. In most implementations I've seen, if there is a VGA port, one of the display controller circuits is going to dedicated to it. If it did not have the VGA port, I would be more confident that it should be able to support DVI and HDMI simultaneously. Hopefully, someone else knows.

Matrox is an appropriate consideration but the lower-cost solutions will have the limitations you described. The Matrox solutions that don't have these limits are a lot more expensive. If his motherboard can support it, the best option is simply two dual-output graphics cards. e.g.

PCI Express + PCI
PCI Express + PCI Express
AGP + PCI

For Windows XP, it is recommended but not required that both cards be the same GPU vendor and generation. Windows XP can support 'mixed' display adapters. For Windows Vista, it becomes a requirement as WDDM cannot support 'mixed' adapters. However, as long as both graphics cards use the same display driver, they don't need to be identical models.

If the motherboard has integrated graphics, it is also possible to use the integrated graphics in combination with discrete graphics card to support triple display, but some have more limitations than others, depending on the motherboard and chipset.

 

[WelshBloke]

I thought the Gx2 and X2 cards did 3 monitors.

I could well be wrong though.

 

[Jephph]

Originally posted by: WelshBloke
I thought the Gx2 and X2 cards did 3 monitors.

I could well be wrong though.

Yeah, I think you're right. They wouldn't make much sense economically in this situation though. He doesn't run any games, the vid cards are solely for running multiple monitors.

I'm thinkin the best bet is going to be to just get another mobo with more than 1 pci-express x16 slot and then get a couple of 4550s or something similar. Thanks for the feedback from both posters.

 

[sgrinavi]

Looks like a 4850x2 has four DVI and the Sapphire 3870x2 has 3 + HDMI.

They both have two GPUs on a single card and can output to four displays

A 3870x2 is around $220.... I don't think you are going to get a motherboard and two video cards for that. Nevermind the headaches


EDIT: There are also some USB to DVI external video cards that you could add.... $100... hmmm...

EDIT AGAIN: This thread is all about video cards that can be used in regular-old-PCI slots

 

[krnmastersgt]

I'm rather confused about something, why not just run a PCI-E card for the TV + 1920x1200 monitor and a regular ol cheap PCI card for the lower res monitor? Save's a bundle too if you ask me, and since he doesn't game, he could go with some pretty cheap PCI-E cards too.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: WelshBloke
I thought the Gx2 and X2 cards did 3 monitors.

Correct, I forgot to mention the dual GPU cards.

I'm thinkin the best bet is going to be to just get another mobo with more than 1 pci-express x16 slot and then get a couple of 4550s or something similar.

What motherboard does he have? If it has one PCI Express x16 and one available PCI slot, you're in business. If you end-up going with a new motherboard, you can save some money using a mobo with integrated graphics. Two displays could be connected to a PCI-E x16 card, and a third display could be connected to the IGP.

However, not all IGP chipsets are equal. For example, current Intel IGP chipsets do not support using the IGP when a graphics card is installed in the primary PCI Express x16 interface (PEG). Along with the multi-adapter considerations for Windows XP or Windows Vista, you should check back before making any purchases.

 

[Jephph]

Originally posted by: sgrinavi

EDIT AGAIN: This thread is all about video cards that can be used in regular-old-PCI slots

Yeah, I read that one already. It's actually mostly about PCI-E x1 slots and cards. I haven't seen the guys mobo yet, but I'm not a big fan of having to run 2 different video drivers. I'll let him know his options though.

A 3870x2 is around $220.... I don't think you are going to get a motherboard and two video cards for that. Nevermind the headaches

I could probably get a mobo for $70 and a couple of $40 pci-express cards. I don't think a 3870x2 is necessary

 

[Golgatha]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161197

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131082

Just get one of those and another cheap ATI card?

 

[Soarta]

almost on the same topic:

I already have a 4870 (with DSUB, DVI, HDMI and DP) connected to a monitor thru DVI and to a plasma TV thru HDMI (audio also thru HDMI)

I need to connect the PC to a 2nd plasma TV and decided to buy a 2nd video card, 4550 being most likely (Vista limits the choices to ATI)

I understood that HD4xxx series provides dual link DVI outputs and using ATI's DVI-HDMI convertor audio will also be outputed thru DVI, thru the DVI-HDMI convertor than thru a HDMI-HDMI cable to the TV.

Question is: buying a 4550 with 2 DVI outputs (no HDMI) and using 2 convertors will I be able to connect both TVs to the 4550 and have sound also thru DVI to them (meaning the 4550 will not have any monitor connected to it and the current TV connected to the 4870 will be moved to the 4550)? will there be 2 extra HDMI audio devices in Control Panel because of the 4550 (I need to output different streams to different TVs)?