triple screen setup questions etc

M1kkelZR

M1kkelZR

Active Member
Ok so I have 3 screens in my room sat here doing nothing. I wanted to use 2 of them on my pc so I'd have 3 screens, for fun :P

Now I can hook them all up but the third screen is recognized but wont activate.

I've got it like this:
Main connected through HDMI
Screen 2 connected through VGA using DVi adapter
Screen 3 conneceted through VGA using DVi Adapter.

I'm not sure why because in theory it should work but I can only have 2 screens on at once. In Catalyst I tried the Eyefinity thing but can still only have 2 monitors enabled.

Any ideas? Otherwise I'll just run single monitor and setup a few old PC's as file storage over LAN lol.

Before anyone asks why I'd use 3 monitors, here is my answer. Because I'd can and it would be funny :P
 
I'm not positive about this.... but I think one monitor must support display port connection if you want the 3rd monitor.
 
Ah ok, would an adapter for VGA to display port work then? Not quite sure if thats a good way around it but if it can work I'll try that.
 
Might want to wait for someone else to chime in but thats what I've heard about using 3 monitors is that one needs to be display port.
 
Okay, well I'll ask around at work tomorrow maybe the guys might know if thats possible otherwise I'll stick at 2 monitors and get my fileserver setup soon :)
 
What video card/s are you running?

Most video cards only have 2 outputs and they tend to disable the motherboards onboard video when installed.

I have seen 3 screen setups. Either by having 2 x video cards or 1 video card and a usb video card.
 
I have a Gigabyte HD5870, but I'm gonna use my old HD3870 for 2 monitors through DVI when I get home later on. I doubt that'll work but I can always try
 
A 5870 can support three monitors, however one has to be displayport.

Below is coppied from the ATI Radeon 5850/5870 User Guide.

Multi-Display Support

Your ATI Radeon HD 5850/5870 graphics card provides multi-display functionality
through its various display connections. The graphics card can output to a
maximum of three displays using the following set of connections:
• Two DVI-I Dual Link connections and one DisplayPort connection.
• One DVI-I Dual Link connection, one HDMI connection, and one
DisplayPort connection.
• One DVI-I Dual Link connection, one VGA connection (via a DVI-I Dual Link
connection and DVI-to-VGA adapter), and one DisplayPort connection.
• One VGA connection (via a DVI-I Dual Link connection and DVI-to-VGA
adapter), one HDMI connection, and one DisplayPort connection.

It has been a while since I read up on this, and remember something about VGA, DVI, or HDMI connections requiring a clock signal generator for each monitor. The video card only has two of these, thus the restriction to two of any combination of these connections. Displayport does not require a seperate clock signal, and is why a third monitor will run off of this port.

A passive Displayport to other connection will not work for a third monitor, because the passive connector will not generate the required signal either. There were some active converters available a few years back, but they were priced at about $100 at the time. Reviews of the HD-5870 were full of complaints about this issue.

Thanks,
Andrew
 
Yeah I figured that out earlier lol. Now I have my second graphics card in because I don't wanna get a Displayport adapter as I'm poor, so I'm trying to make my 5870 the gpu for my main monitor and the 3870 for my other 2. this is a bit of a problem as it doesn't want to work for some reason. I can't change resolution on my main monitor either.


Edit:
NVM, Had to uninstall Catalyst and restart, now it thinks i have 4 monitors hooked up but ohwell :P 3 of them are on so I'm happy
 
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