I have a computer with two DVI outputs in which i have plugged one 24" and one 20" monitors. I'd like to plug one more monitor to my computer. What do I have to do?
5 Answers
Easiest solution - If you have any other output such as VGA, get an adapter and use it.
If not, get a second graphics card and use that - you can just get the cheapest one that will fit - it should do the job.
Edit - As Shoeless said, you must use same manufacturer for Windows Vista, but I do not think there is such limitation in either Windows XP or Windows 7. If you are using *nix or anything else, I do not know in advance if it will work.
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1Just FYI, VGA is an analog video interface standard. Using an adapter is still a good idea, though.– Jim FellDec 17, 2009 at 14:55
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+1 @ Jim, not sure why I wrote that :S I basically meant any output apart from S-video / tv-out or anything else resolution limited... I will get rid of the word digital! Dec 17, 2009 at 14:58
NOTE: Depending on your OS, when using a second display card, it might be necessary to use an identical chipset- so if your curent card is an nVidia, make sure your second card is an nVidia... or ATI, etc.
I learned this the hard way. Theoretically you could get them to cooperate using XP drivers, but really, not a good idea.
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There is also Matrox DualHead2Go and Matrox TripleHead2Go they divides one monitor output into two(or three) so you can easily add multiple monitors.
And also external USB graphics cards
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1My experience with external USB graphics cards is universally bad for anything other than basic "office" type work. Never try to use a USB plugged monitor for video, games, or anything else graphically intensive.– BBlakeDec 17, 2009 at 19:17
The newer ATI HD5xxx series supports a larger number of displays. Normally three on the usual cards (check the connectors, some single-slot cards won't have enough digital connectors).
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+1 ATI's new Radeon HD 5xxx is the way to go, multiple cards may only cause unwanted lagging.– Molly7244Dec 17, 2009 at 19:22
Depending on what you want to use it for, I haven't tried any USB adapters, but I imagine they would not be amazing quality compared to another graphics card, so if you are only going to be using it for something like web browsing or emails, then a USB adapter may be perfect for you, however if you plan to do anything which requires a lot of data to be processed, for example if you were playing a game or watching a video then a 2nd graphics card is the way to go. However your motherboard will need to support dual graphics card, and support SLI (NVidia) or CrossFire (AMD) to allow you to use 2 graphics cards simulataneously, and obviously the cards would have to support this aswell. Which is why you can see, a USB adapter would be easiest for something small.