Running three analog monitors from one machine

Question

We are developing a simulator and need to display visuals on three monitors. We can run a single instance and also can run multiple instances of the visual.

Is there any way to run all three monitors from a single computer?

The possible solutions I have so far are:

1. Running multiple graphics cards
2. Running a card like the ATI 5870 with Eyefinity.

The problem with the second solution is that in India we don't get monitors with display ports.

Answer 1

You will need to SLI/Crossfire multiple graphics cards if the graphics cards do not have multiple VGA/DVI ports.

In the US it is simple; make sure that the the graphics card has multiple ports.

Answer 2

Check out Matrox TripleHead2Go, it simulates a very wide display, split to three monitors.

Answer 3

If you want to go the one graphics card route, then you can get a DisplayPort -> DVI converter. However, from doing this myself, I'd recommend having a motherboard with 2 PCI-E slots (like for Crossfire/SLI), and getting two identical cards, and just using it for the multiple outputs.

Answer 4

If the motherboard in your computer has on board graphics then you might only need a single discrete graphics card, as modern motherboards with onboard ATI graphics can hybrid-crossfire to a discrete graphics card. I've got this set up on my desktop and it can support 4 monitors.