How can I extend the desktop across 8 VGA monitors so they operate as one large monitor from one PC?

Question

I have 8 monitors of the same model. The monitors have a VGA and DVI port.

I would like to have them operate integrated as a single large monitor, hooked up to an Intel NUC. I'm not expecting great performance, as I only want to display a simple screensaver (a scrolling banner with company name).

I found many VGA splitters, such as from Lindy or whitelabel from Amazon. However, these will push the same image to each of the 8 monitors.

Is there a way (I was unable to find one) to merge the 8 monitors into 1, having them act as 1?

If not, what would be the best alternative? A requirement is that I can only use passively cooled hardware, so installing a tower PC with multiple graphics cards is not possible, and also too expensive.

Answer 1

If your graphics cards are Nvidia, they have a software called Surround Vision that turns any amount of monitors into a single one. http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2667

If you have an AMD card, they have built in software called Eyefinity. http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/eyefinity

Both of these can consolidate your displays. If you just have a NUC though, there is almost zero room for options. If is a newer NUC and has thunderbolt 3, you can get an external graphics card and use a matrox or some card that has a lot of display outs, but they are expensive. There are no devices that can allow for one graphics port to be turned into 8 that are not replicated.

Answer 2

You would at least need an external graphic card and the case for it. That's not a field that has a lot of vendors. The only one I can think of immediately is the one from Alienware and I don't know much about it. The problem you have is that the onboard graphics doesn't have the power or the video RAM to drive such a large amount of pixels.