multiple grahpics cards

corkcomp

does anyone know if I would be able to have 8 separate LCD's connected to the same PC by using 4 * PCI dual cards? is it that simple or am i missing something?

uberpixie

corkcomp wrote: »

does anyone know if I would be able to have 8 separate LCD's connected to the same PC by using 4 * PCI dual cards? is it that simple or am i missing something?

Most I have ever had to do was x2 matrox dual cards in PCI, for a 4 screen layout.

Worked fine.

As long as you have enough pci ports and a half dacent power supply I don't see why you couldn't? (I'm sure someone will enlighten us very quickly if this is not the case :pac:)

What OS are you using? This matters if you are using Vista as it will not allow you to use ATI and Nvidia gfx cards at the same time as MS will only allow x1 gfx card driver to be running at any time. So for Vista all cards would have to be able to run under the exact same same gfx driver e.g. all ATIs or All Nividas gfx cards that use the same driver (cards need not be all the same model, just use the same driver).

XP has no such limitation afaik. You can def run a mix of ATI and Nvida cards under XP.

corkcomp

uberpixie wrote: »

Most I have ever had to do was x2 matrox dual cards in PCI, for a 4 screen layout.

Worked fine.

As long as you have enough pci ports and a half dacent power supply I don't see why you couldn't? (I'm sure someone will enlighten us very quickly if this is not the case :pac:)

What OS are you using? This matters if you are using Vista as it will not allow you to use ATI and Nvidia gfx cards at the same time as MS will only allow x1 gfx card driver to be running at any time. So for Vista all cards would have to be able to run under the exact same same gfx driver e.g. all ATIs or All Nividas gfx cards that use the same driver (cards need not be all the same model, just use the same driver).

XP has no such limitation afaik. You can def run a mix of ATI and Nvida cards under XP.

hi, thanks .. I am running XP and was also thinking of using an application like ultramon - check out http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/download.asp
I was thinking of purchasing all the same type cards so that wouldnt be a problem ... The only other thing is that I need to have 8 different windows open on the 8 screens - so its not that i need the same output on all screens - i need to be able to drag different windows off to different screens/.

uberpixie

corkcomp wrote: »

The only other thing is that I need to have 8 different windows open on the 8 screens - so its not that i need the same output on all screens - i need to be able to drag different windows off to different screens/.

Should be no issues setting up 8 independent screens on an extended desktop.

Ultramon will handle a lot of little niggles with mutli monitor support than XP throws up, on an extended desktop, as long as the screens are setup correctly, there will be no issues with dragging and dropping from one montior to another.

You can easily setup up the exact screen arrangment you want within display properties->settings, any monitor you have enabled will be represented by a box with a number on it, drag and drop the boxes to get the screens into the layout you want. The identify button will allow you to tell which monitor is which.

Tbh start with a dualscreen layout, get used to the multimonitor controls then start adding monitors in.

What screen layout are you going to use? 8x1 or a 4x2 arrangment?

How are you going to mount the monitors? Wallmounts, desk mounts or will you use the default monitor stands that come with the monitors?

corkcomp

uberpixie wrote: »

Should be no issues setting up 8 independent screens on an extended desktop.

Ultramon will handle a lot of little niggles with mutli monitor support than XP throws up, on an extended desktop, as long as the screens are setup correctly, there will be no issues with dragging and dropping from one montior to another.

You can easily setup up the exact screen arrangment you want within display properties->settings, any monitor you have enabled will be represented by a box with a number on it, drag and drop the boxes to get the screens into the layout you want. The identify button will allow you to tell which monitor is which.

Tbh start with a dualscreen layout, get used to the multimonitor controls then start adding monitors in.

What screen layout are you going to use? 8x1 or a 4x2 arrangment?

How are you going to mount the monitors? Wallmounts, desk mounts or will you use the default monitor stands that come with the monitors?

not sure what you mean by 8*1 or 4*2 ? I think 8*1?? The screens are already wall mounted but I have 8 power hungry PC's on the ground underneath!!

uberpixie

corkcomp wrote: »

not sure what you mean by 8*1 or 4*2 ? I think 8*1?? The screens are already wall mounted but I have 8 power hungry PC's on the ground underneath!!

8x1 would be 8 screens in a single line [][][][][][][][][]

4x2 would be two rows of 4 screens

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(sorry for being unclear)


What will you be running off the PC that will have all the gfx cards? Is it just for displaying information or is there a more specific task?

corkcomp

hi, yep its an 8 * 1 layout .... I need to have 8 different www sites opened - one on each screen so basically 8 * IE windows ...