What is the recommended way of getting 4 monitors on my future computer? Is it best to get 2 graphics card with 2 dvi ports each?
asked Nov 13, 2011 at 8:56
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2 Answers
Prior to mainstream adoption of the PCIe bus, configurations of more than two monitors were either achieved with an AGP card with dual video outputs or by using an AGP graphics adapter as the primary device and a conventional PCI graphics adapter as a secondary device. However, given the bandwidth limitations of the older PCI bus[citation needed], such setups were not common, and maximum overall graphics performance could be obtained only by using specialty solutions such as the Matrox G450, which features four outputs from one graphics adapter. Now that computers with two or more PCIe interfaces are popular, middle- and high-end computers are no longer limited to two monitors driven by a single main graphics adapter. If a dual PCIe interface is not available or is otherwise occupied, a standard PCI graphics card can still be used to provide additional video outputs, albeit with performance trade-offs. Specialized application environments such as CAD, day trading of corporate stocks, and software development are increasingly using six or more monitors on one production system.
A quad-monitor Digital Audio Workstation Additional monitors can also be connected to PCs via a USB connection such as DisplayLink.
Seems that it doesn't matter much if it's connected to a PCI Express slot. If it's just a normal PCI (or maybe an AGP) it's recommended to use 2 seperate graphic cards.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-monitor#More_than_two_monitors
Also, here's a PCI Express graphic card that support 4 monitors. Don't know how Ubuntu compatibility is though.
http://www.nextag.com/VisionTek-Radeon-HD5570-PCIe-827596030/prices-html
2x cards with dual DVI outputs will only depend on what kind of monitors you will be getting, keep in mind that you choose a card with a supported chipset by the drivers.
For information on the support for ATI chipsets use this link.
For information on the support for NVidia chipsets use this link and click on the Supported Products link.
answered Nov 13, 2011 at 11:37
