Good (cheap?) video card for using those extra monitors at the office.

Question

We have at the moment quite a few spare 19" flat panel monitors at the office. My little desktop currently only has a single video output from an on-board video card.

What would be a good card to buy so I can connect 3 19" 1280x1024 monitors to my PC?

(This is for programming work only, I don't need any 3D gaming support.)

It seems that cards with 2 outputs are a lot more common than cards with 3 outputs.

Would it be an option to get 2 cheap cards and then have support for up to 4 monitors? Or does windows XP not support running like that?

Answer 1

If you have a PCI Express Slot, here is a cheap ($35 + shipping) ATI based card that should do the trick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102791

If you are stuck with AGP, it seems that it will be a bit more expensive ($80 + shipping): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102762

Both of the above cards have two video outputs. Make sure your PC supports using the on-board video at the same time you use a video card.

Answer 2

You can take a look at Matrox G450 dual head, I see them for 10-11$ on ebay. These are very reliable 2D cards, and with your onboard one - you have 3 monitor support.

Answer 3

3 outputs is less usual than the more common 2, so your options are limited.

The best ones are Matrox, they're the ones we use for quad displays, but the best professional ones are expensive. As you want these for work, then the older matrox cards are good enough for you. Note you will need special cables as they have a custom port with splitter cables.

ebay is a good place for older G200 quad cards.. lets find one... £30 for a quad card with cables that will do 1900x1200@70.

Incidentally, you could also go for a DualHead or TripleHead 'extended' box (they're usually used to give laptops multiple monitor support)

Or get a couple of Matrox QID Pro cards and run 8 monitors to make your colleagues jealous :-)

Answer 4

A PCI NVIDIA GeForce 5200 or ATI Radeon 7000 is still pretty easy to find.

If you want one that does dual DVI, it'll run you about $80 5200 2xDVI (newegg.com).

If you're OK with VGA, it'll be about $30-$35: R7000 1xVGA 1xDVI (newegg.com)

Answer 5

You can try a TripleHead2Go. It doesn't require any internal modifications and can be used from a laptop too.

Answer 6

Most motherboards will automatically disable the on-board video when a dedicated video card is inserted, so I don't know if you're going to be able to go triple monitor.

Answer 7

Just be aware that a cheap card could mean that you would have to DVI output. If you will connect one monitor using DVI and another one using VGA the picture on later one will be significantly less sharp. When two such monitors stand together and show parts of the same application it could be discomforting

Answer 8

You might google a bit, but I don't think that you can use onboard video in conjunction with pciexpress. You would have to have two vid cards and disable the on board. Could be wrong, but I am pretty sure you won't be able to use the onboard to get the third monitor.

Answer 9

Ebay is your friend. Depending on the type of slots available in your machine you can probably find an old PCI card like (for example) a Matrox G200 or G400/450. If you can pull the video card in your machine or have an unused AGP or PCI-e slot than a Quadro NVS280/285 can be obtained for a song - you can probably also find a PCI one. Each one will support up to two monitors but make sure you get the right type of LFH59 splitter cable as these come in both VGA and DVI flavours.

If your desktop is a SFF with low profile slots the NVS280/285 is the best option as you can get low profile brackets for them. These cards are often supplied in OEM form by outfits like Dell or HP as a part for their small form factor boxes. Try googling for something like 'NVS285 LPPCI bracket' until you find someone selling them or look specifically for ones with low-profile brackets on ebay.

Ebay usually has many NVS cards and often some LP ones on sale at any given time. As they do not have fast 3D capabilities they tend to go very cheaply. You can also get LPPCI brackets for NVS cards from third parties. Again, google and ebay are your friend here. Often these are listed as a part for PNY cards so PNY can be a useful search phrase.

Two caveats to note are:

1. the brackets for NVS280 and 285 cards are not the same so if you get such a bracket make sure it is the right one for your card.
2. The splitter cables come in both DVI and VGA flavours. Make sure you get the right type. However these can also be readily found on Ebay.

Answer 10

I actually ended up getting an IOGEAR USB to DVI external video card. I can use that with any computer without having to open the box.

Answer 11

You may be able to bypass the need for a video card and buy a Matrox DualHead2Go or a TripleHead2Go. They trick your one video card into thinking you have one really wide monitor that is either two or three screens wide. Works like a charm for me with 3 19" screens.