Computers & Electronics

9 Screen Setup

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Apr 7, 2007
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9 Screen Setup

I'm trying to figure out a way to achieve this without paying $2000 for that video card.



http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/produ ... deos/#C900

Can I potentially take a ATI card with Eyefinity and 3 displayport outputs -- use the active display adapter splitters 1.2mst to then split each of those into 3 outs? which will give me 9

OR

can I take two ATI cards with a crossfire board and output to the nine screens?

Appreciate the help on this as I'm brand new to it and I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to do this. This will be used in an office setting to display video utilizing all nine screens as one, so pretty much exactly as the video I posted above.

Thanks
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Aug 22, 2006
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Easy. Since it looks like they're not gaming, all you need is a board with sufficient PCI-E slots (in this case 5) and 5x GPUs.
Finding a board with sufficient PCI-E16x is going to be an issue, but they do make PCI-E1x GPUs.

It might be a bit more money if you want all DVI but you'll be fine mixing VGA and DVI.

GPUs each (for PCI-E1x GPUs) are $70 each.
PC could be damn near anything with enough slots.
Monitors are going to be a bit much.

EDIT: Here's a PCI-E1X GPU: 12 ZT-71304-20L
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Two videocards with 4x outputs (there are a bunch of them, but I know you can get W4100s for cheap ... gets u 4x DP that will all run at once), then an onboard. Or 3x videocards with 3 outputs. Or 1x card with 4 outputs, and 2x videocards with 3 outputs.

Basically, you just need videocards with the maximum number of physical outputs that can run at once (Eyefinity requires some spendy adapter, as far as I know); they're easy to come by, once you consider the fact that you don't care whatsoever about performance.

Motherboards with 3x PCIe are pretty common, 2x PCIe with onboard are common as well. You don't have to worry about Crossfire/SLI/whatever. In fact, you can have pretty much any mix of cards you want in there, and it should probably work.
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ChubChub wrote: Two videocards with 4x outputs (there are a bunch of them, but I know you can get W4100s for cheap ... gets u 4x DP that will all run at once), then an onboard. Or 3x videocards with 3 outputs. Or 1x card with 4 outputs, and 2x videocards with 3 outputs.

Basically, you just need videocards with the maximum number of physical outputs that can run at once (Eyefinity requires some spendy adapter, as far as I know); they're easy to come by, once you consider the fact that you don't care whatsoever about performance.

Motherboards with 3x PCIe are pretty common, 2x PCIe with onboard are common as well. You don't have to worry about Crossfire/SLI/whatever. In fact, you can have pretty much any mix of cards you want in there, and it should probably work.
with say 2 of those w4100 cards I'm looking at $400 at newegg. Then with adapters and 25 foot cables from amazon I'm now in the range of $700. I have a computer I can test with all I would need is a 1X pci express card like suggested above since this is a core2duo and has no built in video.

I'd prolly buy some other comp parts afterwards

This will display 1080p to at least 4k video possibly yes?
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I think the harder challenge is mounting the monitors cheaply any getting it precise.
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joeyjoejoe wrote: I think the harder challenge is mounting the monitors cheaply any getting it precise.
Was planning on using something like this

http://www.displays2go.ca/P-33265/Video ... s&sid=1087

I also went looking at a old computer I have it has a older 6870 inside with 2xdvi, 1x hdmi and 2 mini dp out

If I can potentially use this AND one w4100 there's my 9 out
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crackrabbit wrote: with say 2 of those w4100 cards I'm looking at $400 at newegg. Then with adapters and 25 foot cables from amazon I'm now in the range of $700. I have a computer I can test with all I would need is a 1X pci express card like suggested above since this is a core2duo and has no built in video.

I'd prolly buy some other comp parts afterwards

This will display 1080p to at least 4k video possibly yes?
"As suggested above" would be 5x $70 ... or $350, plus a motherboard that you almost for sure don't currently own. However, you're right, the W4100s are pretty expensive for some reason; I bought a bunch off eBay for $50 a year-ish ago, so I figured they'd have dropped in price; apparently not.

As for the resolution, it will be 3x horizontally, and 3x vertically whatever the resolution of the monitors are. So, if you're using 1920 x 1080 monitors, you'll have 5,760 x 3,240 ... so you'd have "6k" video (whatever you output could be scaled to fill all 9 screens.
crackrabbit wrote: I also went looking at a old computer I have it has a older 6870 inside with 2xdvi, 1x hdmi and 2 mini dp out

If I can potentially use this AND one w4100 there's my 9 out
That 6870 probably can do 4x monitors @ once; can't be certain, but probably. You seem to have some random hardware laying around, so maybe just start Googling the capabilities. In the end, all you need is to somehow come up with enough outputs for 9 monitors; no need for anything fancy. However, using "gaming" cards, especially older ones, and ATi ones, you'll find the power requirements are quite high; another concern.

nVidia has NVS cards as well that are "business"; maybe you can find an older one of those with more outputs? Not sure.
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Mar 23, 2004
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Doesn't Eyefinity support up to 6 DP monitors? Couldn't you just use two AMD cards supporting Eyefinity, get the correct adapters, and have it work out? You can't Crossfire though (you can only use connections on one card if you do that), so I dunno if this would work in reality.
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ChubChub wrote:
crackrabbit wrote: with say 2 of those w4100 cards I'm looking at $400 at newegg. Then with adapters and 25 foot cables from amazon I'm now in the range of $700. I have a computer I can test with all I would need is a 1X pci express card like suggested above since this is a core2duo and has no built in video.

I'd prolly buy some other comp parts afterwards

This will display 1080p to at least 4k video possibly yes?
"As suggested above" would be 5x $70 ... or $350, plus a motherboard that you almost for sure don't currently own. However, you're right, the W4100s are pretty expensive for some reason; I bought a bunch off eBay for $50 a year-ish ago, so I figured they'd have dropped in price; apparently not.

As for the resolution, it will be 3x horizontally, and 3x vertically whatever the resolution of the monitors are. So, if you're using 1920 x 1080 monitors, you'll have 5,760 x 3,240 ... so you'd have "6k" video (whatever you output could be scaled to fill all 9 screens.
crackrabbit wrote: I also went looking at a old computer I have it has a older 6870 inside with 2xdvi, 1x hdmi and 2 mini dp out

If I can potentially use this AND one w4100 there's my 9 out
That 6870 probably can do 4x monitors @ once; can't be certain, but probably. You seem to have some random hardware laying around, so maybe just start Googling the capabilities. In the end, all you need is to somehow come up with enough outputs for 9 monitors; no need for anything fancy. However, using "gaming" cards, especially older ones, and ATi ones, you'll find the power requirements are quite high; another concern.

nVidia has NVS cards as well that are "business"; maybe you can find an older one of those with more outputs? Not sure.
What I had meant was I was going to buy the 2x4100 PLUS a 1xother card pci express 1 to give me the 9. The cheapest I was finding was on newegg for $199 each, damn man wish I could get a set for $50 each Lol

I'm going to also test with the 6870 with the 5 outputs PLUS 1x4100 to also give me the 9 and see if that works.

This is a straight prototype right now, I'm planning on finding the best way to do this then I have multiple offices I want to put it into, so I also have to worry about exactly what you said above heat and power requirements and I don't want to run into any issues where it has to keep being maintained.

ES_Revenge wrote: Doesn't Eyefinity support up to 6 DP monitors? Couldn't you just use two AMD cards supporting Eyefinity, get the correct adapters, and have it work out? You can't Crossfire though (you can only use connections on one card if you do that), so I dunno if this would work in reality.
That was part of the original post, I was wondering if I could take one of the say RX470 cards with 3 displayport outs and then get the 1.2mst adapter and split that into 9 out
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Mar 23, 2004
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crackrabbit wrote: That was part of the original post, I was wondering if I could take one of the say RX470 cards with 3 displayport outs and then get the 1.2mst adapter and split that into 9 out
As I understand it Eyefinity (on one card) works with up to 6 DP monitors (with the splitter/hub thingies), plus two "regular" connections (I.e. HDMI, DVI, VGA). So there you'd have eight (if you could use HDMI and DVI) but that's still one too little. You can't get 9 out of Eyefinity, AFAIK. You could use two cards of course but then I'm not sure you could set it up as one display/desktop given Crossfire can only work with display connections on one card. But Crossfire isn't required for an multi-monitor desktop I don't think, only Eyefinity. Whether you can do this with two cards and still have what you're after, I'm not sure as I have basically no experience every attempting what you're trying to do.

This is probably a better question asked on an AMD forum, mainly videocard forum, or even AMD Reddit--will probably get you a larger audience and either official responses or responses from people that are experienced in setting up multi-monitor displays like the one you're after.
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Apr 2, 2007
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people like you guys drives up my electronic bills crazy these days,:'(
make yourself simple just buy a projector. ...
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Didn't AMD have a 5870 with 6 DP connectors?
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Eyefinity isn't uniform since it's inception; they really should have said something like Eyefinity 1.0 ... then 2.0, and 3.0 ... or something. Here is a chart indicating how many monitors you can get with Eyefinity.
Eyefinity Chart
However, I didn't know that the non-DP ports don't actually count, so you get an extra two, which is cool.

So, it looks like you can get 8 from that 6870 with some adapters, then you can just install whatever POS other card you have laying around to get that 9th one.
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Mar 12, 2008
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what the point of 9 screen set up like this?

If you don't already have the monitors is it not cheaper to just buy a 4k 60" and call it a day?

9 DP cables @ 10 bucks each + the adapters your already at like 450$. add the monitors at 200$ a piece your at the price for a nice 60" 4k
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ChubChub wrote: Eyefinity isn't uniform since it's inception; they really should have said something like Eyefinity 1.0 ... then 2.0, and 3.0 ... or something. Here is a chart indicating how many monitors you can get with Eyefinity.
Eyefinity Chart
However, I didn't know that the non-DP ports don't actually count, so you get an extra two, which is cool.

So, it looks like you can get 8 from that 6870 with some adapters, then you can just install whatever POS other card you have laying around to get that 9th one.
I'm going to try that and I just purchased the 2X4100 to see how that works also, I'll update the thread
Gee wrote: You will need two cards

https://www.visiontek.com/graphics-card ... etail.html

https://www.visiontek.com/graphics-card ... etail.html

Those two cards will give you 9 monitors. If you're interested, I actually own these cards and I'll sell them to you
oo but I would need to replicate this afterwards, so unless I could get multiple versions of those cards this won't work for me
redzone wrote: what the point of 9 screen set up like this?

If you don't already have the monitors is it not cheaper to just buy a 4k 60" and call it a day?

9 DP cables @ 10 bucks each + the adapters your already at like 450$. add the monitors at 200$ a piece your at the price for a nice 60" 4k
The difference being that I'm going to be using 9X43inch screens at least, I need it to display across an entire wall.

Also to the person above who said get a projector, this is going to be in a highly lit area so there would be quite a few problems with glare etc.
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So after some more research it seems that the W4100 will not work with the 4 display port out, I need 2 active adapters also which would enable more than 2 screens.

**** I gotta cancel the order

This posted above X2 does seem to now be the best option https://www.visiontek.com/graphics-card ... etail.html it's in US dollars though and that's the only one in stock other one is out.
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crackrabbit wrote: So after some more research it seems that the W4100 will not work with the 4 display port out, I need 2 active adapters also which would enable more than 2 screens.

**** I gotta cancel the order

This posted above X2 does seem to now be the best option https://www.visiontek.com/graphics-card ... etail.html it's in US dollars though and that's the only one in stock other one is out.
The VisionTek cards are designed for business use and have a long life cycle. If you're running a project, you can rely on the availability of these cards with the same version

I have a few cards left over from a project I was working on. If you're interested, I can sell you my extra cards
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crackrabbit wrote:
joeyjoejoe wrote: I think the harder challenge is mounting the monitors cheaply any getting it precise.
Was planning on using something like this

http://www.displays2go.ca/P-33265/Video ... s&sid=1087

I also went looking at a old computer I have it has a older 6870 inside with 2xdvi, 1x hdmi and 2 mini dp out

If I can potentially use this AND one w4100 there's my 9 out
Seems like decent mounts. There's good vertical adjustment, but not so much horizontal adjustment and no level adjustment. This just means you need to be more precise with your mount placement. I would personally anchor plywood to thew studs first. That will give you flexibility to put the mounts anywhere you wish... which is critical trying to align 9 screens exactly right.

If you do it this way, then keep a spare $100-$150 budget for wall anchors, plywood, paint, drill bits, and a level.

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