So I have two DVI LCDs, and a single TV to connect via S-Video. I was planning on getting the XFX video card linked below to handle the two LCDs, and it also has an S-Video out. But I don't see how Windows will handle having three monitors hooked up to it...I'm thinking of the display properties box where you set the resolution etc. Anyone know if this can be done? If so would I need a different card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150123

12/20/2005 5:52:10 PM

im assuming you can use two at a time
so when you want to watch something on the tv you just pick a monitor and the tv in the settings and lose the second monitor

12/20/2005 5:55:00 PM

EDIT: Most of the time you can use all the video outs at the sametime. As the video card will have two TDMS transmitters (for the DVI) and then a RAMDAC for the VGA/SVIDEO monitor. I know in Windows, the default configuration is to have two monitors + a third monitor (TV) cloning what is on one of the two monitors.

You can always get a Matrox Parhelia for true 3 monitor support. Another expensive option is to get an ATI motherboard with a VGA connection, then buy an ATI card that supports dual display.



[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 6:36 PM. Reason : ...]

12/20/2005 6:33:43 PM

yea nview only supports two devices at a time for spanned desktops

[Edited on December 20, 2005 at 6:34 PM. Reason : .]

12/20/2005 6:34:00 PM

Well in a perfect world i would be able to have one LCD as my primary monitor, the second LCD for intunes aim code etc, and the the svideo going to the tv for playing movies...alll three working at the same time. Its sounding like the easiest solution might be to get a cheap DVD player for playing movies...as opposed to having all three "monitors" active at the same time.

12/20/2005 6:44:55 PM

or get a cheap 2nd computer or laptop to drive the tv.

12/20/2005 6:52:54 PM

Quote :

"I know in Windows, the default configuration is to have two monitors + a third monitor (TV) cloning what is on one of the two monitors. "

so does that mean you can have the two monitors and a tv running at the same time (but the tv shows the same thing as one of the monitors), because my second monitor turns off if I try and run it off my tv.

So basically I only ever have two displays going at once...

12/22/2005 12:34:25 PM

On my desk at work I have a PC with on board AGP, plus a quadro PCI with dual out. It is hooked up to my LCD main, plus 2 small touch screens. Using the standard "Extend my desktop" in XP Pro, it flawlessly added both of the panels. No cloning, all 3 were independent.

Each monitor can be configured to have a different resolution, which is good, since the little panels can only do 800x600.

12/22/2005 7:53:48 PM

not so sure about the vid card supporting 3monitors outright... mine both only support 2 at a time. however, you can get a PCI vid card for $10 that has a video output.

I've run 4 monitors on my computer between a AGP Gforce FX5600 and a PCI MX4000 using ultramon to do the distributing...

video cards MUST be the same manufacturer, you can't have an ATI card and a NVIDIA card working at the same time and get them to function in anything beyond cloned mode... the drivers are too different (thus sayeth ATI a year ago)

its pretty easy to do, I'm not good with computers by any means... (I do high speed pcboards... windows can blow me. but this is easy)

[Edited on December 22, 2005 at 8:09 PM. Reason : Can't mix and match vid cards though]

12/22/2005 8:07:52 PM

The ability to run three monitors depends heavily on your monitor configuration and video card though. For instance, my video card (ATI AIW X800XL) has a DVI, VGA, and SVIDEO out. I have two LCDs, running one on the DVI and other on the VGA. If I choose to I can connect the SVIDEO out to my TV and have all three on at the sametime, just the TV clones one of the desktops.

But adding a PCI video card is the cheapest way to gain three monitors with three different desktops.

12/22/2005 10:23:58 PM