3 monitor setup required

Looking for some opinions of what the best solution is to this.
I have a friend who wants a 3 monitor setup.
No 3D or gaming, just 2D.

So I was wondering what the best way to go about this would be.
Try to get a single ATI Card to drive three monitors?
Or would going with 2 video cards be an easier option.

He does not have the monitors yet, or computer for that matter.
As great as display port is, monitors that have it are slim pickings and the best values seem to be on HDMI/DVI monitors.

Now as far as I understand only the 5700/5800 cards only support 3 monitors via the following configurations.
DVI+DVI+DP
DVI+HDMI+DP

The conman theme is you will always require DP for a 3rd monitor

You do have the exception to the rule here:
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=55541&vpn=11163-13-20R&manufacture=SAPPHIRE
Does anyone know any other exceptions?
Because as far as i know only Sapphire has cards that can drive 3 monitors with using DP

Or I could always go with two cheap cards to drive two monitors such as:
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=51736&vpn=HD545XYNH2&manufacture=XFX

Lastly I would prefer to stay away from dongles to make a 3rd monitor work, via the DP to HDMI adapter.

So as you can most likely tell I have never built an 3 monitor setup with 1 card, so any advise, wisdom or corrections would be much appreciated.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=653481
i could post 3 links, but they are all in that one thread.

digital adaption is not as dongily as it sounds, as often it is the same basic digital data, just adapted to a conector item,not rearanging or mixing or anoything as was done in analog.

Like i said, i am not a fan of dongles, and yes i still think they are as donlgily as they sound.

dongles cost $35.
I can get a 5450 for $40.

$35 , and what would be different about a non ati one that costs only $14
http://estore.circuitassembly.com/p...-DVI-Adapter-Single-Link.html?setCurrencyId=1

Psycogeec said:

$35 , and what would be different about a non ati one that costs only $14
http://estore.circuitassembly.com/p...-DVI-Adapter-Single-Link.html?setCurrencyId=1

Click to expand...

That looks like a passive adapter, I think you need an active one to enable the third output on ATI cards.

OP, if he's not gaming or anything and just wants to run 3 monitors, just grab a couple of the cheapest cards you can find

ratbuddy said:

That looks like a passive adapter, I think you need an active one to enable the third output on ATI cards.

Click to expand...

which is another good reason to avoid adapting the guessing part. the digital video data stream of the DP port can be passivly changed up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort
Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI, Dual-mode ports Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI, Dual-mode ports (which are marked with DP++ logo) can use DisplayPort wires to transmit single-link HDMI and DVI signals which are then converted to higher signal levels by passive external adapters. Dual-link DVI and analog VGA are supported through powered adapters which perform active conversion
. . .
DDual-mode DisplayPort chipset detects the DVI or HDMI passive adapter and switches to DVI/HDMI mode which uses the 4-lane main DisplayPort link and AUX channel link to transmit 3 TMDS signals plus a Clock signal and Display Data Channel data/clock from the chipset. Dual-mode compatible ports are marked with the DP++ logo; most current DisplayPort graphics cards and monitors support this modeual-mode DisplayPort chipset detects the DVI or HDMI passive adapter and switches to DVI/HDMI mode which uses the 4-lane main DisplayPort link and AUX channel link to transmit 3 TMDS signals plus a Clock signal and Display Data Channel data/clock from the chipset. Dual-mode compatible ports are marked with the DP++ logo; most current DisplayPort graphics cards and monitors support this mode

one more reason to not adapt, then i dont have to understand anything

Did i mention I hate dongles? They are not an option.
They have a tenancy to get lost and non tech people wont understand why the monitor wont work when they plug it in without them.

Have a look at this:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=000101&pid=355
DVI + DVI + HDMI WORKS!!!!
Something i am really looking at...

Two cheap cards are temping, as it keeps cost down.
But the over all better solution would be....

Psycogeec said:

which is another good reason to avoid adapting the guessing part. the digital video data stream of the DP port can be passivly changed up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort
Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI, Dual-mode ports Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI or DVI, Dual-mode ports (which are marked with DP++ logo) can use DisplayPort wires to transmit single-link HDMI and DVI signals which are then converted to higher signal levels by passive external adapters. Dual-link DVI and analog VGA are supported through powered adapters which perform active conversion

one more reason to not adapt, then i dont have to understand anything

Click to expand...

Yeah, basically with a passive adapter you aren't using the actual displayport signal at all, which is why it won't work for eyefinity. Why they didn't just put 3 HDMI ports on the dang cards, I have no idea.