SOLVED Double Video Card to drive 3 monitors and 1 projector

Acalex2011 · Nov 7, 2011

Hi guys,
I have already an ATI Radeon HD 5570 on board 2GB (with a VGA, a DVI and HDMI port) driving 2 monitors at the same time...and would like to add a second card...same as the first one to drive a third bigger monitor and a projector...do not need to connect the two cards internally...would that be possible?
I will be able to drive 3 monitors at the same time independently and as well a projector (don't need to run at the same time tough)

Thanks a lot for the advices!

Cyrix_2k · Nov 7, 2011

Yes, it is possible. Check a few things first: since you mentioned you have a 5570, does it have a display port and support eyefinity? If yes, you can drive more than two monitors with it using active display port adapters (I believe most of the AMD eyefinity cards support 4 monitors which is perfect for you). If your current card does not support eyefinity, you can pickup a higher end eyefinity capable card if you want to support all four monitors on one card and gain performance at the same time. My suggestion is to look at the Sapphire flex cards as they will drive three monitors out of the box and only require one active display port adapter. If you still choose to go the dual video card route, make sure your second card utilizes the same driver as your primary card - for you, this just mean it needs to be a non-legacy AMD/ATI card. On windows xp, this ensures stability but on vista/7, this is virtually a requirement. Because of this, getting a single eyefinity capable card may very well prove cheaper unless you have two pci-e x16 slots on your board. The non-legacy PCI and PCI-e 1x cards are rather pricey.

Acalex2011 · Nov 8, 2011

Cyrix_2k said:
Yes, it is possible. Check a few things first: since you mentioned you have a 5570, does it have a display port and support eyefinity? If yes, you can drive more than two monitors with it using active display port adapters (I believe most of the AMD eyefinity cards support 4 monitors which is perfect for you). If your current card does not support eyefinity, you can pickup a higher end eyefinity capable card if you want to support all four monitors on one card and gain performance at the same time. My suggestion is to look at the Sapphire flex cards as they will drive three monitors out of the box and only require one active display port adapter. If you still choose to go the dual video card route, make sure your second card utilizes the same driver as your primary card - for you, this just mean it needs to be a non-legacy AMD/ATI card. On windows xp, this ensures stability but on vista/7, this is virtually a requirement. Because of this, getting a single eyefinity capable card may very well prove cheaper unless you have two pci-e x16 slots on your board. The non-legacy PCI and PCI-e 1x cards are rather pricey.

Hi,thanks a lot for your answer. First of all my 5570 is a cheap version apparently with no display port. There is the normal VGA, an HDMI and DVI. So even if ATI advertises Eyefinity on every card, it is actually not possible cz some producers do not add any display port to save money. My MB is a P8P67-M PRO Rev B3 so it should support
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16, x8, x8 or x16, x16, x1)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x1

So you are suggesting to replace my chip card with something like this?

This has 1DP, 2DVI and a HDMI...it means I can drive 4 screens at the same time? Or just 3 at the same time and when the 4th is active one of the monitors will turn it off?

What I need is 3 monitors all at the same time (extended desktop) and a 4th output for a projector which of course does not need to be on at the same time with all other 3 screens...

Acalex2011 · Nov 8, 2011

OK...now I see the difference, the one I showed to you has 4 ports but it does NOT allow 3 independent monitors OUT OF THE BOX but it requires a Display port monitor or an active adapter.

This one on the other end (Flex edition) has 4 ports but it supports 3 independent out of the box (single DVI, dual DVI and HDMI) and a potential 4th independent using an active display port adapter....correct? Actually this one is not even that expensive...of course there is the 6770 flex which is 20 euro more...what do you think?

EDIT: But on Sapphire site they say...out of the box connecting 3 DVI monitors...if this has only 2 DVI port...does that mean I need an adapter HDMI --> DVI at this point...so why they say OUT OF THE BOX?

hajalie24 · Nov 8, 2011

It probably comes with an adapter, either way hdmi to dvi adapters are like a dollar. You should have no problems though with a second graphics card to power the two other displays, but with an eyefinity one you can sell the old one so it may just end up being a simpler solution for around the same price.

Cyrix_2k · Nov 8, 2011

Acalex2011 said:
OK...now I see the difference, the one I showed to you has 4 ports but it does NOT allow 3 independent monitors OUT OF THE BOX but it requires a Display port monitor or an active adapter.

This one on the other end (Flex edition) has 4 ports but it supports 3 independent out of the box (single DVI, dual DVI and HDMI) and a potential 4th independent using an active display port adapter....correct? Actually this one is not even that expensive...of course there is the 6770 flex which is 20 euro more...what do you think?

EDIT: But on Sapphire site they say...out of the box connecting 3 DVI monitors...if this has only 2 DVI port...does that mean I need an adapter HDMI --> DVI at this point...so why they say OUT OF THE BOX?

I actually just got the Sapphire 5670 flex at work and it comes with an HDMI->DVI adapter, so "out of the box" 3x DVI support is correct. I can confirm it all works correctly. I believe the sapphire flex series cards are the only ATI/AMD cards that support 3 monitors without an active display port adapter. The 5670 says it supports up to four monitors so you should be good with that card. 5670 vs 6770 is up to you - if you game, I'd go with the 6770 since the 5670 doesn't have a lot of horsepower. For productivity and light gaming, the 5670 is fine though.

The first card you linked should also support four monitors, but a display port hub & two active adapters are needed. The sapphire flex cards keep things clean, simple, and are a cheaper solution when more than two monitors are going to be used.

:edit: For your projector, I would imagine a passive display port adapter will work provided you disable one of your three monitors. For the extra $10 or so the active adapter costs, I would go ahead and make it possible to drive all four at the same time.

Acalex2011 · Nov 9, 2011

Cyrix_2k said:
I actually just got the Sapphire 5670 flex at work and it comes with an HDMI->DVI adapter, so "out of the box" 3x DVI support is correct. I can confirm it all works correctly. I believe the sapphire flex series cards are the only ATI/AMD cards that support 3 monitors without an active display port adapter. The 5670 says it supports up to four monitors so you should be good with that card. 5670 vs 6770 is up to you - if you game, I'd go with the 6770 since the 5670 doesn't have a lot of horsepower. For productivity and light gaming, the 5670 is fine though.

The first card you linked should also support four monitors, but a display port hub & two active adapters are needed. The sapphire flex cards keep things clean, simple, and are a cheaper solution when more than two monitors are going to be used.

:edit: For your projector, I would imagine a passive display port adapter will work provided you disable one of your three monitors. For the extra $10 or so the active adapter costs, I would go ahead and make it possible to drive all four at the same time.

Thanks for all your replies...indeed there is an adapter in the box, thanks for confirming that! I think I will go then either for the 5670 as you suggested for working purposes or directly the 6770 if I should decide (one day) to game a little bit (not doing at all now...but you never know).
Yes as you suggested I would go at this point for an active adapter in order to drive the 3 screens and the projector all at the same time...!
Thanks again for all your support!

Acalex2011 · Nov 9, 2011

hajalie24 said:
It probably comes with an adapter, either way hdmi to dvi adapters are like a dollar. You should have no problems though with a second graphics card to power the two other displays, but with an eyefinity one you can sell the old one so it may just end up being a simpler solution for around the same price.

Indeed, it comes with an adapter...so it's 3 monitors out of the box! I will for sdure go for this solution, much easier and cleaner...and I might end up with the same price of adding another card if I sell back mine...

SOLVED Double Video Card to drive 3 monitors and 1 projector

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