3+ Monitors

[w_ellis]

Hi all,

So, I thought I was being terribly clever and bought myself a second PCIe graphics card (an Asus Geforce EN210) and one of these http://www.startech.com/item/PEX1TO16-P ... apter.aspx. Unfortunately when I booted, the bios loader screen output letter by letter very slowly, so there's something clearly not quite right about the setup.

I have a Gigabyte GA-945p-s3 motherboard, with 2 Pulsar IIs and a Luna filling the PCI slots, as well as the original graphics card (a Gigabyte 8500GT) in the PCIe x16 slot, a PCIe firewire card and a PCIe network card.

I guess I'm just stretching the system to its limits a bit? Is there an alternative way of powering 3+ monitors that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Anyone using the Matrox Triple Head to Go?

Thanks in advance!
Will

[dawman]

I'll send you some specs and pics of the 4 way Matrox set up that ProTools uses where I am at here in Vegas all week.
This place is incredible. It's a big Beverly Hills style mansion where every room is packed with the finest audio video gear and isolation treatments I have ever seen.
The drum booth is a half of an Octogon made of Honduran Mahogany wood with swinging doors, all acoustically treated, that close all the way or open by increments, and then tons of sand are built into the floor underneath it. Ever seen a Manley mastering board before...??
Me neither its also new.
The card is a Matrox w/ 4 x streams though, and having 4 x 23" Apple Cinema LCD's and I will pester him for the details later. We are all swimming and listening to the mastering sessions outside as they are performed in the mastering booths. Stay tuned.
BTW Scope sounds like I have never heard it before. Manley SLAM on my Modular effects and the EML-101/Mod IV stuff weakens my knees, good thing I am in water up to my neck. The only thing missing here is the fine waittail cocktresses bringing Johnny and me drinks...

[siriusbliss]

Anyone using the Matrox Triple Head to Go?

Yes, I've been using Matrox TH2G for years now.
Great boxes.
I've set things up using the old VGA (Nvidia card) to the TH2G, which drives 3 monitors off the one port, which this leaves the DVI output for a 4th monitor.
The TH2G doesn't require much extra overhead on the system, since it basically spans one monitor across 3 screens.

It's crazy having 3 screens, but it makes it so easy to see everything without having to sit on top of the computer.

Greg

[w_ellis]

Awesome, thanks guys. Looks like I'll just have to bite the bullet and go down the matrox route then.

Cheers,
Will

[siriusbliss]

Studio_Spring2010b.JPG (160.07 KiB) Viewed 3146 times

[w_ellis]

Wow, lookin' sexy there

This is why I need me some more monitor action!

[kylie]

well, if can live with analog outs you can use a single Matrox P690 Plus and upgrade it with a special cable whip to 4 analog outs (2 DVI normally).
you can as well buy 2 of them and make them a team (and use the dvi whip. if you have a single PEG slot only you can get this as PCI card as well, and still combine both.
the non-Plus version is even available as PCI, PCIe x1 and x16, but has only 128MB RAM (vs. 256MB on the Plus.)
it's fanless and consumes ~11 watts only. I got my Plus for 120EUR on ebay.

then there's still the matrox qid. bit more expensive, though. has a fan. I still have one, but decided to drop the idea and use the P690 because I won't be using more than 2 displays (not enough room).

[w_ellis]

Hi Kylie,

Thanks for the tip, but I've just ordered a Matrox DualHead2Go from ebay for just under £100 including postage, so not too expensive in the end.

The P690 looks good, but the one that allows 4 outputs is PCI and all my PCI slots are gone on Scope hardware

Cheers,
Will

[siriusbliss]

The older 4:3 aspect monitors can be found cheap nowadays, and if you're not doing heavy duty gaming on the same machine, then the older cards that still have VGA (or at least dual DVI) are cheap as well, and do the job perfectly for DAW usage.

Greg

[valis]

Sounds like your BIOS is having issues deciding which card to start up with as VESA/primary mode. Some of the newer ATI cards can handle 3 monitors off of a single card. Otherwise you're going to fare best by matching at least the brand (nvidia/ati/etc) of the 2 cards you're using.



For LCD pricing, you can find *new* 1080p 23/24" lcd's online in the US for $150-250 pretty easily. Lower res (1680x1050 19" to 21") can be found for $110-160 *new* if you look for them online. Just opt for slow 'saver' shipping options.

I've got two 1920x1200 lcd's now (24" & 27") as well as 2 1920x1080 (1080p) 24" lcd's and 2 17" 1440x900's in here...plus the iMac and laptops...

[David]

Is there a particular manufacturer and model of LCD that you'd recommend?

[David]

I realise this detracts away from the original question, Will and I hope you don't mind me tagging on to your qurestion and asking my own here, I'm considering a 3rd display option (perhaps the Matrox TH2G solution which has already been suggested)
but I have an old laptop with a broken screen which I was considering using to hook up to a projector
Is it feasable to extend the display from my main machine to the laptop via LAN?
The outputs from my current video card are both in use.
I'm using Windows7 Ultimate 32bit and notice there is an application which sends images to a LAN projector but unfortunately the projector I've got doesn't have a LAN input! and the laptop is running WinXP
I wondered if splitting the Scope screen to the Laptop/projector via LAN may cause problems due to resolution/display configuration differences
I'm intending to display a mixer or a synth on the projected screen and have the rest of Scope on my main monitors.

Is it possible this display configuration will work well?

[w_ellis]

No worries about tagging on the end of the question. Your idea sounds like it could work, but I'd be worried about display performance and niggles even after you'd got it working. Tagging the projector on as a 3rd display to the main computer would probably be simpler (although obviously you'd need to spend some money!)

This could be an alternative option for adding more outputs: CLUB3D NVIDIA 8400GS 64BIT 512MB GDDR2 PCI-EX1 . Unfortunately not enough room in my case for one without losing my Gigabit network card.

Re. monitor choices, I recently bought a 2nd one of these: Iiyama 22" E2208HDS Wide 2ms DVI TFT . They're really good value for money, I think, and a good manufacturer.

[valis]

There's a HUGE thread over at anandtech's forums called The LCD Thread. The first 2-3 posts have everything you'd need to know about LCD panels (2nd post I think has the info) and then below that a long list of recommendations. The list is a little out of date now (xtknight missing?) but usually when someone is on the market for an LCD I recommend a quick read through the recommendations in that forum thread, with some reference to the technical info (why are the IPS/PVA monitors more expensive?) and then a jump to the last 2-3 pages (or more if you have time) to catch up on the discussion about current/new models.

I have several monitors from Samsung, Asus, LG & Westinghouse and prefer the LG & Samsung models by far. Samsung's customer support is no better than Asus (even for me in the US) but I do like their monitors. LG I think is a slightly better company. Dell & HP have some actual decent models (like the new 30" PVA model from HP that's CHEAP) so might be worth considering if they're easy to come by where you are.

[Neutron]

Its kind of annoying about most new monitors being "1080" instead of proper resolution, you can still find 24" monitors with 1920x 1200 though

[David]

Thanks for your responses, great stuff.

[sharc]

Nvidia Quadro cards are a good option.

Recently got a NVS 280 PCI off ebay for under 10 euros (There's a PCI-E version available too). It's only 64mb but will comfortably run 2 displays @1600x1200 via DMS-59 to DVI whip. Low power consumption and passive heatsink. Not a good card for gamers but for 2D apps it'll run happily alongside your existing graphics card.

[siriusbliss]

The other reason I like the Matrox TH2Go is that I can migrate it to my laptop and still run 3 (or 4) monitors by just moving the cable.

Greg

[valis]

Its kind of annoying about most new monitors being "1080" instead of proper resolution, you can still find 24" monitors with 1920x 1200 though

Tell me about it. Especially when you start delving into video delivery for online, computer playback & home media stuff all combined. The problem is the Pixel aspect ratio differences. 480i/480p were horribly confusing because they could be 4:3 or 'anamorphic' aspect widescreen 'squashed' into the same information space, to be stretched by playback device. With 720i & 720p content you had native resolutions for a 16:9 hdtv (no need for anamorphic) but try to display this content natively on a PC screen and you'd find that the pixel aspect ratio still made content look 'squashed' since ntsc/pal pixels are 0.9 "pixel aspect ratio" (legacy issues from the analog days.) This is why many 720p panels were actually 1440x900 but displaying 1366x760 or 768 (1mbit chips used in 720p htdv's limited the size of the actual data and the 'sharpening' and 'smoothing' features that already were present since 420p & anamorphic 'widescreen' tv's just made things 'work out' for tv content.)

Now with 1080p content still isn't always 1:1 for pixel aspect ratio, even if the SOURCE format's aspect ratio is the same. Pixel aspect ratio != overall image frame aspect ratio, but people still learned 1080p as an htdv sales term and so that's been applied to computers now. The media player software used or your video drivers (or some layer in between) will need to conform the video's aspect to the desktop's.

Of course gaming is probably the culprit as much as hdtv sales, with PC gamers being a sizeable & marketable chunk of LCD screen buyers.