Question Cheapest way to add a THIRD monitor?

[zenrunner92]

My desktop has 3 video outputs: HDMI, DVI, and VGA. The first two are currently used. I want to add a third monitor WITHOUT using VGA.

Most cost effective solution?

I do zero gaming or video editing... this is strictly a productivity machine. All the vid cards I'm finding seem like massive overkill for my simple needs, solely aimed at gamers.

 

[NedSmelly]

Without knowing exactly what your computer is… a used Nvidia Quadro, such as the P400 or P600.

 

[Math Geek]

are you asking what type of new gpu do you need/want?

or how to make what you have (which we don't even know what it is) work with a 3rd monitor?

or something else?

please elaborate and include your current pc specs to include the psu model so we can help make some sort of informed suggestion.

thanks

 

[zenrunner92]

are you asking what type of new gpu do you need/want?

or how to make what you have (which we don't even know what it is) work with a 3rd monitor?

or something else?

please elaborate and include your current pc specs to include the psu model so we can help make some sort of informed suggestion.

thanks

Asus Z87 mobo
Thermaltake 550 PSU
Intel i5 processor (about 8 years old)
32GB RAM
512GB SSD
Win10 Home

 

[NedSmelly]

Asus Z87 mobo
Thermaltake 550 PSU
Intel i5 processor (about 8 years old)
32GB RAM
512GB SSD
Win10 Home

Yep that's an old system. You won't get 3 displays out of the Intel UHD graphics. My suggestion of the Quadro is the most straightforward (supports at least 3 4K 60Hz screens). You'll need Displayport though.

P400 only draws 35W, so no PSU upgrade is needed.

 

[Math Geek]

that's pretty old as well. is a p400 something you can still buy? would do the job if you can still get one.

my question would be for a simple productivity pc why the anti-vga stance? seems like it would not really matter for such a simple use case.

 

[zenrunner92]

that's pretty old as well. is a p400 something you can still buy? would do the job if you can still get one.

my question would be for a simple productivity pc why the anti-vga stance? seems like it would not really matter for such a simple use case.

Yep that's an old system. You won't get 3 displays out of the Intel UHD graphics. My suggestion of the Quadro is the most straightforward (supports at least 3 4K 60Hz screens). You'll need Displayport though.

P400 only draws 35W, so no PSU upgrade is needed.

Thanks for the input, guys---I tried using the VGA connection and MG is correct, it's plenty good enough. The 3rd monitor will mainly be used to show various Dropbox folders open at the same time, so no need for pristine graphics.

Computer's onboard Intel graphics seems to be ok running 3 monitors, I don't notice any hiccups of any kind, fingers crossed.

 

[NedSmelly]

Thanks for the input, guys---I tried using the VGA connection and MG is correct, it's plenty good enough. The 3rd monitor will mainly be used to show various Dropbox folders open at the same time, so no need for pristine graphics.

Computer's onboard Intel graphics seems to be ok running 3 monitors, I don't notice any hiccups of any kind, fingers crossed.

Glad to hear this worked - a nice surprise to hear the UHD graphics were up to the task.

 

[Math Geek]

For simple displays it's good enough. Not gonna be playing games on it but 3 screens just showing office apps n browsers is ample

 

[zenrunner92]

Glad to hear this worked - a nice surprise to hear the UHD graphics were up to the task.

For simple displays it's good enough. Not gonna be playing games on it but 3 screens just showing office apps n browsers is ample

Shut down the computer overnight and when I turned it back on this morning, Windows had totally forgotten my display settings so it had the 3 monitors in random orientations and locations: instead of M1vertical/M2horizontal/M3vertical like I left it, it was something like M2vert/M1vertical/M3horiz. Took almost 10 minutes to get them back to how they're supposed to be.

Any idea what would have caused that to happen? Am hoping this was just a one-time hiccup rather than going to be a permanent bug. I restart Windows once a week to keep everything running smoothly, but if this is going to happen every time I might expand that interval between restarts.

 

[Math Geek]

i've had that happen to me periodically as well. i also run 3 screens like you are.

no idea what causes it either. i have found that before i reboot i disable the 2 extra screens, then re enable them once it's rebooted. this has kept it from popping up since i started doing it. . prob not the perfect solution, but it's worked for me

 

[geofelt]

As a suggestion, do not shut down.
Use sleep to ram(no hiberhate)
That puts the pc and monitors into a very low power state essentially equivalent to full power off.
Plus, the sleep/wake time becomes a handful of seconds.

With older display devices, there could be some glitches.

 

[zenrunner92]

As a suggestion, do not shut down.
Use sleep to ram(no hiberhate)
That puts the pc and monitors into a very low power state essentially equivalent to full power off.
Plus, the sleep/wake time becomes a handful of seconds.

With older display devices, there could be some glitches.

i've had that happen to me periodically as well. i also run 3 screens like you are.

no idea what causes it either. i have found that before i reboot i disable the 2 extra screens, then re enable them once it's rebooted. this has kept it from popping up since i started doing it. . prob not the perfect solution, but it's worked for me

Do you think adding an external card might resolve this issue? Am looking at this one:
https://a.co/d/b098Y4d

 

[Math Geek]

not really. i have a dedicated gpu and it does it to me.

i haven't been able to nail down why it happens, so have not been able to fix it.

my first thought was as the card initialized it powered up each output one by one and assigned numbers as it went. so i swapped around outputs so they'd match the way it did this. but it still mixed em up again and again down the line so that wasn't it. few other attempts also failed.

 

[geofelt]

Windows is designed to be able to run multiple graphics adapters and drivers.
That GT710 seems ok.