Mini ITX Motherboard with 3 Displays?

[spudz72]

Does anyone know if there is an Mini ITX Motherboard that has the capability to drive 3 displays at once? In particular one of the displays being my Dell 30" LCD with 2560x1600 resolution so it requires a Dual-Link DVI. The other 2 monitors will be LCD 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution and can be HDMI.

I'm not using this for gaming but only business use but need the 3 displays. Integrated video would be preferred but if that is not possible and a low profile pci express graphics card is needed that is fine as well. Just not sure on boards that have integrated graphics can you use some of the integrated graphics ports on the mainboard as well as the ports on the video card at the same time?

Small size and and lower energy use are priorities for me. All I am running is a SSD drive with no optical drive and expect I will power it with an Intel Core i3 with 35Watt should be more then enough for what I want.

Just having a hard time finding out what board and/or graphics card I need, as there are so many options but none that I can confirm will work for sure. I had thought I had almost found the right board which is the Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI which has 2 onboard HDMI ports and a DVI port. Until I read the specs which states maximum resolution of 1920x1200 for the DVI and HDMI ports. I knew that HDMI supports 1920x1200 max anyway so that was not surprising but I guess the DVI are not Dual Link which I need for the 2560x1600 resolution Dell LCD.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Now since you are going to using the IGP (Integrated Graphics on Processors) here is the information on the what it can do http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-processor-graphics

and here is some additional information http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-031040.htm

In the end the max number of displays that you are going to be able to support with the IGP is 2 and than you can add a video card to bring additional displays up.

 

[spudz72]

Now since you are going to using the IGP (Integrated Graphics on Processors) here is the information on the what it can do http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-processor-graphics

and here is some additional information http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-031040.htm

In the end the max number of displays that you are going to be able to support with the IGP is 2 and than you can add a video card to bring additional displays up.

Thanks for the response. I'm reading some conflicting information on those links unless I am misunderstanding? For eg. it mentions in the FAQ on the second link provided...

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How do I output to more than one monitor?
Most Intel graphics products can output to one or two displays at the same time and support several different multiple display configurations.

Starting with the 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 4000/2500, three displays support may be possible depending on your computer's configuration. Check with your computer manufacturer if three displays are supported on your computer and which display combinations are supported.
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So according to that 3 independent displays may be supported if using 3rd generation Intel Core Processors.



It also mentioned in the FAQ that you can't use the onboard video and an external PCI-E graphics card at the same time?

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Can I install an external PCI Express* graphics card and use it in parallel with Intel graphics?
No, Intel graphics cannot be used along with an external PCI Express* graphics controller. Installing a PCI Express graphics controller will disable Intel graphics.
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So unless I am misinterpreting what is written here I'm kind of stuck?

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Before the release of the Z68 chipset all of our boards would disable the IGP or on board graphics once a video card was installed on. From the release of the Z68 you were able to run both a video card and the IGP both at the same time and this was set up with the flexabile Display Interface. Now understand since not all the boards will support the same number of displays you are going to need to check with the motherboard maker to see what their boards are supporting. In the case of Intel ITX board that I checked they only listed support for 2 displays from the IGP.