[SOLVED] Multi Monitor Setup - 2 out of 6 not working

[zaiserr]

Hello everyone,

I hope to find a solution to the following problem. Also, I hope this is the right forum to post this in, otherwise please advise if I should open a thread under "Graphics/GPU".

I ordered a new workstation for my workplace, because I wanted an upgrade to a 6 display setup. Our IT provider made an offer for a setup that included two Asus Dual GeForce RTX 3050 OC (8GB DDR6) in the system. I told them that the graphics card is way too pricey for what I need (office work, a lot of productivity tools, excel sheets and some occasional graphic design/photo editing), therefor I asked them to downgrade it to two "cheaper" graphics cards that still would support 6 displays with Full HD resolution at 60 Hz. Apparently they did not want to do that and said, this is the "cheapest" solution they could offer for the system. So, after some research online, I decided to get just one card and a Display-Port MST adapter, thinking that I can use 3 out of 4 ports on the card for direct monitor connection and to split the last DisplayPort on the card with the adapter into again 3 separate monitors.

Yesterday I configured the entire system, windows recognized the 6 displays but will only connect to 4 of them. In the display settings of Windows 11 displays 5 and 6 are set to "Disconnect this display" - if I choose to extend to it, Windows randomly disconnects any other remaining display.

After that I tried to connect the two remaining displays to the onboard graphics card (after enabling the iGPU in BIOS to "always on", which also has 1 HDMI and 1 DisplayPort )- first I connected only one of the two remaining monitors and it worked - all 5 showed up. After rebooting with the last monitor connected, something odd happened. The two remaining displays were mirrored and had a maximum resolution of 1280x720, the option to set it higher was greyed out.

Then I tried to update the GPU driver and setting up the multiple displays in NVIDIA Control Panel - here I ran into the same issue as in Windows display settings - 6 Monitors were shown, but when I checked the 5th it displayed the message "this GPU support up to 4 displays" - I kind of get that, since it has only 4 ports, but isn't that exactly what the MST adapter is for? To split the signal running through a single port? I mean, if I connect the MST-Adapter to my laptop, which also has only one port, it still can use all 3 displays and the laptop screen. It is strange that a card like the RTX 3050 can't...

Do you see any possibility to make this setup work without buying an additional graphics card? I already talked to IT again, asking for the cheapest card they have on stock that would support 2 displays and would still be compatible to the current mainboard - they offered the MSI GT 1030 (GF GT 1030, 2GB DDR4, PCI 3.0 x4 Low-Profile) but I did not order it yet because I wanted to first check here if there would be any solution with the current setup.

Here are all the details of the workstation:
Displays: 6x DELL P2422H (4 on DisplayPort, 2 on HDMI)
MST Adapter I bought via Amazon: Cable Matters Triple 4K DisplayPort Splitter (Mini DisplayPort Hub ) with 2X 8K DisplayPort 1.4 and 1x 4K HDMI for Windows, NOT Compatible with macOS (Link for further description of the product)
1 x power supply ATX 2.4 SEASONIC Focus GX, 750 Watt, 80 Plus Gold
1 x mainboard ASUS Prime Z690-P D4-CSM, LGA1700, ATX
1 x processor INTEL Core i5-13600K, LGA1700, 14 cores
1 x RAM CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16 GB Kit (2x 8GB), DDR4 3200MHz
1 x graphics card ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 3050 OC, 8GB GDDR6
1 x SAMSUNG 980 Pro Solid-State-Module, 500GB, M.2, NVM Express, PCIe 4.0
1 x HDD 3,5" SATA 6Gb/s WD Red Plus, 1TB, 64MB Cache

Thank you very much in advance for any help and response.

Kind regards,
Richard

 

[DRagor]

After that I tried to connect the two remaining displays to the onboard graphics card (after enabling the iGPU in BIOS to "always on", which also has 1 HDMI and 1 DisplayPort )- first I connected only one of the two remaining monitors and it worked - all 5 showed up.

You were on the right track here. The only problem with it is that your motherboard probably only allows one monitor at a time (despite having two output display ports). I say probably because they did not mention it in specification. You can do a quick test - remove 3050 from system and connect 2 monitors to motherboard. If you can't make them work together in extended mode then it means the board supports only one monitor at a time.
As for mixing 3050 and 1030 - that should work assuming there is enough physical space in case to install them both at same time.

 

[zaiserr]

You were on the right track here. The only problem with it is that your motherboard probably only allows one monitor at a time (despite having two output display ports). I say probably because they did not mention it in specification. You can do a quick test - remove 3050 from system and connect 2 monitors to motherboard. If you can't make them work together in extended mode then it means the board supports only one monitor at a time.
As for mixing 3050 and 1030 - that should work assuming there is enough physical space in case to install them both at same time.

Thank you for your quick response! I did not physically remove the 3050 from my system, but disconnected all monitors from it and hooked up 2 to the motherboard. And you were right, the motherboard only supports one at a time, despite having two connectors, since the same issue as described above occured now.

Well, then there seems to be no other way than to order the new card and set it up in the system... I still do not quite understand why the MST-Adapter is not working, since it "should" count as only one monitor for the card, but then split the signal into three different outputs - if I did not understand wrong what the MST-Adapter is supposed to do.

 

[helpstar]

the 3050 only supports up to 4 displays
you can use the 13600K integrated graphics, connecting 2 displays directly to the motherboard, in theory you can connect another 4 with it (4 total )

edit:
eventually a BIOS update is necessary

 

[zaiserr]

the 3050 only supports up to 4 displays
you can use the 13600K integrated graphics, connecting 2 displays directly to the motherboard, in theory you can connect another 4 with it

edit:
eventually a BIOS update is necessary

Thank you!

So you think a BIOS update will resolve this issue: "After rebooting with the last monitor connected, something odd happened. The two remaining displays were mirrored and had a maximum resolution of 1280x720, the option to set it higher was greyed out. "? I will check, but I think the BIOS came with the latest update, because it is a custom workstation and the IT provider did every update (including BIOS, Windows, Graphics etc.) before shipping it out to me.

 

[helpstar]

check in BIOS if something like this has to be enabled 1st:

[Motherboard] How to enable iGPU Multi-Monitor to have dual-screen display | Official Support | ASUS Global

 

[DRagor]

I still do not quite understand why the MST-Adapter is not working, since it "should" count as only one monitor for the card

Can't give you a definitive answer as I'm not really familiar with this device, but I suppose it would only count as one monitor it would be used to duplicate the displays. As long as it is set to extend displays it has to function as separate monitors for the source, hence the 3050 was tasked with displaying 6 monitors while it can only do 4 (at least how I see it). On laptop you only have one native display plus those connected to MST so how many total? Probably below the maximum for the laptop's GPU.
As for connecting multiple displays to motherboard - there are already boards that can run 4 at once. It's just that the board specification has to say that explicitly that it can run that many - so for example there are boards that have 4 outputs but can run only 3 monitors at once. And unfortunately seems like you got board that is even worst in that regard.

 

[zaiserr]

check in BIOS if something like this has to be enabled 1st:

[Motherboard] How to enable iGPU Multi-Monitor to have dual-screen display | Official Support | ASUS Global

Thank you - the article did not help as much, as the option was already enabled by me before. BUT it made me try to update the Intel Graphics driver. And hooray, that did the trick!! Apparently the IT departmend did update everything EXCEPT the Intel Graphics Driver (thinking probably I would only use the 3050 instead). After updating to the latest version, I can now run 2 monitors via onboard GPU and 4 monitors via the 3050.

For all other users out there who might have this issue in the future: before all 6 of them worked, I had to manually enable monitor 5 and 6 from the Intel Graphics Control panel, as probably whilst the iGPU mutli monitor was enabeled, an override from the 3050 was still active. In the graphics control panel, I right clicked monitor 5 and 6 and set them to "enable" and voila, after that I could rearrange all of them in place and set them to extend. Now the setup works flawlessly with only one RTX 3050 insted of two.

 

[zaiserr]

Can't give you a definitive answer as I'm not really familiar with this device, but I suppose it would only count as one monitor it would be used to duplicate the displays. As long as it is set to extend displays it has to function as separate monitors for the source, hence the 3050 was tasked with displaying 6 monitors while it can only do 4 (at least how I see it). On laptop you only have one native display plus those connected to MST so how many total? Probably below the maximum for the laptop's GPU.
As for connecting multiple displays to motherboard - there are already boards that can run 4 at once. It's just that the board specification has to say that explicitly that it can run that many - so for example there are boards that have 4 outputs but can run only 3 monitors at once. And unfortunately seems like you got board that is even worst in that regard.

Now that you explained it like that, it makes sense. My laptop is a ThinkPad X1 Xtreme Gen1, so probably the graphics card can support also up to 4 displays, meaning 3 via the MST and also the laptop screen. Thanks for the valuable input and help on the topic.