Multiple independent displays

[Jeebs79]

Hi everyone, first post.

For what it's worth, when I say display I mean the graphic rendering of the visual information that is sent to the monitor. The monitor is the hardware that is used to view the display.

I am interested in building a new computer that can drive multiple independent monitors.I don't know if this is even possible, so bear with me. I want to set up a number of virtual machines and be able to direct the display of a given virtual machine to a specific monitor. That monitor would essentially become an independent computer able to do whatever it wants and not affect the activity in either the base operating system or other virtual machines.

I am pretty sure I can direct the display of a given virtual machine to a specific graphics adapter, although I haven't tried it. I would like to run the base OS with Linux and put Windows in the virtual machines.

I assume that I would need a separate adapter for each monitor I want to hook up, correct?? What I am looking for is some help understanding if this is even possible. Thanks.

 

[k1114]

Nvidia cards can support 2 independent monitors, amd can support 3, there are also "special" versions of the cards that may support more. But you do not need a separate card for each monitor or vm. In windows you will want to set the monitors to extended mode (although it should default to this) in display settings. I'm not sure how this is set in linux but I know you can do the same thing and I hear nvidia is better compatibility for linux.

Depending on your budget and what you are using multiple vms for will determine what gpu you should get.

 

[Jeebs79]

I assumed that Linux would be a better base OS (easier to configure), should I go with Windows instead?

 

[k1114]

I just don't have much experience with linux, but I know you can do the same thing in either.