How to add a third monitor

Horlock

For a few years now I've been using dual monitors on my computer, this was extremely simple as every graphics card seems to have two outputs, the question is how would I go about adding a third monitor?

It may be just as easy, but may be too complex for the benefits - please try to keep the comments helpful rather than going into a whole discussion on exactly what spec my computer is, or whether I really need a third monitor etc etc (which almost certainly will happen).

Lets keep it really simple. My computer has two monitors at the moment (one 24inch widescreen one 19inch non widescreen) they are both on most of the time (unless I'm using the computer to watch a film). I've just aquired another 24inch monitor - so I could just replace the 19inch monitor with the new 24 inch one, but I was contimplating trying to add the third monitor.

I suppose it may be relevant to say the current graphics card is a Nvidia GTS240

retiredin2011

Get a second graphics card if you have a spare place to put it.

Quiet_Spark

If you want a 3rd monitor then simply fit a second graphics card.

Buffett

Even without space for a 2nd graphics card, you should be able to buy USB adapters to add a monitor ... although don't expect great performance.

Johnmcl7

The simplest solution that should give the best performance and least hassle would be to buy a triple head graphics card - some of the new 600 series graphics cards have triple output as standard. Just be careful to check, just because the graphics card has three outputs on it doesn't mean it can drive three independent outputs.

As above you can put in a PCI graphics card or USB adapters but I find both these solutions can be fiddly and don't work that well in practice.

John

rmg1

I have three monitors at work.
I've got two from the graphics card and a StarTech USB adaptor driving the third.
I'm not recommending the StarTech adaptor, it's just the one IT used.

Performance is fine for what I need, there's just a bit of lag from the 3rd monitor when being unlocked or when the screens go dark if I've been away from my desk for a bit.

Horlock

retiredin2011 wrote: »

Get a second graphics card if you have a spare place to put it.

Sorry to sound stupid - this really does sound like a stupid question - but do you mean just plug in any old graphics card and it will work?

I guess I could just try as I have an old graphics card lying around.

I was afraid there would be some sort of crossfire necessary (just to clarify I have no idea what I'm talking about here - I think I heard the term crossfire somewhere) or I'd need an identical graphics card etc.

Will a second graphics card have any negative impact on the day to day running of the computer (assuming the second card is lower spec than the existing)?

almillar

Depends entirely on your motherboard. I don't know what a GTS240 is, but I'll guess it plugs into a PCI-E slot. Your motherboard probably only has one of these. Have a look. Easiest thing I would suggest, would be to REPLACE it with a faster card that can do 3 displays. It's likely to be double width.
WARNING - just because you see 3 plugs at the back of a card DOES NOT mean it can do 3 outputs at the same time!
You can buy this year's latest and greatest for up to £500, or buy something insanely fast from a couple of years ago for £50-£100.