What video card(s) for quad display?

[HCHTech]

I've got a computer with an Intel DP55WG motherboard. This used to be a server, and I'm trying to turn it into a desktop. The original RAID array was removed, and I'll be installing a single HD. There is a single head PCI video card that I'll be replacing as well. The 32 gigs of RAM we'll be keeping.

My customer would like to drive 4 monitors (he already owns 4 identical monitors and the mounting hardware - the monitors each have both VGA and DVI inputs - no HDMI) in a 2x2 matrix. The motherboard has a single PCIe X16/8 slot, and 2 regular PCI slots. Here is the list from the manual:

==========
Expansion
Capabilities
• One PCI Express 2.0 x16 (x8 when the PCI Express x8 connector is used) bus add-in card connector (blue)
• One PCI Express 2.0 x8 bus add-in card connector (blue)
• One PCI Express x4 bus add-in card connector from the PCH
• Two PCI Express x1 bus add-in card connectors from the PCH
• Two PCI conventional bus connectors from the PCH
==========

Believe it or not, this guy is not a gamer. He's a stock broker and wants to have a setup "like at work". We need to be able to do one window spread into one big display and be able to maximize one window per display. Normally he has email on one, stock tickers on 2 others and a browser on the 4th.

I've done dual displays several times, but never a quad.

What cards would you recommend for this job? The OS will be Win7-64.

Thanks!

 

[jbartlett323]

I've got a computer with an Intel DP55WG motherboard. This used to be a server, and I'm trying to turn it into a desktop. The original RAID array was removed, and I'll be installing a single HD. There is a single head PCI video card that I'll be replacing as well. The 32 gigs of RAM we'll be keeping.

My customer would like to drive 4 monitors (he already owns 4 identical monitors and the mounting hardware - the monitors each have both VGA and DVI inputs - no HDMI) in a 2x2 matrix. The motherboard has a single PCIe X16/8 slot, and 2 regular PCI slots. Here is the list from the manual:

==========
Expansion
Capabilities
• One PCI Express 2.0 x16 (x8 when the PCI Express x8 connector is used) bus add-in card connector (blue)
• One PCI Express 2.0 x8 bus add-in card connector (blue)
• One PCI Express x4 bus add-in card connector from the PCH
• Two PCI Express x1 bus add-in card connectors from the PCH
• Two PCI conventional bus connectors from the PCH
==========

Believe it or not, this guy is not a gamer. He's a stock broker and wants to have a setup "like at work". We need to be able to do one window spread into one big display and be able to maximize one window per display. Normally he has email on one, stock tickers on 2 others and a browser on the 4th.

I've done dual displays several times, but never a quad.

What cards would you recommend for this job? The OS will be Win7-64.

Thanks!

Dual cards, one in the 16x slot and one in the 8x slot. anything should work, id just pick up a couple $40-$50 PCI-E cards (perferably of the same manu, but that's optional)! This is assuming the 8x slot is actually a full 16x slot size with 8x electrical. The 16x card will step down, you just lose on performance, which isnt an issue here...

Otherwise, the only way i am aware of to run quad displays is with a pricey workstation card or an AMD eyefinity setup...

EDIT: the manual specs you posted are confusing, so it only has 1 PCI-E slot at all? single card is mandatory. Eyefinity or Workstation ($1000+ usually, but somebody may know better than me..) here we come!

 

[HCHTech]

I agree, the manual specs are confusing. Unfortunately, the 8x slot is only half-length. I think I might be stuck with using 2 regular PCI dual-head cards. I talked with someone today who has done a few of these, and they mentioned the Matrox G450 as a PCI solution they have seen in the past, but these aren't current cards. There are some on ebay, but Matrox doesn't make a Win7 driver for them, so I think that's out. I'll do some newegg trolling to see if something pops up.

I suppose I might use a PCIe card plus a regular PCI card, but I hate guessing at these things when you have to buy new parts to guess.

 

[SoloCon]

I agree, the manual specs are confusing. Unfortunately, the 8x slot is only half-length. I think I might be stuck with using 2 regular PCI dual-head cards. I talked with someone today who has done a few of these, and they mentioned the Matrox G450 as a PCI solution they have seen in the past, but these aren't current cards. There are some on ebay, but Matrox doesn't make a Win7 driver for them, so I think that's out. I'll do some newegg trolling to see if something pops up.

I suppose I might use a PCIe card plus a regular PCI card, but I hate guessing at these things when you have to buy new parts to guess.

The Matrox cards are not worth it for the modern day. PCI/PCIe combo will both work as long as they are using the same driver. (Does not have to be the exact same card)

Here is a setup I did as of late all for 1 PC. That is 5 screens total. (5th screen not turned on in that pic)

 

[Vicenarian]

There's a bunch of (mid-range) video cards from AMD that will drive 5 displays off one card.

Edit: The Sapphire "Flex" series of cards is probably your best bet

 

[Maniaman]

Midrange AMD Eyefinity cards exist in the $50-$100 range. Only thing is you'll need active DisplayPort adapters for the monitors.

 

[SoloCon]

Day trading, as stated, just get 2 PCI cards @ 20.00 each. Call it a day.

 

[Vicenarian]

Day trading, as stated, just get 2 PCI cards @ 20.00 each. Call it a day.

But day traders also play games between work