Christian Studer 2001-08-11 11:11
I reviewed two solutions, an inexpensive system using 2 Matrox G450 cards (one AGP, one PCI), and a high-end system using a single Matrox G200 MMS card with TV tuner and video-in.
Christian Studer
www.realtimesoft.com
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Greg Howell 2001-08-11 13:10
I do multimedia presentation work and we often use multiple monitors/projectors. The largest we've done would be five-screen projection systems using five Matrox Millenium 1&2 adaptors under NT4 a few years back. Boggled peoples' minds back then :) The problem is you start running out of PCI slots :) At the moment we've got some systems using Apian cards and Hydravision, but find those aren't really as stable as the matrox systems.
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@hlon 2001-08-12 05:01
How many monitors does Win2k/XP support ? I believe it was 8 in Win98 wasnt it ?
Does that mean your limited to using 2 of those quad-head matrox cards or can you use as many as you like? Just think, if it doesnt, you could have up to 25monitor dekstop using 6 PCI (or are they AGP, spoiling my fun ? :P )Matrox G200 Quad Head cards and the AGP slot for somthing more powerfull gaming wise...HEHE :)
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EZToms 2001-08-12 18:36
Nice article christian, though i'm not a quad maniac (maybe at quake ;))
i think win2k limitation is quite high, i don't remember exactly but i saw that somewhere. Must be hard to go over 16 or 20 I think
EZToms
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Christian Studer 2001-08-14 12:39
I've heard different numbers, everything from 9 to 33...
There is a 12-monitor system in the database, using Win2000 and 3x G200 Quad, see Config 727.
Christian Studer
www.realtimesoft.com
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Rich Boyland 2001-08-29 09:04
I have tried to duplicate your quad display using the Matrox 450 AGP and PCI cards in Win 2000 SP2. I am using an Abit KG7, Athlon 1.4 GHz, 256 DDR.
I have noticed the following strange things:
1. The computer boots to the PCI card (for Bios, etc) not the AGP card. I could not find any option to select which card to use for booting in BIOS and I have emailed Abit.
2. I cannot have Dualhead multidisplay (with separate resolutions) on the AGP while Dualhead Multidisplay with separate resolutions on the PCI.
But I can have Dualhead Clone on the AGP and Dualhead Multidisplay (with separate resolutions for both displays) on the PCI card.
And Dualhead multidisplay (with same resolutions) on the AGP and Dualhead Multidisplay (with separate ...) on the PCI.
I have a workaround using the PCI card as my primary monitor, but it would be nice to have the faster AGP card be my main window and have 4 separate windows (instead of 1 long window and 2 normal windows).
It probably has something to do with VIA not being completely supported by Matrox. I disabled busmastering, just in case that was causing the problem, but it did not solve it.
Still, it is nice to see what one can do with 2 $100 video cards.
Rich
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Rich Boyland 2001-08-29 09:27
Update,
Problem #1 solved (my mistake): I was able to find the option in BIOS for booting to the AGP card first.
But still no luck with the second problem. I might try using identical monitors on the AGP card as that is what I am doing on the PCI card.
Rich
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nick 2001-12-30 04:35
ok im just a dumb guy with a bunch of old monitors hangin around... im new to the whole multimon stuff although i think ive got a good grasp on it...
basicly ive got 4 640x480 monitors and i want to make 1 big monitor out of them...
one image spanning across the 4 of them as in im gunna be able to watch movies on all screens and play games on them all... anyone got any ideas? im thinkin under $200...
should i go with an agp card and 3 pci or would u suggest a dualhead agp and a dualhead pci?
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George 2002-03-28 09:20
For our work we currently use the Matrox G-100 and G-200 Quad head cards. The normal configuration is one card per computer. When the rare circumstance requires more desktops displayed than available on a computer, additional X-windows are opened and the outputs are sent to monitors on other computers. If a particular desktop output needs to be on more than one monitor, it is piped to multiple monitors and even ones on other computers. Our software is realtime and to keep it realtime we use Linux.
George
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tim 2002-03-31 05:51
It's good to see a 4-monitor review but I have a question:
All the setups I see and read about use a single monitor height. Does this mean that a 2x2 quad is not a possibility? I would like to set up a single 2560 x 2048 desktop across a 2x2 LCD system under w2k. I'm getting the feeling this is not possible, can anyone confirm this? Cost is not an issue.
Cheers,
tim
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Christian Studer 2002-03-31 06:15
That should work fine, you can arrange your monitors pretty much as you want.
2x2 displays are available from some of the multi-monitor display manufacturers listed here.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Allan 2003-07-27 03:41
Can anyone help me with the following problem:
I have 1 x G450 and 1 x G550 dual cards in a Pentium 4 PC with good RAM etc.
The G550 has 2 x plug and play monitors working perfectly on it. The G450, however, has one monitor working perfectly ... BUT ... when I bought a new monitor yesterday (V/sonic A70f+ plug and play), my WIN2000 Pro would not recognize the new device and I cannot add this 4th monitor. Why will the G450 not accept this 4th monitor ???? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Derek 2005-05-30 20:38
If i have a pci and a agp card, one of them is disabled. how? i use P4 2.4 intel board...
Derek
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jay 2005-06-12 10:27
Has anyone ever used the Matrox mms g200 quad with Linux. The Matrox site doesn't have any drivers posted, but maybe someone else has them.
Thanks,
Jay
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Jeff Kaiser 2005-06-24 06:58
Just learning, but I recently won a DFI NF4-D Ultra in a LAN raffle, and an XFX 7800GTX (newest PCI-Ex) and I thinking about using the Dual PCI-Ex motherboard and 2X dual DVI 7800s.
Any thoughts on whether I could run FPS games in a 2X2 format around 2048X1532?
Will Windows do that?
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UMBRELLA 2006-05-27 13:13
Hello, I understand all the software crap and how to set it up but I was woundering what kind of Hardware you need to set this system up. If I used the two suggested video cards. What kind of a motherboard do I need?
UMBRELLA Corp
www.umbrella-corp.info
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ECarlson 2006-05-27 15:02
UMBRELLA:
Which 2 suggested video cards? You have many options for running 2 video cards, depending on what slots your motherboard has.
The available card/slot types are: AGP, PCI, PCI-e X16, PCI-e X1.
The only type card that you can't use a pair of at one time is AGP, but you can use AGP with the other types, as long as your motherboard has the slots. And all the types can be used together (though it is rare to find a motherboard that has both PCI-e and AGP, so that's almost a non-entity).
If you are buying a new motherboard, and want to use a pair of the latest video cards, then get a board that has 2 PCI-e X16 slots. If performance doesn't matter, then you can use PCI cards (or AGP + PCI) in any old computer (or PCI-e + PCI in any new computer).
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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alex 2006-06-01 08:11
<![CDATA["ok im just a dumb guy with a bunch of old monitors hangin around... im new to the whole multimon stuff although i think ive got a good grasp on it...
basicly ive got 4 640x480 monitors and i want to make 1 big monitor out of them...
one image spanning across the 4 of them as in im gunna be able to watch movies on all screens and play games on them all... anyone got any ideas? im thinkin under $200...
should i go with an agp card and 3 pci or would u suggest a dualhead agp and a dualhead pci?"]]>
i have quad head going for free. the only new thing is my mobo/processor/suppply/case and 1 monitor. everything else was scavenged. my school was throwing out some old computers (19 inch monitors w00t!) and i managed to snag 3 of the same card that plus my built in agp gfx card make 4 heads.
the limiting factors for me where where pci slots and power. Lucky for me the school built the dorms with the thought that 50 students with a bilion gadgets each would be living there every year.my dorm room has 2 circuts that can support 1400w + each (good idea in my opinion)
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alex 2006-06-01 08:24
sorry. forgot to post specs
eMAchenes mobo + intel celeron D 2.7ghz
Card 1: intel 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller
Card 2: viper 330 PCI
Card 3: viper 330 PCI
Card 4: viper 330 PCI
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Anto 2006-07-15 17:57
Hi, I want to propose 6 multiple monitors in my company and am wondering if anyone knows of a solution to running 6 monitors that will all have the different display from one pc.
The purpose is for displaying:
1. 5 microsoft excel spreedsheet
2. 1 wallpaper
Please help me for specs, apriciate for your help
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ECarlson 2006-07-16 01:07
Anto: That's pretty much standard multi-monitor stuff. Nothing special there. Just get enough video cards in the computer to drive 6 monitors, and you're done.
If you already have a dual-out card (PCI-e or AGP), then you might want to just add a 4-output PCI card, or you could add 2 dual-out PCI cards.
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Anto 2006-07-16 05:33
Hi Eric,
Apriciate for your help, Many thanks
Rgds,
Anto
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Jarno Burger 2008-05-22 02:49
but could you use a video capture board that shows the video over 4 monitors?
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Stacey 2008-09-27 10:04
Thaught someone on here might be interested to know that there is a great website with very good quaility monitor stands and they are being sold very cheep. Great addition to anyones setup. check it out at www.tykesupply.com
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Abbey 2008-10-01 07:02
Tim,
Check out 9X Media! They can do any configuration you want! Multi-screen desktop, DLP or LCD video wall... seriously... love it.
www.9xmedia.com
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fastcar 2008-10-06 00:28
I was wondering if ULTRAMON is suppose to fix my four monitor problem? I have a Radeon X1650 and X1550 in my PC, but can only see three monitors at full 1680x1050 resolution. The fourth monitor reports 'out of range' or flashes on and off randomly. The only way I can get it to work is if it is set at VGA or SVGA. I tried moving cables etc. to no avail. Someone suggested this utility, but I can't find an area to alter the screen resolutions within ULTRAMON.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
fastcar
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Christian Studer 2008-10-06 10:33
You can configure display settings via UltraMon menu > Display Settings (right-click the UltraMon system tray icon to get to the menu), but I doubt that UltraMon will help with this, sounds like a video card driver or hardware issue.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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