3 Monitor Computer Setup?

1,105 · September 10, 2015

Hi, i want to setup a computer to have 3 monitors hooked up to it for a menu board. what is needed for this since i am not familiar, i want to buy a pc from best buy and setup the monitors up to it. is there an adapter that i will use for this to plug in the on board video card or what please help.

Thank you

18,586 · September 10, 2015

You extending the monitors, or running them all separate desktops? You'd need separate plugins, as 2xDVI and HDMI.

1,105 · September 10, 2015

Mindovermaster i am not sure how you would run a menu board, what is the best way to do this. can i purchase a pc from best buy that has the ability to do this or could you point me in the right direction. link to a pc don't want to spend any more then $799 on the tower to accomplish this. please help if you can

thank you

18,586 · September 10, 2015

Well, I don't know what a "menu board" is. So we're kind of in the same boat.

1,105 · September 10, 2015

when you go into subway lets say and they have 3 monitors on the wall with a different menu on each screen

18,586 · September 10, 2015

You won't find something like that at BestBuy. They use different hardware and software for that.

1,105 · September 10, 2015

ok so need software for that. so could you recommend a tower that i could setup with 3 monitors for this please.

18,586 · September 10, 2015

I'm not a businessman, no simple desktop computer can do this...

2,567 · September 10, 2015

Wouldn't software handle the 3 monitors with different things on the screen? I mean, I can open Notepad on my three monitors and have it work showing different things.

18,586 · September 10, 2015

On 10/09/2015 at 00:45, Open Minded said:
Wouldn't software handle the 3 monitors with different things on the screen? I mean, I can open Notepad on my three monitors and have it work showing different things.

I'm about 90% sure it doesn't work like that. You ever see notepad on top of a certain screen?

1,105 · September 10, 2015

ok, can we move on from the menuboard. what is a good computer for 3 monitors and do i need an adapter to use 3 monitors or just a video card with the appropriate hook ups?

September 10, 2015

I just installed a nvidia quadro k2200 in a workstation used for medical imaging to run three monitors with one card.. I used the two display ports-to-dvi adapters to run two NEC MD242CS (beautiful monitors btw) The onboard DVI was used for the third.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133559

There are many other cards that will allow 3 desktops easily.

3,725 · September 10, 2015

There is nothing at all complex about this configuration.

1. Buy a computer with desired performance and longevity characteristics.

2. Buy a video card that supports 3 monitors or buy a computer that takes more than one video card

Any motherboard with SLI/Crossfire will have sockets for two or three video cards.

Turn off the SLI mode in the BIOS and the cards will operate independently to give your four monitor outputs.

A single video card with 3 or 4 outputs is a bit more expensive.

3. Select the pixel resolution of the 3 monitors so that the video cards can handle it or else get better video cards if you go with 4K monitors. Beyond a certain resolution the monitors need either a DisplayPort connector or else a DualLink DVI and video cards need to be selected that have those outputs.

4. Connect everything up. In an industrial/commercial environment you probably want to run the cables up the wall, so watch out for the length of the video cables. There is a different length restriction based on bandwidth.

5. Develop or purchase appropriate software to put the O/S into "Kiosk Mode" and display the Menus. The software will know how to send different stuff to each desktop by making the appropriate Windows API call.

6. Profit...

3,725 · September 10, 2015

Here is an example of a video card with 3 DisplayPort outputs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125806

I would suggest attempting to run everything on DisplayPort so with that card, you would need 3 long DisplayPort cables and then 3 monitors with DisplayPort inputs.

2,243 · September 10, 2015

try this http://www.digitalmenu.tv/

2,567 · September 10, 2015

On 10/09/2015 at 00:47, Mindovermaster said:

I'm about 90% sure it doesn't work like that. You ever see notepad on top of a certain screen?

That's why I said software should take care of it.

3,038 · September 11, 2015

Any PC with a half decent graphics card will be able to do this.

C'mon, this isn't rocket science.

September 11, 2015

Most towers will have an integrated card that can handle 2 monitors (1 vga port and 1 dvi port) and some will have the additional hdmi port so it can handle a third screen, but if your looking for an always on setup to run a menu board then a graphics card with 3 of the same type monitor connections with matching monitors would be best (I'd follow DevTech's detailed post).

3,725 · September 11, 2015

On 11/09/2015 at 00:14, Jared- said:

Any PC with a half decent graphics card will be able to do this.

C'mon, this isn't rocket science.

Well it might be Rocket Science to source everything at BestBuy!

I found a decent video card:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-4gb-gddr5-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card-silver-black/9855169.p?id=1219441201895&skuId=9855169

But could not find any complete computers, even gaming computers with DisplayPort output which would be cheaper if it existed. So he can add the above card to something they might have. It would need ti run 24/7 so in terms of industrial usage of stuff from BestBuy, it might make sense to buy a gaming computer just to get better power supply etc but at BestBuy it looks like they think a gaming computer is the same crap components in a case that lights up!

3,038 · September 11, 2015

If Dev and I help you piece together a solution, do we get a free meal? Or even better, 3 beers?

19,756 · September 11, 2015

Hardware, any decent quad core rig with 6 or 8 gig ram and at least 2 sli slots free will suffice

You WILL need a GTX 6XX or better graphics card, (or 2 GTX 4XX series if on a budget)<ballpark>

Software, I'm not so sure, (can it be done? Yes) (one way would be to make your menu, and then save the screenshot, then rinse and repeat, and then dragging the screenshot to the other screens)

3,038 · September 11, 2015

TBH, I'm sure there's companies out there that specialise in this sort of things. Pick their brains, and then build your own solution :p.

....And still buy us beers

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