Need simple card that supports Multi-monitor

[OilSheikh]

So, at work, we have a lot of users who have 3 monitor setups.
Currently, we buy Matrox Quad cards which cost around £420 !
I went looking for a cheaper solution and came across Sapphire Flex Eyefinity for £50. Bought this and unfortunately, Eyefinity is not supported in XP.

Can anyone recommend any other graphics cards that supports 3 monitors ?

Please note :
- The card must be low-profile or able to be converted to low profile with a bracket
- Have single slot output ( Card's cooler can be fat )
- Can supports 3 monitors
- Our monitors have DVI and VGA input
- Supports Windows XP 32bit
- PCI-EXPRESS x16
- Does not need extra power from PSU
- Can wotk with a 200W PSU

[starkyller]

NVIDIA NVS 510 for Quad DVI maybe? it makes sense to me

[rfu3]

I thought all the 600 series (GTX 6xx) NVidia card support 3 x monitor (and ATI eye-finity cards) but I'm also looking at this for work so I'm keen to follow this thread and will report back as I familiarise myself.

[starkyller]

I thought all the 600 series (GTX 6xx) NVidia card support 3 x monitor (and ATI eye-finity cards) but I'm also looking at this for work so I'm keen to follow this thread and will report back as I familiarise myself.

yes they all support 3x monitor but a good one takes two slots

[rfu3]

Looks to be GTX 660 (not 650ti) and above from a quick bit of research, but of course you might have the option to use any dual monitor card and onboard video or two video cards depending on the demands of the application and your motherboard configuration. I have also heard most ATI 5000/6000/7000 cards support triple/quad monitor but I'd look to confirm each model individually before I staked a purchase on it. I personally am a NVidia fan although I am quite happy using ATI cards.

[rfu3]

Yes, I would think almost all multi monitor GPU's of the current generation are multi slot. The 660 only uses 2 though as opposed to many of the 670/680 series which use 3 slots.
Have you considered a USB graphics card (USB->VGA/DVI/HDMI)? It depends on your use of the 3rd monitor but many support up to 1080P video and are sub £50.

[herulach]

I'm pretty certain you'll find any consumer grade card limited to two monitors in XP 32bit. What should work is any card with a single slot+ integrated graphics if it has it. XP is smart enough to span the graphics over 3 monitors connected to 2 adaptors. Assuming you have integrated graphics in the machines then it should work with your current ATI card as a test.

[KritikalMass95]

gtx 550 ti. supports 2660x1440 resolution (cheap) around 90 pound in CeX right now and runs all my gaming needs, and is multimonitor supported!

[scaryjim]

unfortunately, Eyefinity is not supported in XP.

That shouldn't matter. Eyefinity is just a way to pretend that the 3 monitors are actually one big surface, but that's not what you want to do. You just want to run three monitors (presumably with extended desktop). This *should* work without eyefinity (particularly on the sapphire flex cards) - plug three monitors into the card and Windows should see them as separate monitors.

If you're struggling, try downloading the Hydravision package from AMD, which is their multimonitor setup software. You may need to be running that to get Windows to see three monitors.

Basically, if a Matrox can run three monitors in Windows XP, a Sapphire flex card should also be able to.

[Jay]

If its not for gaming use USB adapters, we do this in work for multi monitor system monitoring boxes.