How Can I Add A Third Monitor To My PC?

by David Pitlyuk in Ramblings, Technology | 10 Comments

Hopefully some of you out there reading this are techies and can suggest a solution for me.  I’m putting a 37″ LCD in my office, and I’d like to optionally be able extend my desktop onto it.  The problem is that I am already running two monitors using both DVI ports on my Foxconn 512MB GeForce 7950GT video card.  So there are two solutions, one being better than the other that I’d like to figure out the best and most cost effective way to figure out.

1) This is the most optimal solution.  I’d like to add a third monitor and be able to extend my desktop onto it.

2) If I can’t do the above, or it’s not cost effective, I wouldn’t mind just having a copy of the 2nd monitor on the 3rd screen.  So whatever is showing up on my 2nd monitor, is also identically showing up on the 3rd.

I’m assuming the way to do this is to get another video card in order to obtain another output.  If so, does it have to be the same card (I can run them in SLI mode)?  Or can I pick something cheap up?  If it has to be the same card, I’m worried about power consumption and heat.  I have an Shuttle XPC case, which is a small-form factor case.  It’s extremely tiny, and not sure if it can handle the heat or power of a 2nd powerful video card.  Here’s my specs that you may need:

Any thoughts?  Post your comments below.

January 1st, 2009|10 Comments| Share/Bookmark This Post
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  1. Eric

    01/02/2009 12:43 am

    You may want to try a DVI video splitter. These are a little pricey but might be the best option without any signal loss. The device takes your signal from your 2nd DVI source on your dual video card and sends the signal to both displays (your 2nd monitor and 3rd LCD) Here’s a link to one i just found. http://www.kvms.com/Product/VDA-000001%20.aspx This will also support higher resolutions. You can do your research and others may disagree but this seems like the way to go without having to purchase an additional video card.

  2. David Pitlyuk

    01/02/2009 1:20 am

    A DVI splitter option would work, but not the most optimal solution since it will not extend to a 3rd monitor. Plus that is definitely super pricey…if I can somehow extend the monitor with a second video card, it can definitely be done for less then $300.

    If I got the 2nd video card route, can I just buy a cheapo card or do I need to get the same one and run in SLI mode?

  3. David Pitlyuk

    01/02/2009 11:58 am

    What do you think about this?

    http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=100-U2-UV16-A1&family=USB

  4. Ryan Bricklemyer

    01/02/2009 12:16 pm

    Hey David,

    Take a look at this. They are pretty new, but I am hearing good things.

    http://www.displaylink.com/products.html

  5. David Pitlyuk

    01/02/2009 12:28 pm

    I was just looking at that site (how I found the evga unit), and didn’t understand what their actual product was.

    I’m still trying to figure out if these usb to dvi units can play video well or not. I need a solution that can display video.

    The Newegg reviews seem to flip flop:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=15-101-001&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=2

  6. Scot

    01/04/2009 11:26 pm

    Hey Dave,

    Hopefully I can chime in with something useful here.

    Concerning the USB Adapter: I would definitely say it’s a no-go. I tried this with a USB X-Fi soundcard and it really puts a strain on your cpu. It might be ok in office environments where you’re only viewing spreadsheets, etc. but I wouldn’t ever go the USB route.

    If you go SLI not only do you have to have the same chip, but you must have the same exact model of card that you’ve already got. Your PSU will need to be more beefy as well obviously.

    If I were you I would probably buy 2 ATI X1950 pro’s and put them in crossfire you can get them relatively cheap on eBay. I’m not sure what the Nvidia component to that card would be if you’re an Nvidia guy.

    Good luck!

  7. David Pitlyuk

    01/04/2009 11:34 pm

    Thanks Scot, I’ll keep that info in mind. It may be worth me trying the USB option since it’s only $60…if it’s no good, or too straining on the CPU, I’ll have to look into multiple video cards.

    So there’s no way I can just buy a cheapo video card that does DVI out and use that in conjunction with the video card in there? Or do I have to do SLI to do this?

  8. Mubashar Iqbal

    01/06/2009 12:31 pm

    I know the DVI splitting is not the ideal solution but you can much cheaper versions than the KVMS product.

    newegg.com is a good place to find things like this.

  9. Mike Freed

    01/27/2009 10:46 am

    YoYo Dave,

    I was actually surfing the web at work and somehow your website popped up. So I started looking around and decided to chime in. The easiest way to do this dude is first convert 1 of you dvi outputs to HDMI:

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041902&p_id=2029&seq=1&format=2

    Then get this:

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011303&p_id=2521&seq=1&format=2

    Should cost less than $10. Hope this helps.

    Later man,
    Mike

  10. David Pitlyuk

    01/27/2009 10:49 am

    Freeeeeeed! Awesome, thanks for the tip. That sounds like it’ll be the best solution for duplicating one of the monitors!

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