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MUT308
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Kansas City, MO

MUT308

Premium Member

Cheap second GPU for third monitor?

Base system specs right now:
i7 930 2.8GHz
18GB DDR3 RAM
GTX 460 1GB
Asus P6X58D-E
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16, x8, x8 or x16, x16, x1)

I recently acquired a third monitor. My GTX 460 only supports two monitors. Gaming on three monitors would be nice, but I'm on a budget, so for now, I'd just like to be able to game on my center monitor but have other things open on my side monitors.

What GPU should I buy to allow me to use the third monitor? And should I then have my center monitor plugged into the GTX 460 and put the other two monitors on my second card or put only one monitor on the second card?

Here are two I'm considering:
$31.99 - EVGA 01G-P3-1312-LR GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 14130586

$34.86 - ASUS GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Video Card, EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP)
»www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE- ··· 05MEDD80

Would either of those be adequate?

Bonus question: If I wanted to game across all three monitors at 1920x1080 and 30 fps minimum, what's the minimum I'd have to spend? And would I be better off with a single GPU or two?

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

Premium Member

A second 460? You can't game on a third monitor if you use two disparate GPUs, you have to be running SLI/Crossfire to use Eyefinity/whatever-nividia-calls-it. Or switch to a single AMD (any recent ones at or above the _850s) or Nvidia (660/670/680/690/Titan) card that can run 3 monitors by itself.
Krisnatharok

Krisnatharok to MUT308

Premium Member

to MUT308
said by MUT308:

Bonus question: If I wanted to game across all three monitors at 1920x1080 and 30 fps minimum, what's the minimum I'd have to spend? And would I be better off with a single GPU or two?

It's not 1920x1080, it's 5760x1080. Eyefinity treats all 3 displays as one and stretches the game across all three.

See:

AMD Eyefinity: »www.amd.com/us/products/ ··· ity.aspx

Nvidia Surround: »www.nvidia.com/object/3d ··· ogy.html

MUT308
Premium Member
join:2001-02-07
Kansas City, MO

MUT308

Premium Member

Thanks! It looks like while a second GTX 460 will allow me to do this at a decent framerate in some games, I may as well save my money and get a cheap card for the third monitor for now. I'll get a 7970 or 670 down the road when they're a little more affordable.

Krisnatharok
PC Builder, Gamer
Premium Member
join:2009-02-11
Earth Orbit

Krisnatharok

Premium Member

You cant game with a "cheap card" if it's not identical to what you have now.

cpsycho
join:2008-06-03
Treadeu Land

cpsycho to MUT308

Member

to MUT308
I have a HD 6850 runs really good with 3 monitors can't run every game at max but pretty close.