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3 moitors vs 2, and 3 on a Radeon 6870?

I have a Radeon 6870 video card. I believe it to be this one: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···14161349 (I bought it from ebay and I have the box but it's put up somewhere, I know it's an HIS model and has that display on it). It does have the 2x DVI, 1x HDMI and 2x Mini-DP ports.

With this card can I run 3 monitors via the DVI and HDMI ports or is the HDMI port shared with one of the DVI ports? I looked at DP capable monitors and just doing daisychaining but when the cheapest monitor with 2x DP connections was $500, that went out the water. I could of course get at least one monitor with a DP connection and the others be DVI/HDMI but if I can just use DVI/HDMI that keeps my options open a bit more.

While we're on the subject, will I notice a major gain by going to 3 monitors over 2? I have two 22" 1680x1050 Acer monitors now and one is dying (backlight doesn't want to turn on when it's cold, plus an occasional strip of dead pixels). I refuse to go back to 1 monitor but will I really notice a difference going from 2 to 3?

I do frequently have something open on both monitors and it's great for school work and such where I can have the assignment on one monitor and the ebook text on the other. But like right now, Firefox is open on one and the other is at the desktop "idle".

You can use up to 2 output from 2x DVI + 1 HDMI
The simplest way to get 3 monitors up is to buy a mini-DP to DVI or a mini-DP to HDMI adapter. They are reasonably priced.
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Wacky Races 2012!

Up to 2 outputs from 2x DVI + 1x HDMI? So that means the HDMI is shared with one right? I suspected it was but wasn't sure. I know the Eyefinity thing generally relies on DP connections as I believe you can do 3x monitors per DP.

AMD chips in general have a grand total of 2 TMDS drivers that used by VGA, DVI and HDMI.

On *paper* recent DP outputs may drive 3x monitors, but the needed hubs are made of Unobtainium. However, 1 to 1 converters are available, and generally work well.
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Wacky Races 2012!

Hubs? I thought you just daisychained the DP connections on the monitors?

Looks like either way I'm destined to use a DP connection somewhere.

Some AMD paper I read about 1 year ago was talking about hubs. I looked for them several times, but they were kept being unavailable.

Daisy chaining is another, mostly *on paper* feature -- I've seen at least a dozen different monitors with DP, but none of them supported daisychaining. If there are some that support it, the premium is probably more than the cost of several DP to whatever adapters. You need DP v1.2 all the way.

Here is some info on DP: »www.displayport.org/faq/

Edit: apparently, the DP hub is no longer vaporware!!!
»www.club-3d.com/index.php/produc···1-3.html
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Wacky Races 2012!

Yeah, MST hubs and daisy-chainable monitors FINALLY came out a few months ago. Interestingly, I read reviews for both a couple of days apart. Took it long enough to come out...

It looks like Dell's newer UltraSharp monitors (Uxx13/Uxx14) have daisy-chaining capabilities.

OP: You can have two DVI/HDMI monitors connected to the regular ports, and a third connected via an active DP to DVI/HDMI adapter. Active being the key there (here's one), passive won't work as all of the TMDS transmitters on the card will be used by the other two monitors. It looks like active adapters have dropped tremendously in price, so that would be the easiest/cheapest route to 3 monitors if you're reusing what you have.

If you need to buy a new monitor, ones with a single DP connection are becoming common and cheap now.
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KI6RIT

Aha see I just assumed it would work, I didn't realize those abilities had JUST finally come out. I never really kept up with DP technologies. That explains the $500+ prices on dual DP capable monitors, they're new.

I'm almost certainly replacing all monitors. I could retain one of them but I'm considering going up to 24" or 27" (probably just 24") and either of them will have a slightly higher resolution (1920x1080 vs 1680x1050) than my current monitor. It'd work keeping the one good monitor still but I'd probably rather keep them at least the same resolution.

When I first setup a triple monitor setup using an HD 6870 I guess I lucked out because each monitor had DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connections. I later upgraded to a GTX 670 and ran the same three 27" monitors (Asus VE276Q, VE278Q and VK278Q).

So I guess when you buy your new monitors you'll find it advantages to make sure they each have all three connection options.

Yeah most of them I'm looking at have at least DVI and HDMI (can get a DVI to HDMI cable if for some reason I end up with one that has only DVI and I need to connect to HDMI or something). I've been searching Newegg and specifically looking at ones that have DP though.

How do you like 3 monitors? I seem currently satisfied with 2 but prior to that I seemed satisfied with 1 too and now I'll never go back (I feel like I'm constrained when I use my laptop). I've got the desk space for it and should have the money for it at the end of the month, I'm just wondering if it's going to be as big or noticeable of an upgrade from 2, or should I consider just getting 2 larger monitors (27" or 30")?

I think it depends on your personal needs, available physical space and price point .

I very much like three 27" monitors (5760x1080) but I feel fine on one 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 27" monitor as well.

I'll run a VM in one monitor and access my server on another then switch the tasks around as needed. VPN on one monitor and so on. I'v also tried tripe monitor gaming and it can definitely be fun.

My Wife is a developer and she works from home about one day a week. I was thinking of buying her a Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39" 4K Ultra HDTV (~$699 USD). She VPNs into her work system but since her work system is the same 2560x1440 resolution as her home system it gets a little awkward for the way she works. If she could have a 3840x2160 display at 39" she may get some benefit out of that and the ~30Hz limit shouldn't be an issue for her. So a larger screen and higher resolution may be a better solution for her.

I currently have 2x 24" at work (had 3x 24" before), 2x 19" (rotated) with 1x 27" at home. I found that the 3rd 24" didn't offer enough bewnefits for the extra space taken up.

Because the side monitors are much narrower in my home setup, that no longer applies; and as a matter of fact, I plan to upgrade to 2x 21" (rotated) plus 1x 30" in the middle.
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Wacky Races 2012!

That's my thought as well. I have the space (large corner desk) but I'm not 100% sure I really want or need 3 monitors.

I could go the cheap option and just replace the flaky 22" with another 22" 1680x1050 for $200 or less. I just figured if I'm replacing one monitor why not see if I can do some kind of upgrade while I'm at it.

I could do a bunch of hand-me-down upgrades with the good 22" too, my GF has a 20" WS which could then go to her step-dad who is still using a 19" 4:3 that's got damage at the bottom of the screen. I could even put this flaky 22" in my server rack in place of the 17" 4:3 but shrug.

What I'd likely end up considering is 3x 24" or 2x 27" as I could get those for about the same price: ~$600 total. Only concern is the 27" would likely be 1920x1080, same as the 24". Would the larger screen on the same resolution hurt quality?

I have 3 monitors right now 3 x 1920x1200 side by side and I find that there's minimal benefit from the 3rd monitor. I have not tried the rotated side by side monitors.

I now run 2x 23" 1920x1080 monitors on a gtx 560ti. But before that I was running a 21" 1680x1050 and 23" 1920x1080 first on a 6870 and then on the 560. I never used them both for gaming but rather game on the 23" and have desktop or whatever on the 21". I could tell a difference in the resolution but not having anything more than the desktop on both monitors it was of no concern. It is nice to be able to watch and movie and surf the web at the same time (as I get bored easily).

That's mostly what I do with it if I'm not doing school work. I'll have Firefox on one and VLC on the other, or a game on one (wow most likely) and Firefox on the other (sometimes wow on both dual boxing). I think I'm just gonna stick with 2 monitors. Strongly leaning towards 2x 24" 1920x1200 IPS monitors: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···24236331 or »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···24005491. I can get 27" 1920x1080 IPS monitors for about $260 but I'm worried about the larger pixels on them and think the 24's are better in that regard.

I look at 27" 1920x1080 monitors as being budget monitors these days. I've seen such monitors showing up for less then $200 USD more and more often.

Yeah. I can get a 27" 1920x1080 for $200 and a 24" 1920x1080 for $140. You pay a premium for the 1920x1200 resolution and IPS panel. It's an extra ~$90 at the 24" range and an extra ~$60 at the 27" range. Think it's worth the extra cost at either range?

One thing I forgot to clarify, active DP -> single-link DVI adapters are the cheap and plentiful ones. Dual-link DVI ones are substantially more expensive and require a power source (USB or a separate brick). You'll need one of those if you're going to be running something like a 2560x1440 or 120 Hz 1920x1080 monitor.

Well like I said I don't have a problem going from a 27" 1920x1080 monitor to a 27" 2560x1440 monitor.

I have three Asus 27" 1920x1080 monitors and two Auria 27" EQ276W 2560x1440 monitors. I also have very good eyesight and can see defects in monitors fairly quickly.

I think there are a lot of people who make an issue of 1920x1080 on a 27" monitor and have never actually seen or used it. Others have very specific needs and need higher resolution / color accuracy but those people are probably accustomed to paying more. And so on,....

I highly recommend getting a quality monitor whichever way you go with it though. I think the Auria 27" EQ276W 2560x1440 IPS monitor is a great monitor for its ~$399 price. There are other cheaper Koran 27" 2560x1440 imports though with single input in the ~$300+/- range that come highly recommended (if price is an issue for you).

A lot of this is subjective though so its best to be able to lay eyes on what you intend to buy first.

So I figured I'd update the thread with what I ended up getting. I went last night and looked at monitors at Best Buy since they're the closest major store with monitors setup. I liked the 27" monitors but I decided against them because of the size. I have the room for it but they just seemed really big. I'm sure I'd have gotten used to them but yeah.

So now it's between a 24" and 22" (didn't want to go smaller than what I have now) and I already had my eye on a 22" I found on their website. The 24's had the same 1920x1080 resolution the 22's had (either is a step up from my current 1680x1050) and I really would have preferred a 1920x1200 on the 24" but they didn't have any there.

I decided that the higher pixel density on the 22's would be better and there wasn't as much difference between 22 and 24 visually. I ended up buying a pair of these: »www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+21.5%2···=8046048. LG 22" IPS LED 22EA53T-P for $140 each.