Connecting several monitors to a single PC

[Geremy Britton]

I've got to the point where i'm investigating connecting more monitors to a PC than maximum two i have on my current graphics card.

I've had a look into whats a available and i'm aware of the triple head to go but it's main marketing ploy is due to the idea you can have seamless visuals. I just want mine so i can display various guages on LCD screens behind the MIP.

Surely there must be something cheaper?!?

I've head of these VGA to USB connectors... is anyone using these and are they any good.

If anyone has any ideas or thoughts on this let me know...




Thanks

[blueskydriver]

Geremy,

I've done computers with two and three video cards in them, and all of these were dual head cards, so six monitors all at once. You could pick up a cheaper NVidia or (ATI) if that's what you got already and put it in. As long as you're doing the same manufacturer, it should work. Older cards are great for this reason.

John

[Geremy Britton]

Thanks John, i'd be looking for between 4-5 screen outputs.
Am i right in thinking just running the MIP glass cockpit PFD and ND with the black backgrounds will be fine with a fairly basic graphics card, then getting a decent spec graphics card for the projector visuals.

Thanks for your help

[Holclo]

Geremy
I am currently running 4 monitors off one computer. From my graphics card(GTX 260) I run the outside view on a 32"LCD TV. and the PFD and ND on a 19"Acer momitor.
Then I also have the FMC running on a 7" Mimo Touchscreen Monitor (via USB) and a 15"Dell running the EICAS via a USB to VGA convertor. All run extremely well.
The USB to VGA/DVI/HDMI convertor was my last addition. At £37 from UK supplier it was simpler than getting another graphics card and dismantling the sim to fit it.(you can run up to 6 of these I believe) As the GTX is a very large card I'm not sure I would have the room for an additional card.
Hope this is helpful
Bill

[blueskydriver]

Geremy,

Bill has a good setup running and you could go that route or multiple video cards. In any case, you have to think about OpenGL for Project Magenta. As long as an older/newer card supports OpenGL, then you'll be fine; most cards do support Open GL, but there are some that don't.

Next, I'd be concerned about the CPU on this computer. If you're running a projector(s) and depending on it's resolution, as well as the extra monitor(s) resolution, I'd say to make sure you have a really good processor. Especially, if you using a TH2GO, you'll see major frame hits with this, unless your processor is top tier.

However, not all is a loss. If you have dual or quad core processor, you could assign different cores to run different things. Let FSX run on one and then the PM stuff on the others. I am sure there is a lot more to this and there are members here who have worked this out and maybe, they can chime in... I know I've read in the past about that things like this being done.

Finally, post what you decide to do and that way others can point out any thing that might cause conflicts. I doubt you'll have many, if any. I run my PM on seperate computers, but those systems are much older PIII and P4's, with video cards that are up to ten years old, and they run the PM parts (GC -PFD/ND, EICAS, CDU and PMSystems) quite well.

Best Regards,

John

[Geremy Britton]

Hi Gents, thanks for your replies, much appreciated.
I think i'm going to go with the cheap graphics card option as my PC is a large gaming computer (dual core) so should be able to cope. I have another CPU i can use if nesseccary but i wasn't expecting to get into networking at this stage so we shall see.

I will try and keep you updated with how i go...
thanks again

[steveeverson]

Hi Gez. I have a couple of those vga-usb adaptors and they work great for CDU screens so may possibly be ok for instruments too but wouldnt work for visuals, found that running more than one on an average pc is a bit of a strain on resources though. Might be worth buying a cheap pc off ebay to run instruments. You could use prosim or FSexpand over the network and wouldnt tax the main visuals machine. Give me a bell tomorrow if youre around and I can run you through what im doing.
cheers
Steve