I just built a new rig (Amd quad core 3.3ghz, 8 gigs of ram, ATI 4890 videocard) I am running LFS on a 24'' at 1920x1080. If I want to add say 2 more 20's or 22''s would I have to run them at the same resolution as my primary or can I mix them with say 1680x1050? Also, my videocard only has two outputs, is there an adapter to make it run a third + software to go along with this - or do I have to have another videocard to support a third monitor? I DO have an onboard videocard (motherboard: Biostar TA790 GXB) The onboard videocard is equivalent to something like a crippled 7800 I would guestimate. Is it possible to have the onboard run a monitor and then have the 4890 run the other two? Thanks for dealing with all of my questions.

Quote from topslop1 :

Also, my videocard only has two outputs, is there an adapter to make it run a third + software to go along with this - or do I have to have another videocard to support a third monitor?

Should be done in Crossfire configuration and that means u must buy another 4890 card since it doesnt go in the 4800 series, its 4890 (also claimed on amd/ati site) but im not sure. Might wanna google about this.

I don't think onboard video will work very well for your third monitor, if it works at all.

There are three ways to go about using three monitors:

1) SoftTH. This is free software(google it) that you can use to get all three monitors to work. In order to use this though, you need another video card for the third monitor output. It DOES NOT have to be a good card, but it should be PCI-e 16x. Therefore, if your motherboard doesn't have a second PCI-e 16x slot, this is probably not a good solution for you. With SoftTH you do not have to run all the monitors at the same resolution, but the sides must be the same(they can be different from the center).

2) TH2Go. This is a hardware adapter(again, google it) that you buy that takes the signal coming from your video card, and splits it up into three images for your 3 monitors. If you go with this, all monitors must be running the same resolution as far as I know, unless they changed something. This obviously costs money, so this option is more expensive than #1.

3) There is some new ATI card that just came out that supports three monitors right out of the box. I believe its called Eyefinity. You might want to look into that. Even though you sound like you just build a new PC, an all-in-one card might be the simplest route. Make sure you can run different monitor resolutions with that if you need to though, I don't know much about it but I'd make sure it didn't have limitations like the TH2Go has.

So those are your options. Also it would be good to note that you will take a bigger performance hit from SoftTH since everything is done in software. With your PC I think you would be fine though, I have a much older computer running SoftTH maxed out with no problems. My recommendation would be SoftTH if you have the extra PCI-e slot, less expensive(old graphics cards are cheaper than a TH2Go or a brand new ATI card), and if you plan on running a different resolution on your sides, then you might not have much of a choice anyway. I really don't know much about the new card though, so if that's getting good reviews maybe that's a better option.

Quote from UncleBenny :

I don't think onboard video will work very well for your third monitor, if it works at all.

1) SoftTH. It DOES NOT have to be a good card, but it should be PCI-e 16x. Therefore, if your motherboard doesn't have a second PCI-e 16x slot, this is probably not a good solution for you.

SoftTH does not require that much multipliers. Even 1x card should be enough, if you don't use high resolutions on the side monitors. You can try this software to determine the bandwidth that your cards have :http://www.kegetys.net/forum/index.php?topic=427.0
Speed of the second GPU does not matter either, it just show the image, it does not do any rendering.
I checked out your motherboard and it's quite new so the onboard GPU is probably in a integral PCI-E, so no problems there. It's Radeon HD3300 btw.

Anyway I see no problem why SoftTH wouldn't work for you.

Not all cards will run 3D in 1x PCI-E slot though. I had to upgrade to an SLI board in order to get a second 16x PCI-E slot so that the card would run in 3D mode, and thus do more than merely extend my desktop onto the third display.

Ur card is the best u can get c/b these days, but for multiple monitors, EyeFinity is just out, and a HD 5770 is a good call for saving money! Maybe u can buy one, and make a crossfire, using the 5770 for the 3 monitors, and the 4890 to increase the FPS, dunno if its rly possible! But u should try it anyways

All these people saying you need Crossfire or another 4890 (or even more) are wrong. For SoftTH you just need a second PCI-e card, which doesn't need to be all-singing-all-dancing - even something like an X300 will work, ideally from the same manuafcturer (so two nVidia or two ATI, although I've read about it working with cards from different manufacturers). It *should* also work using the onboard graphics to run the 3rd screen.

Another point on Crossfire (and SLI for anyone running nVidia cards) is that SoftTH cannot take advantage of this - you'd only be getting the rendering power of one card. The TH2G however can take advantage of Crossfire/SLI.

Quote from Crashgate3 :

Another point on Crossfire (and SLI for anyone running nVidia cards) is that SoftTH cannot take advantage of this - you'd only be getting the rendering power of one card. The TH2G however can take advantage of Crossfire/SLI.

SoftTH can use SLI/Crossfire, but you'd need three graphics card instead of two. Reason it doesn't work is that when you're in SLI/Crossfire mode, you're only getting output out of one card instead of both, so you'd need a 3rd card to get information to the third monitor.