Thanks to the installation services of my local computer repair store (Makhshefon / מחשפון on Emek Refaim St. in Jerusalem — highly recommended!) I’m now typing this from my workstation, whose monitors are powered by the GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC 4G.
New GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC, 4G (1 x DVI + 3 x HDMI, + 1 x DP)
That delivers:
- 3 x HDMI outputs
- 1 x DVI-D output
- 1 x Display Link (DP) output (1.4)
Old GPU: Nvidia Geforce GT 730 (1 x VGA + 1 x HDMI + 1 x DVI)
This is my current workstation. The GPU inside that was a model of the NVIDIA Geforce GT 730.
This gave me:
- 1 x HDMI output
- 1 x VGA output
- 1 x DVI output
As a result of this upgrade, I’m now able to run all my monitors over a digital (HDMI) connection.
Which also means that (because VGA cable tends to degrade quickly over distance but HDMI doesn’t) that I can now position my desktop a few meters from where I work. I just need to buy some more USB extension cable.
I recently picked up a single VESA mount and a dual vertical one from Amazon (more about VESA mounts here). So my first “upgrade” is likely going to be a single side monitor on a single mount.
Unless I can figure out a way to daisy-chain the DP output, however, this card is going to raise my capacity to five but not six displays.
So — always looking at the next upgrade! — I’ve been evaluating some cards with six or more dedicated outputs. (Why didn’t I just buy a six GPU card right now? Getting a hex stand here is going to take a bit of Amazon-magic and this is going to need a PSU upgrade too. So the whole project might just be rolled into building a new PC from scratch in about a year’s time).
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.
(Note: MultiMonitorComputer.com has this guide, which looks too affiliate-marketing-like for my liking. I’m focused primarily on cards with dedicated outputs).
Side note: I’ll also need to update my PSU when I get to this stage.
Matrox C680 PCIe x16
Matrox is kind of the king of serious high-performance multi-monitor GPUs.
This card can drive six displays with a maximum resolution of up to 4096 x 2160 px.
The outputs are six Mini DP 1.2s.
Downside: Being mostly targeted at the industrial / enterprise market, Matrox cards can be hard to source for the average consumer.
Top 6 Output Contender: Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi X 8G OC+
This card is actually unusual in the six discrete output category in that it doesn’t feature exclusively Mini-DP ports.
As can be seen below, this Radeon card offers:
- 4 x full Display Port (DP) outputs
- 2 x HDMI outputs
VisionTek Radeon 7870 2GB GDDR5 6M
This Radeon card also has six Mini-DP outputs.
Runners-up: GPUs with 5 Discrete Outputs
- My current card, the GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC 4G (still amazed this only has a 300W recommended PSU requirement!)
- EVGA GeForce GT 730 4GB DDR3 128bit Dual DVI mHDMI Graphics Cards 04G-P3-2739-KR
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 AMP!, ZT-P10600B-10M, 6GB GDDR5 (Out of Stock)