3rd monitor with Dell Precision 490

I am trying to go for a 3 monitor setup on my workstation, but need some information before I can invest in a new graphics card and 2 monitors. Would be glad to get some help here:

I have a Dell Precision 490 workstation with Nvidia Quadro FX 4500 graphics card (PCI-E 16) on it. It has 2 DVI-D ports that can support 2 monitors upto 2560x1600 resolution.

For the third monitor, I was looking at Nvidia NVS 295 card, however I am not sure if it is physically possible to hook another card to the motherboard.

Here is the spec of Precision 490: http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/precn/en/spec_precn_490_en.pdf

Can I attach NVS 295 to it? If not, what options do I have?

Animesh Kumar

Posted 2011-03-02T21:51:32.940

Reputation:

If this is not the right StackExchange site to ask this question, please tell me which one is. – None – 2011-03-02T22:01:29.203

1Your post will be automatically transfered :) – Antoine Benkemoun – 2011-03-02T22:03:30.447

Answers

According to this website (Dell's specs didn't list the necessary information), your motherboard only has one PCI Express x16 slot, so you can't install that particular graphics card into your current machine.

You could purchase a new motherboard with multiple PCI Express x16 slots, purchase a graphics card that supports 3 or more independent displays (there are several on the market that support up to four) to replace your current graphics card, or purchase a PCI Express x1 graphics card to use as an additional card.

Patches

Posted 2011-03-02T21:51:32.940

Reputation: 14 078

Matrox sells a really great expansion for your computer allowing you to connect more monitors (even more than just the extra one, depending on the product!). Here's a list of the expansions available on their site http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/.

Unlike most devices of this variety, which can't handle much more than maybe a VLC Media Player window, the devices that Matrox offer function much like that from adding an extra GPU to your PC- they use your installed GPU to process the output for the extra monitors that you would like to install. With a Quadro FX 4500 you should be able to add a good 3 monitors in addition to the ones already on your internal GPU! This means 5 monitors in total!

I'm sure that this would be useful to improving your productivity! :D

Ben Franchuk

Posted 2011-03-02T21:51:32.940

Reputation: 1 584