PC Connecting 3 monitors

[Acegadgets]

As you may have read, I'm into Elite Dangerous at the moment and having seen the link to the "spaceship in your room" I thought i would make my game expierence even more enjoyable by getting another monitor in the black friday. Its a long story but I ended up with 2 x 24" monitors one like this and another similar with speakers. Anyway I linked them together with the catalyst software that came with my graphics card and they are amazing .Only thing is I cant set elite to dispalay the game at 3980 x 1080 res as if its full screen , the important bit in the midle has the frame on the monitor in the way . So I made it p[lay in a window 3248 x 900 so I still get a panoramic view but the centre of the viewing area dosent have the black frame of the monitor running down it. Its been fantastic playing it today.

So to continue to make it even more awesome I am going to get a third screen, but i'm unsure where to plug it into. Currently i'm using the DVI and HDMI sockets that are in my Radeon GPU. Will I be able to use the DVI or HDMI sockets on the back on the motherboard on the buiilt in graphics card or will I have to get a USB graphics adaptor?
Edit:-
Actually having had a good search I found what I was looking for, just need to get my head around it,.

The Answer

 

[Sportsvee]

How about a 4th monitor so you can look up as well? Just sayin

 

[NVranya]

I haven't read he article, but afaik you can't combine onboard and seperate GPU?
At work I use 3 monitors for some years now. In the past we used 2 video cards, which do not need to be the same model, but need to use the same driver, so either both Nvidia or both AMD cards.
These days we use one card to which you can connect a maximum of 4 monitors and with which you can use Eyefinity, although I don't need it, since I want the same resolution and seperate "workspaces" per monitor.
The card is a HD 5700. An older model, but since it's not for gaming purposes it's more than enough.

Depending on requirements for Elite you could suffice with one card like stated above, or else get 2 (cheaper) and set them up in SLI (NVidia) or Crossfire (AMD) mode. Although personal experience from "back in the day" has steered me away from SLI setups. Not enough performance gain for the trouble with some games, although that might have improved over the years.

 

[zoob]

Matrox Triple Head 2 Go.
1 VGA input to 3 outputs.

 

[Acegadgets]

I don't want to be changing my GPU as its rather good for the money i paid and has a few years left in it yet. Mind you @Jkrohn1 and @ColSonders may well both disagree as we all bought similar set ups a while back and Jkrohn has no doubt changed the gpu for something faster and better, not sure if Col plays on his PC much.
Anyway closer inspection , i should have looked properly in the first place shows that my Radeon hd 7700 actually has a Display port as well as DVI and HDMI. My only question now is should I get a lead that goes from the VGA - Display port or the HDMI - display port as the monitors only have VGA or HDMI sockets in them, which seems a bit wierd.
As for the third monitor , I was dissapointed that Amazon put theres up to £115 in the cyber monday sale and virtually every other seller is selling the monitor I want for £115 - £129 HOWEVER ebuyer got into the spirit of Cyber Monday and had the one I wanted at £89.99. So I booked one out for delivery by Santa on the 25th.

 

[ColSonders]

Pfft. I gave my paperweight to my brother cos i never used it.

 

[Jkrohn1]

Ace get this too http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/monitor-stands/triple-monitor-stand-fx-tris-tand You will also notice your have the option for 6 devices on you GFX card well you should if you bought the XFX 7700 the DVI ports can do 2 devices at once through a single cable

I looked them both up and there is little to no noticeable difference between DVI and HDMI

 

[Acegadgets]

Nice looking piece of kit Jamie, but i dont have a spare £277.84 at the moment. Think i'll just get an HDMI - DisplayPort adaptor for a fiver.

 

[Jkrohn1]

Well I'm sure eBay will have some cheap ones going lol

 

[Acegadgets]

Didn't get it connected @Jkrohn1 . I bought the displayport - hdmi adaptor for a fiver BUT apparently if you have an ATI GPU you HAVE to have a "Active" adaptor, not a standard Passive one if you want to use more than 2 monitors. Lowest price is £22 anywhere (amazon). Got one ordered but it'll be after new year by the time its delivered.