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October 28th, 2020 04:00

Help Choosing A New Desktop With 3 Monitors

I'm looking to buy a new Dell desktop for working from home. I won't be gaming on it but I will be using it for Zoom meetings etc. The XPS's seem to be currently sold out so the desktop I'm considering is the New G5 gaming desktop.

My question relates to the fact that I really want 3 monitors. 2 monitors are good but the inside of the monitor frames sit directly in my eyeline and I would be more productive with 3. I don't want a single, extra-wide monitor because I just don't get on with them as well as multiple monitors.

For the monitors, I'm considering the Dell UltraSharp 27 Monitor U2719D.

I'm not tech savvy so I need a dumbed-down answer for my question: will I be able to run 3 of these monitors with that desktop? In terms of, does it have enough of the right ports, etc? Would I need to purchase any adaptors, make any customisations, or will it simply work out-of-the-box (pun intended)?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

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October 28th, 2020 05:00

@Col12     My question relates to the fact that I really want 3 monitors.

I'm not sure what your budget is for your new home work station, so hard to recommend a computer with the performance components that will provide the most enjoyable experience. As far as the triple monitor configuration . . . that is more a function of the graphics card you choose. Dell sources their own proprietary version of the various graphics cards, so the information on the manufactures' web site may not be what comes with your Dell computer. The Dell nVidia RTX 2070 Super graphics cards come with 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 . . . which would support the three monitor set-up.

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October 28th, 2020 06:00

@Col12 There are a few things to consider:

1. What types of video inputs does your monitor support? The u2719D supports one HDMI and one DisplayPort (DP). The monitor also has a DP output that supports Multi-Stream Transport (MST) capabilities. MST allows you to sort of daisy chain your monitors to extend your display across multiple monitors. The u2719D manual explains how this is done. Note that in order to work, MST requires that the graphics card supports DP 1.2 with MST option. The manual also indicates the monitor comes with one DP cable.

2. What type of video outputs does your graphics card have? The desktop you are considering comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card which from what I can determine has one HDMI port, one DP, and one Dual Link DVI port. It is not clear whether or not the graphics card supports MST.

The simplest way to connect your three monitors is to use MST, if the graphics card supports it. With a DP cable you connect the DP output of the graphics card to the DP input of the first monitor. With the second monitor, with a DP cable, you connect the DP output of the first monitor to the DP input of the second monitor. With the third monitor, with a DP cable, you connect the DP output of the second monitor to the DP input of the third monitor. Since no additional cables need to be purchased, you could try this method hope that your graphic card supports MST.

The next method does not require MST, but requires using all of the ports of the graphics card and purchasing additional cables. Using a DP cable you can connect your first monitor's DP input to the graphics card's DP output. Using an HDMI to HDMI cable, you can connect the second monitor's HDMI input to the graphics card's HDMI output. And finally, using an HDMI to DVI adapter cable, you can connect the third monitor's HDMI input to the graphics card's DVI output. Make sure the HDMI to DVI adapter cable you purchase has an HDMI (female) connector on one end and a DVI (male) connector on the other end. 

 

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October 28th, 2020 07:00

I am not a monitor expert . . . but I believe the 'daisy chain' configuration comes at a reduced resolution, as compared to 3 DP 1.4 ports on the graphics card.

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October 28th, 2020 11:00

@Anonymous The MST configuration does limit the data rate to the maximum of a single DisplayPort according to the DisplayPort Wiki but I don't know how that translates to the effect on the resolution. 

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October 28th, 2020 12:00

@Vic384    I don't know how that translates to the effect on the resolution. 

sorry . . . it is the monitor resolution that determines the number that can be daisy chained. This Dell chart is for DP 1.2 . . . DP 1.4 may be different.

image.png

 

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October 28th, 2020 14:00

@Anonymous Thanks,.this is good to know but the OP is considering a monitor that supports 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz and the graphics card is DP 1.4. I searched, but I could not find an equivalent chart for DP 1.4. Daisy-chaining the monitors is great from a cable management point of view but I am not sure the graphics card can support it.

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October 28th, 2020 16:00

And if nothing else works out, you could always connect the 3rd monitor via a USB3>video dongle,where "video" is a type of port supported by 3rd monitor, eg USB3>HDMI or USB3>DP.

Just make sure the dongle supports Win 10 and the "native" (aka: "recommended" or "optimum") resolution of the monitor connected to the dongle.

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