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3 Monitors plus laptop display?
I'm trying to see what my options are to utilize 3 monitors in addition to the laptop display. I have XPS 15 7590 with Win 10 Pro intel UHD graphics 630/Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 with WD19TB Dell Thunderbolt Dock.
My current setup is:
Dell U2720Q monitor set to 3840 x 2160 (usb c to usb c from dock)
Laptop display set to 1920 x 1080
Old LG E2360VPN set to 1920 x 1080 (hdmi to hdmi between laptop and monitor)
I want to buy a 3rd monitor and have res set to either 4k or ultra wide but willing to stay at 1080 too. Is there anyway this is possible?
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Thanks for the quick response jphughan!
My 7590 and WD19TB dock were given to me for work. I was able to connect a 3rd monitor plus use my laptop display in the following configurations:
- For the 3rd monitor, I used usb 3 to hdmi adapter and got 1080 res on the 3rd monitor. However about every 30 seconds, the screen flickered- For the 3rd monitor, I used USB C to vga adapter and got 1280 x 768 res on 3rd monitor without any flickering.
Maybe i'll try a better adapter to get it to work but thanks for the response either way!
@dellhan04 The USB-C to HDMI adapter sounds like a DisplayLink adapter or some equivalent technology. As for the USB-C to VGA adapter, that could have been DisplayPort Alt Mode or some "indirect display" technology like DisplayLink. There are versions of each. But good luck with your setup! Note however that if you plan to run dual 4K 60 Hz displays through the WD19TB, you likely won't be able to run anything else through native display outputs on the dock because you'll be near the maximum video bandwidth coming from the system just with those 4K 60 Hz displays. Connecting a DisplayLink dongle to a dock USB port would be fine since that adapter would receive video as USB data, but another display is unlikely to work unless maybe it was pretty low resolution. Also, the WD19TB allocates the video bandwidth it receives from the system differently based on the type of system connected to it. The XPS 15 9500 is a Thunderbolt-capable DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2 system, which means that half of the video bandwidth coming from the system is assigned to the WD19TB's "downstream TB3" port at the edge of the dock -- not to be confused with the USB-C port near the HDMI output. The other half of the system's video bandwidth is shared across the other display outputs. This can matter when running high-end display setups. Basically, if you want to use a 4K display and anything else through the dock, the one of the displays will need to be connected to the downstream TB3 port. The other display can be connected to any other output. Good luck!
I appreciate the additional details! I'll see what I can find but either way I plan on buying a new monitor (if at the very least it's just to replace the old dell). I also may go with an ultra wide instead of 4k so if I can only use 2 plus the laptop, I'll at least have a larger workspace.
quickguide01
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Posted December 17th, 2020 19:00
May i ask what monitors you have and waht resolution?
Good morning!
I have Dell U2720Q with resolution set to 3840 x 2160
I had an old LG E2360V-PN set to 1920 x 1080. I ended up being able to get 3 monitors (these 2 plus one 24 inch dell set to 1920 x 1080 in addition to laptop display XPS 15 7590) working with a USB to HDMI adapter I had.
However... after trying it, I really didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I could see neck pain coming in my future having to turn my head across my desk so much. So here is what I decided to do:
I ordered an LG 29inch Ultra wide and paired that with my 27inch 4k dell monitor in addition to my laptop display. I like this better than having an additional monitor.
I do have a question for the board though which may have to post in a separate topic... My Dell XPS 15 7590 resolution only shows max of 1920 x 1080?? I should be able to set the resolution to 3840 x 2160 right?
@dellhan04 Yes you should be able to set 3840x2160, assuming you're not using that display to duplicate another 1920x1080 display and you've got the display connected in a way that offers enough bandwidth for 3840x2160.
Thanks for the response!
My laptop is connected to the WD19TB docking station via USB c and from the docking station, I have USB c to USB c for my 27inch 4k monitor.
I have HDMI coming from laptop to 29inch LG Ultra wide monitor and that resolution set to 2560 x 1080. The highest resolution showing for the laptop is 1920 x 1080.
@dellhan04 The WD19TB has two USB-C ports. There's a regular USB-C port near the HDMI output, and then a downstream TB3 port at the very edge of the dock near where the system cable attaches. The WD19TB can only allocate video bandwidth from the system in certain ways across its outputs, and those ways vary based on the capabilities of the attached system. The XPS 15 7590 is a Thunderbolt-capable DisplayPort 1.2/HBR2 system. In that case, half of the video bandwidth from the system is allocated to the downstream TB3 port, and the other ports share the remaining half. So make sure your 4K display is connected to that downstream TB3 port at the edge of the dock. And then you should be able to run the 29" display from another output on the WD19TB, like its HDMI output. I'm not sure why you're connecting that directly to the system's own HDMI output since that would seem to be less convenient because it's two cables to deal with rather than just the docking station's cable.
But the other part I'm confused about is that you say the 29" display is "set to 2560x1080", then you say the highest resolutions showing "for the laptop" is 1920x1080. So is that 29" display running at 2560x1080 or 1920x1080? Have you confirmed that the 29" display actually supports receiving 2560x1080 on its HDMI input? Some displays only support receiving their native resolution over DisplayPort if they were created before an HDMI version that could carry their native resolution existed. This is especially true of early 4K 60 Hz displays, for example, since DisplayPort supported 4K 60 Hz years before HDMI did.quickguide01
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Posted October 18th, 2021 22:00
In the second situation, I still want to be able to use two 4k monitors. I am thinking about buying another 32' 4k monitor or possibly a 27/28' 4k monitor. But maybe... less likely buy a 43' 4k TV to be used as a monitor. Would you say that would be ridiculous to use a 32' 4k monitor along with a 43' 4k TV together though? Thing is my folding table is only 4 foot and I can barely put my 32' 4k monitor alongside with the 24' samsung syncmaster. But not only that... because i put my dell xps 15 9550 laptop on the table, i don't really have that much space. I did read I could buy those laptop adjustable height things but that doesn't apply such I still would be putting it on my folding table right?
So in my folding table, its like
Dell xps 15 9550 laptop put on the bottom left of my table but like sideways. Then the 32' 4k monitor on the left part of my table and i have to put the 24' on the right side of my table. Issue is looking from one monitor to another is very hard. Previously when i had used just two 24' monitors... i put them close to each other like a reverse letter V. Thus it was very easy to look from one monitor to another without that much neck movement. But now its really hard to look at the other 24' and use it much because of my 32' 4k monitor.
Now let say I get a bigger table, like a 6 foot table, I know I would have lot of space to put my monitors.
Now If I want to have two 4k monitors and make sure they run at 6k hertz, thus my 32' 4k samsung monitor with another 4k monitor or TV whether its 27/28/32 or 43' TV... I should get the Dell Docking Station right? Thing is i check amazon and they sell a dell one for around $130 dollars plus tax. Then I see other brands that are cheaper or much more expensive. Would those work as well? If so, can others link me the exact docking station I should get?
Again, I can use 2 monitors at the moment with my dell xps 15 9550 ... whether its my 32' 4k samsung with another 24' monitor with 1920x1200 resolution.... or use two 24' monitors with 1920x1200 resolution with the cables I currently have.
But if I want to use two monitors of 4k... best recommendation for docking station that would be best for me? Also would it work if say I use it with my current 3 monitors? Such as my 32' 4k samsung and the other two 24' 1920x1200 monitor?And is it true I could connect three external displays to my laptop and including my laptop screen, I could have four monitors? Or I could only do two external displays and with my laptop screen, just three total monitors? I am aware that my laptop with docking station could only do two monitors of 4k at 60hz.
But what about the dell xps laptop that are being sold now?
I also remember reading somewhere if you use a 4k monitor, you should almost always use a docking station as oppose to the method im using... which is a usb-c to display port to a 4k monitor because it uses less resources. Is there any truth to this? And what exactly is meant by less resources? Because there doesn't seem to be any lag on the 32' 4k monitor. I did read people say if your 4k monitor does 30hz, then its basically unusable if using it for a computer monitor.

jphughan
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Posted December 14th, 2020 11:00
@dellhan04 In the XPS 15 9500, the Intel GPU controls all display outputs, even when the system configuration includes an NVIDIA GPU. There is no way to configure the system to operate differently. The Intel GPU only supports 3 total displays, including the built-in display if it's active. So if you want 3 external displays and the built-in display to be active all at once, you'll need to run at least one of them through a dock or dongle that relies on "indirect display" technology like DisplayLink -- not to be confused with DisplayPort. Indirect displays as the name suggests are not driven directly by a GPU and therefore don't count towards the GPU's maximum display count. But DisplayLink and similar technologies come with some drawbacks that I've written about in the post marked as the answer in this thread. If those potential drawbacks are acceptable, then Dell makes a D6000 dock that can run 2 displays via DisplayLink plus a third display up to 4K 30 Hz or QHD 60 Hz from a native GPU output. Alternatively, companies like Plugable make simple USB dongles that plug provide a single DisplayPort or HDMI output.
If DisplayLink's drawbacks aren't acceptable for your purposes and you need to run 3 external displays plus the built-in display all simultaneously, then unfortunately you have the wrong system for your purposes. The nearest equivalent to the XPS 15 that can do that would probably be the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme with an NVIDIA GPU, since on that system the NVIDIA GPU controls the display outputs and by default the Intel GPU controls the built-in display (though that system offers a BIOS option to have the NVIDIA GPU control the built-in display too). The NVIDIA GPU supports 4 displays, so in the default mode of the Intel GPU running the built-in display, it is technically possible to run 4 external displays and the built-in display all simultaneously. I have personally achieved that setup, although it does require some consideration because you have to make sure you don't exceed limitations around display bandwidth or GPU interface allocations.
The closest Dell system that can run 3 external displays plus a built-in display is probably the XPS 17 9700 with an RTX GPU, not a GTX GPU. The XPS 17 9700 with an RTX GPU includes a BIOS option to have the NVIDIA GPU control all outputs, including the built-in display. Again, that NVIDIA GPU can run 4 displays total. However, unlike the X1 Extreme, there's no way to have the NVIDIA GPU control only the external displays while the Intel GPU continues running the built-in display. As a result, when that BIOS option is enabled, you'll be limited to 4 total displays and you'll likely see reduced battery life even when not connected to any external displays, because the fact that the NVIDIA GPU controls even the built-in display means the NVIDIA GPU can never be turned off. You may also see higher temperatures and/or increased fan noise as a result.