Windows 7 Multiple Monitors – Setup and Troubleshooting

multiple-monitorswindows 7

At the moment I have got two monitors running off a dual output video card.
I have read this article about having multiple monitors connected.

It says that this

is highly dependent on the combination of motherboard and graphics
card you use as some motherboards will not allow you to use the
onboard video if an add-on video card is detected

My question is there a way I can check if my computer will work with three monitors, before I go and either buy a new monitor or borrow one (which involves much hassle).

Best Answer

Even simpler test!

Just swap one of your monitors to the onboard VGA output and see if it's displaying!

No

What motherboard do you have?

According to Belarc=> Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. V-M2NC61P

A google search shows this is an 'V-Series M2NC61P Asus PC (Desktop Barebone)' and reading the manual shows (in the BIOS/Advanced/Southbridge Configuration)

*Primary Graphics Adaptor [PCIE -> PCI -> IGP]*
Allows you to set the display decives priority.
Configuration options: [PCIE -> PCI -> IGP] [IGP -> PCI -> PCIE]

Usually the motherboards which disable onboard video actually do it on a hardware level - you would not see a display adaptor listed in device manager, this would be your next port of call to see if the onboard Graphics Adaptor is enabled with either of the 2 BIOS settings, if it is then you might be able to use that setting (aslong as your 8400 works) to have 3 displays...

If it doesn't your next step would be a 2nd Graphics card as explained by josh3736 below, but just remember - your motherboard only has ONE PCI-e x16 port (and 2 'standard' PCI).

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