How many monitors can I run?

[jonbig08]

I recently purchased a mac pro with a 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel
Xeon processor, 4 GB in memory, a TI Radeon X1900 XT
512MB graphics card, 250GB hard drive with a 23 inch cinema display. Whew now thats out of the way. I decided I don't want the big display anymore, but I would rather have 2 or 3 monitors each acting independently...meaning I can see 3 different things on each one. Is this possible with my setup? If so how? Can I buy any brand of smaller monitors? I want to sell the big display and with that money buy the other 3, or close to it. Thanks for any help.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I recently purchased a mac pro with a 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel
Xeon processor, 4 GB in memory, a TI Radeon X1900 XT
512MB graphics card, 250GB hard drive with a 23 inch cinema display. Whew now thats out of the way. I decided I don't want the big display anymore, but I would rather have 2 or 3 monitors each acting independently...meaning I can see 3 different things on each one. Is this possible with my setup? If so how? Can I buy any brand of smaller monitors? I want to sell the big display and with that money buy the other 3, or close to it. Thanks for any help.

Get an extra graphics card and you can have 4 monitors (there are two outputs on each card that you can buy through Apple). This might help, too.

 

[jonbig08]

Get an extra graphics card and you can have 4 monitors (there are two outputs on each card that you can buy through Apple). There may be other cards with more outputs, but that's a question someone else will have to answer.

Can I run 2 on the card that I have? 2 may be enough.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Can I run 2 on the card that I have? 2 may be enough.

I'm pretty sure it has two DVI outputs, so yes. Just look on the back.

 

[jonbig08]

I'm pretty sure it has two DVI outputs, so yes. Just look on the back.

I will check it out, what will display on the monitors (I only have 1 now)? Will it be like 1 big monitor, or do I drag things with the mouse into the other monitor or?? How does that work?

 

[hobbbz]

No offense but if you don't know the common use cases for having multiple monitors why did you buy a mac pro?

I'm not trying to be mean I just wonder if an iMac would have been enough for you.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I will check it out, what will display on the monitors (I only have 1 now)? Will it be like 1 big monitor, or do I drag things with the mouse into the other monitor or?? How does that work?

It's like one big monitor. Your mouse (and anything you drag) moves seamlessly between the two. The one drawback to two monitors on a Mac is that the Menu bar only appears on one of them (you can choose which in the Displays area of the System Preferences, after you've got 2+ monitors hooked up).

 

[jonbig08]

It's like one big monitor. Your mouse (and anything you drag) moves seamlessly between the two. The one drawback to two monitors on a Mac is that the Menu bar only appears on one of them (you can choose which in the Displays area of the System Preferences, after you've got 2+ monitors hooked up).

I see, that makes sense. Sounds like this will work well for me. Thanks a lot for your help.

I didn't set out to buy a mac-pro, a member of my family just bought it and they happened to need money. I know for a fact that was hardly ever used. Anyways I looked over their invoice from the apple store and I paid around 1/5th what they paid. I could sell the thing and make a couple G's so I thought why not? I just hapened t start day trading so it worked out. Now I just need to sell the display.