Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Triple-screen, which mac?

B

blaaat

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 18, 2007
63
0
Netherlands
Hello,

I'm looking for a solution to have 3 screens running on a mac.
I currently own a macbook, and i love osx,
So i want to replace my windows desktop with a mac.

I'm currently using 3 20" monitors (each 1400*1050).
i've looked into the matrox triplehead2go's, but they don't support the resolution.

Will a Mac Pro with 2 videocards work?
Is there an other solution? extra videocard in an Imac/or something for my MB or an MBP?

I'm using the system for webdeveloping so i don't really need the power of a Mac Pro.

So what to do?
 
If you do a custom build in apple.com one of the configuration options for video cards is 3 x NVIDIA Geforce 7300 GT cards, so I assume this configuration would work for ya.
 
dornoforpyros said:
If you do a custom build in apple.com one of the configuration options for video cards is 3 x NVIDIA Geforce 7300 GT cards, so I assume this configuration would work for ya.
Click to expand...

From http://www.apple.com/macpro/graphics.html - I get the impression that 3 graphics cards would allow you to run 6 monitors

Apple said:
A Pair of 30s — or More?
...
Like even more screen real estate? Thanks to the new double-wide PCI Express graphics slot, no matter which card you have installed as your primary graphics card, your Mac Pro still provides room for three additional PCI Express expansion cards. In all, Mac Pro lets you install up to four PCI Express graphics cards. Providing support for up to eight displays simultaneously, Mac Pro offers an ideal solution for advanced visualization projects and large display walls. You don’t need a clear day to see forever. You just need a new Mac Pro.
Click to expand...


So can you set the displays up in an "array" format, or do they have to be in one big long line?
 
I'm pretty sure that your only option for three displays is a mac pro. This of course is where a mid-range tower would be very useful, however no such product is forthcoming and remains the subject of much discussion on forums.

I would say two graphics cards as somebody mentioned earlier would allow for up to four displays. You could always reduce the processor to dual 2.0Ghz if you wanted to reduce cost.
 
Mac Pro... refurbished unit.

All you need for 4 displays is 2 ATI cards or 2 NVIDIA Geforce 7300 GT cards.

Just don't mix the two card brand types, since the drivers tend to conflict with each other during some uses -- resulting in problems for some applications.

Used to be a problem, don't know if Apple has the driver issue fixed yet. I didn't expect them to.

Note: You are limited to 2 ATI cards due to them being high wattage cards.

So if you need more than 2 graphics cards it would probably be easier to stick with the low wattage geforce 7300 cards.
 
A Mac Pro isn't your only option though.

There are (or very soon will be) expresscard to PCI or PCI-E adapters available.
Using one of those you could run a graphics card in an external enclosure, connected to a MBP. Giving you 3 external screens plus the MBP screen itself to work on.
 
Maxiseller said:
I'm pretty sure that your only option for three displays is a mac pro. This of course is where a mid-range tower would be very useful, however no such product is forthcoming and remains the subject of much discussion on forums.
Click to expand...

But to be fair to Apple, the market of people with 3 displays isn't exactly a market hole that Apple has a dire need to fill, and almost anyone who needs 3 displays is definitely a pro of some sort.
 
I run a Mac Pro with the stock 7300 card plus an ATI 1900XT. Three dual-link ports are great for multiple monitors and I haven't seen any driver issues b/c of mixing brands.
 
you'll actually get this screen below when you have two video cards installed. The system only supports so much bandwidth total. I wouldn't recommend 3 of the 7300 cards -- the ATI is far more powerful. (After this utility ran, I changed the 7300 card to slot one to get 8x speeds.)

attachment.php
 
Grimace said:
I run a Mac Pro with the stock 7300 card plus an ATI 1900XT. Three dual-link ports are great for multiple monitors and I haven't seen any driver issues b/c of mixing brands.
Click to expand...

Some people have experienced some issues under both the PPC and Intel versions of the drivers, not something everyone runs into.

But they have caused reduced frame rates, stuttering video, and somebody actually ran into kernal panics with the apps he was running.

Edit: Just something to be aware of and consider when buying cards.
 
Any more info on this?

@ blaat

Belkin makes a docking station that might help you out if you want to expand to two or three displays off a laptop. Whether or not you can use both display outputs, as well as a laptop's output, all at the same time- you'd have to ask them.


redeye be said:
A Mac Pro isn't your only option though.

There are (or very soon will be) expresscard to PCI or PCI-E adapters available.
Using one of those you could run a graphics card in an external enclosure, connected to a MBP. Giving you 3 external screens plus the MBP screen itself to work on.
Click to expand...

Do you have any more info on any of this this? I'm not sure how much of a market for such products there is but I for one would LOVE to buy an external enclosure that could turn my laptop into a beast for gaming.

In reality, however, I'd love an external enclosure that functions not only as an external graphics card, but also a HDD enclosure and docking station. It would d be great to come home and reboot using the external enclosure and turn a fast machine into a bat-out-of-hell laptop.
 
redeye be said:
A Mac Pro isn't your only option though.

There are (or very soon will be) expresscard to PCI or PCI-E adapters available.
Using one of those you could run a graphics card in an external enclosure, connected to a MBP. Giving you 3 external screens plus the MBP screen itself to work on.
Click to expand...

do you have any more info about this? i've never heard of this b4 but it sounds interesting.
 
robbh66 said:
@ blaat

Belkin makes a docking station that might help you out if you want to expand to two or three displays off a laptop. Whether or not you can use both display outputs, as well as a laptop's output, all at the same time- you'd have to ask them.
Click to expand...

In the FAQ on this web site they also state that the supported operating systems are Windows XP and Windows Vista. Mac OS isn't mentioned at all. So I guess this no option (yet?) for Macs.
 
who knows. Neither my ExpressCard SATA adapter or memory card adapters support OS X but both work almost flawlessly (sleep issues with the memory card reader). The ExpressCard slot connects directly to the southbridge of an intel compatible system. I'm not an expert but I'd be willing to bet that if the dock can work without drivers that it will work withThe dock however does have a lot of extra stuff so who knows if it will work or not.

Also, after a little research, I found that the MBP only has a 1x PCI-e lane to the ExpressCARD slot which will make external Graphics Cards like the Asus XG less useful than I'd hope. The power will still be under the hood but the bandwidth, unfortunately, won't- at least for mid to top end cards. :(

This however is all assuming that they support OS X which in reality they probably won't as I'm not aware of any Asus products that has support with OS X drivers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back